is a muzzle the only way?

[amzh86]

Hi guys,
Baxter is constantly barking in a morning to start with, my partner works and gets up in a morning to let them out, give them fresh water and fuss them, He goes to work monday and tuesday at around 6am, on these days guaranteed baxter will be barking by around 6.15, the rest of the week, he goes to work around 7am, Baxter ive been told will be barking by 7.20. Ive been ill this last week so havent slept at night so when he usually starts barking i dont hear him right away. I dont know what time he started barking yesterday, it was 7.45 before i heard him,which is when i heard my neighbour shouting telling me to shut my dog up.
When i do come down, i open the door, he goes straight into his bed so i open the door and tell him to come toilet, he doesnt, instead he lays down in his bed and goes to sleep,until i leave the room and then he barks. He barks if the kids are in their area of the yard and he cant get in, he barks if i peg my washing out. i know he can get up and down the stairs so ive even tried getting him to come up,he wont instead he stands at the bottom of the stairs barking until i come down.
I apologised to my neighbour, ive also rung around a few trainers in my area for advice and they all told me to do what my previous trainer told me and that was to ignore it but i cant do that anymore. The neighbour i spoke to said theres quite a few people who are fed up of his barking and are on about reporting the constant barking.
I cut his walks down to half an hour, most of which is off lead now so he plays with other dogs, we play hide and seek games with him,either with treats, a ball or us. Im actually scared of going out and leaving him incase he starts while im out. My neighbour recommended i muzzle him to stop him barking and i just dont know what to do. Ive been that low about it all ive actually cried the last few days its getting to me that much. My neighbour recommended a muzzle but im not sure
Any ideas??

[ladybug1802]

Hi. Can I ask why you have cut his walks down to half an hour?

I would say his barking is due to separation anxiety......as it seems to be when he is left alone, sees one of you leave and cant come, or can see you outside but cant get to you, is that correct?

I would not use a muzzle to stop barking no.....you can get 2 types of muzzle - a basket style muzzle which means the dog can still drink, pant (and bark) and take treats, but cannot bite. This is the best one.....but you can also get one that clamps the mouth totally shut...its like a nylon band. These are AWFUL.....the dog cant drink, and can over heat because it cannot pant. Yes it will stop the dog barking, but it would be horrible for the dog. Plus apart from anything else, if the barking is due to stress, it will not do anything about the cause of the barking, and could well cause more stress because the dog cannot open its mouth, so please do not listen to your neighbour on this one.

However, I do understand how stressful this must be for you. Can you tell us what the dog's daily routine is? I am concerned that he is only having half an hours exercise a day.....apart from this not being enough physically for him, this will not be anywhere near enough mentally for him. Do you do other training/games with him?

[amzh86]

He goes for two half an hour walks per day one after 10 and one in the evening between 7 and 8. the later time he is usually off lead running around. he is fed twice a day, ive just started raw feeding him, we do play hide and seek, and fetch with him, do training stints (sit, stay, lay, paw, leave it etc) of around 15 minutes twice a day,
When i had the trainer coming round, i said i was concerned he had seperation anxiety so she got us to leave the house, and she peeked on him through the window and said he wasnt showing signs of it. its usually after being left after sort of 20 minutes though. Hes left for up to 2 hours when i go shopping through the week,and with the school run starting again im dreading it. My neighbours must see me leaving though so im quite upset that they havent said anything sooner to me if they are finding it that bad. i could have done something about it sooner. Im very reluctant to leave the house now incase he barks, i dont want to be reported for barking dogs when they havent spoken to me about it

[Erica]

Saw the question about why she cut down the walks - she had a different issue in another thread, and with the age and breed of the dog, 30 minutes was the proper walk length to help prevent joint issues.

Have you used frozen kongs yet? They might keep your dog occupied...I will admit that I don't have much knowledge of this sort of problem!