Animal Haters Unite - Vent Your Frustration Here!

[Curious3141]

I very much like to walk. I happen to live in a neighborhood where just about every house is "protected" by some near-rabid canine who thinks no one should be walking past the front of their territory. Pedestrians are snarled and barked, and chased the length of the front fence until the torch is passed onto the next growling mongrel in the next house. The noise is sometimes unbelievable.

If someone doesn't train the dog to know the difference between when it's useful to bark and when it isn't, you're looking at thousands of false alarms for every good one. I think most of these people end up tuning their dog's bark completely out.

I like to walk too. And cacophonous canines are the reason I wear noise-cancelling headphones and listen to metal throughout my walk. Not even Cujo can overcome the din of Anaal Nathrakh.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yep, you heard that right. Animal haters thread. This is not to be confused with the insect (protostome) haters thead, which several of my, well, anyway...

My beef is with the coming spring/sumer season, where all these &*%$#@*& dog owners like to let their noisy dogs disturb my concentrating on solving the TOE! Helloo!

You can't imagine how this infuraites me. I hate dogs, I hate dog owners, and I especially hate dog LOVERS! Am I alone?

When I was about age ten, our neighbor had a Chihuahua that drove me nuts! That stupid dog was constantly yapping. I swore I would never have a dog like that. Many years later my wife and I took in this small beagle mix that I nearly hit on the highway. She was a very loving dog, but as fate would have it she was just as loud and obnoxious as that yappy thing that drove me nuts as a kid.

The fact is that it's all but impossible to control the yapping with an outdoor dog. About the only recourse is to either have their vocal cords severed, or to use acollar that shocks the dog whenever it barks, both of which I think are cruel. So, what to do? I used to tell my wife, "If I was our neighbor, I would kill our dog!".

 

[Curious3141]

When I was about age ten, our neighbor had a Chihuahua that drove me nuts! That stupid dog was constantly yapping. I swore I would never have a dog like that. Many years later my wife and I took in this small beagle mix that I nearly hit on the highway. She was a very loving dog, but as fate would have it she was just as loud and obnoxious as that yappy thing that drove me nuts as a kid.

The fact is that it's all but impossible to control the yapping with an outdoor dog. About the only recourse is to either have their vocal cords severed, or to use acollar that shocks the dog whenever it barks, both of which I think are cruel. So, what to do? I used to tell my wife, "If I was our neighbor, I would kill our dog!".

Get a cat. /end thread.

 

[strangerep]

I very much like to walk. I happen to live in a neighborhood where just about every house is "protected" by some near-rabid canine who thinks no one should be walking past the front of their territory. [...]

I was once minding my own business strolling along the sidewalk, and didn't realize there were 2 dogs hiding in wait for me behind a picket fence just ahead. As soon as I got in front of that fence they both let off a sudden blast of howls -- less than 1m from me. Almost had a heart attack and it made me so angry.

Fortunately, it was a street I don't often go to but I decided that if the dogs did that to me again next time, I'd take drastic retaliation. Fortunately, the next time (several months later) they were gone.

These days, if I'm going someplace where dogs are likely, I take a little ultrasonic device in my pocket. If a dog runs towards me, I look it straight in the eye (a threat, in dog language) and as it gets close I press the button in my pocket without it being obvious. Scares the dog sh*tless! So gratifying, though it makes any humans around me think I must be the antichrist.

I ended up mounting an ultrasonic device on the side of my wall (facing the neighbours), and modified the internal circuitry so I could turn it on and off by RF remote control from anywhere in my house. After that, if the dog starting barking while I was in bed, it was easy to give it a blast remotely. (I believe such remote control devices are not available commercially.)

Works even better when the dog runs toward me barking its head off in challenge. They just turn tail and run.

If someone doesn't train the dog to know the difference between when it's useful to bark and when it isn't, [...]

Yes, and most dog owners (istm) have no clue what a pest the dog becomes when they leave it alone in the backyard all day while they're at work/school/whatever. The dog owners around me are absolutely incompetent at dog training. They actually try to talk to the dog in human-like language, instead of a small set of 1-word commands, heavily reinforced.

 

[zoobyshoe]

These days, if I'm going someplace where dogs are likely, I take a little ultrasonic device in my pocket. If a dog runs towards me, I look it straight in the eye (a threat, in dog language) and as it gets close I press the button in my pocket without it being obvious. Scares the dog sh*tless! So gratifying, though it makes any humans around me think I must be the antichrist.

Got a link to one of these? Sounds like what I need.

 

[strangerep]

Got a link to one of these? Sounds like what I need.

There are many on the market. Try Googling "dog ultrasonic".

This is just one example of the handheld variety:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IBRI2Y/?tag=pfamazon01-20
but there are several others. Shop around and check the decibel rating of each -- the louder the better.

Have a read of the reviews though. Sometimes they don't work as well as advertised (especially the ones that are on all the time, or claim to be bark-activated automatically).
Also, very old dogs might not hear it and extremely aggressive breeds (which have been trained to be vicious) might just carry on regardless. But I found it works against every "normal" dog I've encountered.

The wall-mounted version at that link seems to be battery powered and claims to work by sensing a barking noise and then activating. I don't think either of these features are good enough though. I recall finding one a long time ago that was powered off the mains (you might need an electrician to install it), and activated by RF remote control. You might need to spend some time Googling more extensively.

Alternatively, if you have some electronics skill, it's very easy to open up a handheld version and arrange for its battery terminals to be connected instead to a suitable transformer powered from the mains (but don't try this if you're not "electrically qualified"). I used an X10-based device to do the remote control (basically just a home automation product that could turn a particular power point on and off). There's probably newer version around now.

HTH.