Barker on my Hands

Arg, I was just informed by the landlord that my pup Mavrick has been barking from 2pm till 4pm nearly non-stop. I normally come home around 11:30 noonish to let him out but he's still barking. I'm trying to figure out how to get him to stop.

Some ideas I have come up with so far are to

1. shut the living room windows since the noise seems to bounce off the other building and he's in a cage in the building
2. come home later in the day to let him out

I'm so stressed out I'm ready to cry

Any idea why he's barking? If he's alone is it possible its separation anxiety?
Cavs adore company, I rarely leave mine for more than 4 hours at a time and they have each other for company, even so, if I have to work longer than normal (I work part time), I'd have my mum check them in her lunch hour, though I know they just sleep curled up together while I'm away.

My Toby will bark at every leaf that turns, every one who has the nerve to walk down the street, and He really goes mad when deer come anywhere around the house. And heaven forbid that someone actually walks in front of the house, especially if they have the nerve to walk their dog.

Fortunately, I am here all day, so I can stop it. If I were not here, I'm afraid I would have to confine him in a crate, in an interior room, lest we receive the damn notice...YOUR DOG HAS TO BE CONTROLLED OR MUST LEAVE. This place has very strict rules and a barking dog will get me kicked out.

I'm hopeing it isn't seperation anxiety since it seems to be only from 2-4. I leave at 8 came home at 11:30 to take him out and play with him for 10-15mins and then come home at 5 for the night.

I took him for a 30min walk this morning and I'm going to take my lunch at 1 to come home and let him out/play with him.

Is there a way you can leave him in part of the house but not necessarily crated? For example, crate him in the morning, come home at lunchtime for a short walk and/or play and then confine him to a dog-proofed room with his crate and toys you trust he could play with unsuperivsed in the afternoon? Can you afford a dog walker or is there a friend who could give him a little more of a work-out than you are able to do at lunch in the middle of the afternoon? May be worth it to talk to a professional trainer for some advise. Best of luck to you.

So he's left for 3 and a half hours in the morning, and then 5 hours in the afternoon.. could be that it's just that he's left for longer in the afternoons then?
I'd try what ppotterfield suggests and get a dog walker in maybe in the afternoons, that way it would break up the longest part of the day for him and might remedy the situation.
Though it might be if you took your lunch at 1 and spent time with him it would help things, definately worth a try.

Do you leave a radio on with him when you are out? Thats how we trained all of ours to stay on their own when we are out. We kept the radio on when they were pups when we weren't there, then turned it off when we got back, the sound of people talking was generally enough to make them think they weren't all alone. So no separation anxiety, though we started off leaving them for only 5 or 10 mins and working it up to 30 minutes and so forth.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

My little puppy is lkeft all day on her own and when I used to come home and when I'd be leaving in the morning she used to bark. What I did was leave something with her that reminded her of me for example an older jumber or an old pillow.
Now I come home and she is curled up to the pillow and also I leave loads of toys. don't know if it will work but it worked for me :xfngr:

Thanks for all the advice. I left the radio on for him and closed the windows and turned on the a/c... it's going to be 80 today... yuck. Do you think dogs prefure... country, rock, jazz, or talk radio... humm

Actually, I do not know if there is any truth to it or not, but one of my sister's told me that she read about a study showing that dogs prefer country music. (I suggested the study was paid for by the Country Music Association!) I leave Animal Planet on the television when I leave, although my crew does not really pay much attention. They do pay attention when I sing in the car, looking at me like I am crazy!

Hope one or more of these ideas are helpful to you and Chester.

*lol* Country music eh.. well, who knows, I just pick a radio channel randomly, but might try it myself, I wouldn't be surprised if I came home one day and they were line dancing with my cats or something!

Try classical. It will relax him. Maddy loves it.
Pam