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Question/Subject:

barking dog
Sometimes my dog barks too much when I am not home and
sometimes the neighbors are complaining and saying someone is going to call the police. I have nobody to help me with anything so I can't get any body to watch her when I have to go out. Is there anything I can do to keep her calmer? Would giving her something like camomile or other calming herb occassionally be safe?

Hi Saffire;
I never crate an animal, except when I am traveling with them. the doggy car seats I have seen seem to me they would choke a dog, rather than securing them, so I use a dog crate, and belt it with a seatbelt.
I am not saying crating is a bad idea, it is just not something I care for.
I suppose it depends on how you raise the dog.
My dogs are raised like people, and they don't know they are dogs.
Most usually, excessive barking is because the dog is lonely.
When I worked outside the home, I played with my dog when I got home. the kids played with the dog, or dogs and cats, whetever we had. We have always had several pets.
We didn't go out often, so that may have been why they didn't bark.
You don't say if you live in a house or an apartment.
If you live in a house, and the dog is inside, which I really DO recommend, the neighbors usually wouldn't hear the barking, so loud that it would bother them.
I will give you a website where you can read about and order a video.
Linda Tellington developed a method of animal massage.
Massage has been used for centuries, and whisperring, as it is called now.
I have used the massages for dogs to stop aggressive behavior, fear of thunder, pain relief from Arthritis, and after surgery, and other problems.
It really works, and it is easy to learn.
It took one 5 minute massage to calm, to cure my English setter of fear of thunder. She was so afraid, she was going into shock on me. I had just gotten this tape a few weeks before, and learned the different massages. I used the one for calming,and after a 5 minute massage, she lay down at my feet and slept through the rest of the storm. She is 11 years old now, and has Arthritis and Hip Dysplasia, really bad. She comes to me so stiff she can hardly walk. I massage her for about 30 minutes, and she can move much better.
Go check out this site.
www.lindatellington-jones.com
She has videoes of massages for horses, cats, almost any animal you would have for a pet, or stock animal.
This is a well researched science, not a fad thing.
A lot of veterinarians are using natural meds as well as conventional. My vet is about to start Acupuncture on my Setter for her pain. He wasn't familiar with the Tellington method of massage, until I loaned him my videoes. He thinks they make more sense for more results than other massage methods.He recommends these videos to patients now.
It may be that your dog is lonely. If that is the case, I can't see a crate helping.
I baby sat a dog for a friend, she insisted I use her crate, as the dog was used to it. That dog barked her head off when she was in that thing at night.After 2 night of sleeplessness, I let the dog out to sleep with my dogs.
If your dog is afraid when it is alone, then the crate may make her feel safer. I really don't know about that.
My dogs are well trained, so a "safe" room is not needed. I don't come home and find anything chewed up.The only dog that has chew up things when I was gone, was a Black Lab I rescued. she was pregnant, about to whelp at any time. It was winter, so she was in the house, in a room with a whelping bed and everything she needed, should she whelp while we were at work.
She ate my house.LOL
She came right into my house, with no time to give her any training, and I don't think she had ever had much training.
I really think the massages would help you more, and faster.
Charlotte

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