How to keep a dog quiet in an apartment?

Question

I am moving to an apartment, and my dog has separation anxiety (basically he barks when I leave). I am afraid I will not be able to keep him in an apartment because he is so noisy. "De-sensitizing" training does not work. What can I do?

We are moving into a dog friendly apartment - but that doesn't mean the neighbors will put up with a barking dog. We cannot have another dog in the apartment.

He is crate trained - it does not help.

To the person who said having a dog in an apartment is not "convenient": Pets are not about "convenience" - it's about commitment. You don't just get rid of an animal when it becomes "inconvenient".

Answer 1

consider doggie day care for him, or think about the possibility of leaving him with a stay at home mom friend, who has a dog or children that would enjoy his company !! also, consider your neighbors..maybe an elderly neighbor could keep him during the day, and it would be cheaper and easier than a doggie day care...and the senior citizen might appreciate a little extra income !! also consider someone who is partially disabled...they might enjoy his company, as long as they were able to be well enough to handle him and his activity level !! just think about many different possibilities, and be creative, keeping in mind, your dogs personality and activity level !!

Answer 2

I agree with you.You can't just get rid of a family member because it is more convenient. Thank goodness you were able to find a pet friendly apartment complex. We moved earlier this month and now have to pay another pet deposit. Luckily the manager split it up into payments! I was prepared to live in the car with my cat,dog,three birds and fish (course thee 55 gal. tank was going to be a problem :) Anyway, our Pomeranian has the barking problem too. I just started trying something I read about on Yahoo Answers. When he barks inappropriately, I spray him in the face with water. Only had to do it once so far, but it did work. That solution will hopefully work for us considering someone is uaually always home. In your case, I would try the collars everyone has mentioned.

Answer 3

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/q7CMV

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
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Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 4

Get him accustomed to a Kennel Cab before you more. It will be like a safe den for him and have the same smell in the new place as it does in the current place. You can put a sheet over it to decrease stress as well if it is the kind of kennel cab that a dog can't pull the sheet through.

Answer 5

I have had the same thing happen to me. Now before work I walk my dog for 45min.,to get her tired. I also got my dog a kong and fill it and stick it in the freezer overnight. As I am leaving in the morning-I do not talk or make eye contact as I am walking out the door. It really helps. No communication with the dog as you leave

Answer 6

Have you tried a shock collar? I don't know what "desensitizing" means but we had a dog that barked all the time. The only thing that would keep him from barking was to be shocked. I guess the fancy word now is "e-collar".

Answer 7

There is something like a chain, cant remember what it is called. you put it on the dog s neck. When it barks he hears himself barking that when he stops barking he wont hear it. So he dent bark because he doesn't like the sound of that thing. it is not harmful by the way.

Answer 8

Move into an apartment that allows dogs otherwise you should be prepared when the tenants and landlord ask you to leave.

Answer 9

there's specail kinds of collers and when your dog barks it squirts out a special scent that dogs hate! hope this helps you!oh and you can get it at a place like petsmart

Answer 10

if u think ur dog has separation anxiety take a look at this 2 solve it:

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html