Teddy is back to his normal, bouncy self after the stress of the weekend, thanks to everybody!  Am now £200 lighter (kids won't eat for a week or 2!) but hopefully i will get some of that back on insurance, at least the meds.

Anyway, there was another prob i was having before the weekend...and actually i think it was partly because of this that Teddy got ill.

Last week i got a call from the upstairs neighbour that he had been barking constantly for 2hrs.  My sister was at home with the kids (school closed due to snow) and when i checked with her, she confirmed she had gone out, so it was possible he'd been barking for that time.  Also she had forgotten to leave the light on and it got dark at 4ish so maybe that scared him too (he stays in the kitchen when i'm out with stairgate across doorway).  When she got home he wasn't barking...and i called the next door neighbour and she had been in all day and not heard anything. 

Recently Teddy has been barking a lot - it's sporadic really, he'll bark mainly at noises outside the front door or if anybody comes up the side path (neighbour going to bins etc). 
Also at night (he sleeps in my room), as i am just drifting off, we have a few bouts of frantic barking which stop quite quickly, i've never had any complaints about this though.

So the week after the complaint i booked him into daycare for 3 days (pick up at 9am, drop off at 2pm - run round a field in the meantime).  Then there is someone back here from 3.45pm. Worked really well but cost me a fortune!

Have not had any complaints since but i am sick with worry about it.  I am scared to leave him atall now for fear of upstairs.  I have left him a couple of times since, and waited outside the front door to listen and he hasn't been barking - or when i get home. 

I was thinking about getting one of those monitors for when i go out to see how much he's barking - does anybody know where i can get one?  I was hoping to go out for a couple of hours on Friday night (am in the whole day) but can't bear to go and him bark constantly.

Did anyone else ever has this problem?  I am using one of those pheromone plug-ins and it seems to settle him for when i go out, but haven't been using it very long (couple of days). 

I feel very restricted at the moment and worried about it all the time....he gets lots of exercise (sometimes too much, ie last week!)...he just is that type of dog that needs people around all the time to be happy...

Do dogs tend to quiet down as they get older or not necessarily?  I have read up on this and you can teach them to bark, then you can train them to stop barking.  I think i may need help with this, maybe a behaviourist?

Thanks

Yes, that's a spaniel for you...needs people but especially you, you and only you! I have three and even if I leave them with my sons my oldest dog "never stops barking" (according to them), and all three seem frantically pleased to see me at the end of the day--at one point three of them were competing for high jump records. I have to absent myself twice a week for work and they are never left alone for long, but I guess they get bored and desperate--how would they know if you are planning to come back at all?

I leave the radio on for them, close the curtains and cage the puppy to avoid him beating up on the older guys or vice versa. Very little seems to work...yet. One of those awful conundrums, I suppose, but if you are anxious about it he will pick up on it. Can you crate him somewhere peaceful, warm and reminding him of you? I make a point of sitting on vetbed on the sofa which goes in the crate when I'm out.

When I come in I turn straight to making their dinner, which disrupts the craziness nicely. They all line up outside the kitchen to see what's happening with the chef's special and by the time they've eaten they've calmed down.

When you have a minute, check this http://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/why-do-dogs-bark/ and good luck with Teddy, he's had a bit to go through recently, hasn't he, poor little guy?