Barking up The Wrong Tree
Whether you’re working from an office or from home, stress is a part of work. We manage it by eating right, exercising, and owning a dog. Yes, having a dog can reduce stress—but only until the dog starts barking during an important call, causing your blood pressure to shoot through the roof.
Here are a few things to try if you have an excessively barky dog. If the dog is yours, it is possible to train it not to bark, but it’s going to take some dedicated time. Consider how much time it took you to potty train a child. That’s the kind of dedicated time we’re talking about here.
Another option is the bark collar, which come in several varieties. There are ones that emit a high frequency sound dogs don’t like (effective only about 50% of the time), ones that shock the dog (not recommended for obvious reasons), and ones that release a puff of citronella, which is effective about nine out of ten times.
If the dog is your neighbor’s and you’ve already talked to the owner but the situation hasn’t changed, consider posting a video of the offending dog in all its barking glory on YouTube’s Barking Dog Video Group. The folks at barkingdogs.net say people have reported that “their recalcitrant neighbors finally quieted their habitually barking dogs after they learned that YouTube featured footage that showed the animal barking disruptively.” It’s unclear whether it’s because they are ashamed or because it finally forces them to see the problem with some objectivity.