After literally years of searching, have you ever found something that actually WORKS!

I tried spraying my dog for barking. Unfortunately once we stopped, he went back to his old behavior. Maybe it’s time to dig out the spray bottle again. . .

YES
Brilliant machine…don’t know how I lived without it! If I could just get it walk the dog…

Hey, @Cruiser! I feel the same way about my shop vac. I use it in the house EVERY weekend! It never occurred to me to use a shop vac in the house, until we brought one home from our mower shop a few years ago. I don’t know how I lived without it. Mine at least grooms the dogs, too. They don’t like it much, but tough titty! (Kidding…we can’t get within 20 feet of them when it’s running! Dogs…“OH MY GOD! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!”)

@athenasgriffin Don’t never stop. That’s always the secret to successful discipline.

I was going crazy with my boys for years and then….they Grew Up!

@Dutchess_III Make sure to sift through the dust in the vac as there is a small fortune in mine every time I do the couches!

@janbb…I know. I thought they were never going to grow up…now I want them back. : (

@Cruiser…Uh…I’ve never. Vacuumed. My. Couches. I….O my. I’m turrible, huh!

My dog Pitch is absolutely perfect in every way, except around black people. He hates them terribly, becomes enraged to the point of serious danger. I cannot fathom why, and nothing I’ve tried has ever been able to console him.

Even black children enrage him. He was the mascot for our little league baseball team. But it became too dangerous to have him around. I’m worried that one day he will hurt someone.

The super squirt gun sounds worth trying. But I fear he would make even more bad associations from it.

In his defense (and I know there really isn’t one), he was a direct stray rescue from the inner city. Gangland was all around him, and we suppose he was tormented on the street by young black teens, or something to the like. Just a theory, but no one has ever been successful at calming him around black people. Not with positive or negative consequence training. I just keep him away from them altogether. But one day he’s gonna get that mailman I’m sure of it.

@Dutchess_III Go do it now!! There is an all expense paid Hawaii vacation in those cushions!!

Yes, battery operated shocking bark collars. Our dogs still go into regular warning bark when they see someone at the door or the yard guys come into the back but they no longer bark at shadows, birds, the sounds of people’s voices down the street, puffs of leaves crossing the ground, that stuff.

Battery operated do toenail grinder. My dog likes this much better than the squeezing pressure of the old fashioned clipper which scares him with it’s sudden tug and release as it slices off bits of nail. The sameness of sound and pressure from the grinder is more of a curiosity to him than his fear. He also is fascinated by the smell of the ground up nails. Ick.

@Neizvestnaya We seriously thought of a shock collar…but…IDK. For one thing, my dogs don’t wear collars. For another it seems…I don’t know…..wrong. I’d use a squirt gun on my kids (wish I’d thought of it when they were little, actually!) but I wouldn’t use a shock collar on them (although there were times…) This seems to be working perfectly. PLUS it’s really hot so she actually likes it, just doesn’t know it. It’s funny…she’ll come to me afterward going, “Um…do you still love me?” “Yes, Dutchess! I still love you! But No Barking!” And I know she knows that phrase.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Wow…I’ve heard of that. Well, I guess…I don’t know. Because Dutchess isn’t barking out of “hatred.” She’s just being a squirrel. Those are two different issues. You’re right….she already has negative association with black…it could be compounded by getting squirted.
What kind of dog do you have, how old is he/she, and do you have any black friends who would be willing to try and help you with this problem? Glad I’m not in your shoes, honestly.

@Dutchess_III: I put off trying a bark collar for 10yrs but when one occasionally yapping dog joined two more and we became “Those People With The Dogs”, I got desperate. What I’ve learned is the charge is strong enough to irritate/annoy them to not want to bark at silly stuff but when they’re adrenaline is in full kick such as surprise or protect mode, the charge isn’t enough to hurt.

I love the super soakers for Mister’s dogs but my stubborn little doggie just blinks his eyes and waits for the shower assault to be done and then goes right back to doing his thing.

I have lots of black friends. My ex-wife is black. None of them want anything to do with him. He’s such a sweetheart otherwise, allowing me to remove food from his mouth no problem. Great around children and the cat pushes him around, literally walking between his legs while he eats, backs him off and takes possession of his food bowl while he sits back and waits for her to finish.

I’m confounded.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies: I read somewhere that the way dogs see color/shades sometimes explains their hesitation or aggressiveness around darker skinned people, something about them not being able to read facial expressions as easily. Durned old brain can’t remember the source.

Just so you don’t feel left out, my grandparents had one particular dog that would embarrass the shite out of them when black people came around by acting like Cujo.

That is SO strange!

I just can’t believe this….all I have to do is show her the “gun” and she instantly stops what “bad” thing she’s doing. Just now we had a friend come over. He’s one that doesn’t mind Dutchess “jumping” on him (she stands up and puts her paws on the other person looking for some lovin’s) although I hate it. It is SO ill mannered! Well, she jumped on him, I said, ‘Get down Dutchess!!” and shot the gun off to the side, and just the little whirring sound it makes stopped her cold. She instantly sat down, and just looked up at him imploringly. : ) She’s controlling herself with the barking more and more, with less and less gun play. I am so in heaven! I was so dreading the thought of a shock collar, but that’s what it was coming to.