My 6 month old Spitz barks when he hears other dogs, when he is taken out to the back garden for the toilet. And he barks when he hears strange noises, but again only when he's out for the toilet. Its not excessive barking as there are plenty of times he goes out to the toilet and would be quiet, but I've got a neighbour who has a big problem with my dog making any sort of noise. He shouts abuse and makes remarks. A while back he threatened to poison my dog, but he won't get the chance because he's never in the garden alone, and I always make sure there's nothing strange on the gound that the neighbour might have thrown in.

The neighbour has their own dog, and it can be heard barking, even before I got my dog. There are plenty of other dogs barking in my estate, so he might as well go door to door complaining about them all.

Fed up :(

As long as you keep doing what your doing, not letting him bark for prolonged periods or at unsocial hours (11pm to 7am) then your dog is allowed to bark.

With mine (6 medium size spitz) they too can be reactive to other dogs barking, especially the two year old youngster, and the local cats enjoy winding them up too.

My rule is if they bark they are brought straight back indoors.  It's the only way.  I too have a neighbour next door but one who can be heard shouting at the dogs (mine, my next door neighbours Russels, the dobe on the end, and any one else's).

Thanks :)

He was making threats about the dog warden ages ago when I first got the puppy, but nothing came of that. I suppose they must have told him he had no grounds as the dog isn't out at unsocial hours. I'll be moving away soon anyway, all being well :) He's the sort where he always has to have a go at somebody.

>My rule is if they bark they are brought straight back indoors.

Ditto.  It's the only way I feel comfortable :)  They can alert me to people/sheep/cattle/horses/pigeons etc once or twice and they get a thank you but if it develops into persistant 'shouting' then they get whipped back indoors