Our new condo building is super nice and new, and we love it here-- but there's one small problem. It seems like our new neighbors don't quite love our dogs. Since I've got some new followers, I'll recap our dog situation from the start.
I got my Westie, Duffie, in 2007 and raised her from when she was a puppy. Our Schnauzer, Lucy, was rescued by Ryan and I in 2010 when she was 5. I was able to really train Duffie well because I had her since infancy, but Lucy is a different story. She had somewhat of an interesting "childhood", peppered with neglect, abuse, and abandonment. Ryan and I were happy to give her a forever home at the age of 5, since most dogs normally aren't adopted at that age. It was perfect, since Duffie is only 6 months younger than her. She's the sweetest lovey girl and just wants to cuddle, but she's got one issue...she barks. A lot.
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| When we got Duffie in 2007 |
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| Mr. SE loves kisses from Duffie |
From some reading that I've done, this seems to be common for Schnauzers, but I've got no idea how to fix it. Duffie is the first dog that I've owned, so I don't have much, if any, experience in training a dog. It seems like fixing an older dog's behavior is a lot harder than just teaching a puppy how to behave. She barks at other dogs, barks at people, barks at the door, etc. It wasn't as much of a problem when we had our own house because they dogs would play in the backyard together, and she'd only bark when someone rang the doorbell.
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| Snow pups last winter in Nashville |
Fast forward to life now, and the door of our condo is right across from the parking garage door. Yep, you guessed it. The door opens and slams ALL DAY--which results in Lucy and Duffie (who loves to follow suit from her sister) barking all day. My dogs are my sweet babies, so on top of it annoying other residents (which I care about), I hate thinking about how anxious they are all day.
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| When we got Lucy |
I've tried contacting our local Schnauzer in Denver to recommend a local trainer, but didn't receive a response. We've received several complaints from our management company and we're at our wits end. We've tried spray bottles, leaving them in our bedroom, crating Lucy, etc.
Yes, our lease is only 6 months, but we'd like to avoid getting evicted by then. Last night I decided to try something new and order them two
Thundershirts. Does anybody have experience with these? I read a lot of reviews online and it looks like they could actually help. Any other tips?
