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3rd Trimester
Barking dogs?!
Hi! Not exactly sure where to post this being as this is my first time. I normally lurk on this board so figured I'd give it a try 
I have two dogs who bark at basically anything they see or hear around my house. Since my husband deploys and I live alone, we have them trained this way to alert me if anyone is coming up to the house. Big mistake! I'm expecting a baby boy in August, and I'm nervous that their barking will cause a ton of sleepless days for baby and I.
My question: Has anyone else had this problem? What steps did you take to tone down the barking? Has anyone used a spray collar? Bark collar? I want to go the most humane way possible. My husband is deploying a month before the baby is born, so I won't have his help in this aspect. Will the barking really bother baby that much? Any training tips? I've read a lot about introducing a new baby to dogs, but I'm not really great at the barking subject. Sorry for the billion questions!! Thanks for the help!
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Re: Barking dogs?!
I adopted a 6/7 year old border collie lab mix and she was VERY barky when I first adopted her. I lived in an apartment, so any time someone would walk down the hallway or she would hear someones keys jingle the crazy barking would start.
I found the best and most humane way to train her was to catch her everytime she would bark and immediately remand her. I allowed a single bark as a warning when she heard someone near our door, but she continued bark my first course would be a quick pinch on her neck. If that didn't work and she continued bark she would be pinned on the ground (gently held down at her neck until she calmed and was able to focus on something other then the noise). This took about a month off constant training though.
Depending on the size and "fight" of your dog in being put into submission (held down) might deter your abilities to train them this way. I of course would not tell you, being pregnant to attempt this with a dog that might flail it's legs out and need a firmer grasp in being held down. When I started I used to have to pick my dog up (she's about 55lbs) and lay her on the ground and hold her down with my whole body... I wasn't preggo at the time so it was a lot easier.
From my understanding because your babys ears are developed they are getting used to all of the muffled sounds they hear on a regular basis (including dog barking). I hoping this is true so we don't have too many sleepless nights either.
As for training, positive reinforcement will be the best, if they bark and you use a word like "quiet" or something else consistently and as soon as they stop barking reward them with treats/praise.
Finally if that doesn't work and you are having lots of trouble with baby sleeping because of barking try the spray collar with citronella they are far more humane than shock collars. The shock collars will have long term negative effects with attitude and such.
Thats what I would suggest.
Good luck!
Our dog is a spaz to I was looking on homedepot.com and they have a machine that sends out a high pitch noise that only the dogs hear to get them to quite down. They obviously don't like the sound and stop barking when it goes off. It was only like $30 or so and you set it up by the front door.
I think if there was anyone outside they would still let out a bark to warn you, but not go on the full on rampage of barking, whining, and squeaking for 10 mins like our dog dose. This reminds me I need to purchase this soon. Anyway we tried to use the shock collar on ours for an invisible fence thing and it didn't work out, I felt to bad. This sounded much more humane.
Ditto PP about positive reinforcement working best. If you say "quiet" the second the dog is quiet pop a treat into their mouth. Sometimes you have to shock them into being quiet, so say it loudly enough so they stop barking. It might take awhile, if they aren't quiet for 5-10 mintues, give them a treat then. But slowly but surely, they should start to associate the word "quiet" with stopping barking and getting a treat. As they learn, make the dog wait a little longer each time to get their treat, so they are quiet for longer before the treat.
Shock collars and physical punishment are not only inhumane, they could work against you...They might start associating whatever noise they hear (kids playing, keys, someone knocking, etc.) with the pain and it could make it worse.
The Pets board on TN might also be ablet o help.
I swear by our Citronella collar. We don't even have to use it anymore it was just the first week and she didn't like the smell (but it's humane, doesn't hurt her).
The Bark Off DID NOT work for us. Total waste of money.
For one dog I had to get him a type of shock collar, it doesn't shock them but it does vibrate when I push the button. He has a VERY high tolerance for pain-he is a rescue and was used as bait during dog fights
I used it for his barking for a little while but I don't like putting it on him that much because he doesn't need it all the time. If I go outside and tell them to be quiet that is usually enough. But I think this baby has heard so much barking in utero that I doubt he'll wake up to them barking at this point lol. If he does then I guess I will have to figure something else out but my dogs are always outside because they love it so much so I doubt that my LO will be able to even hear them once they are out there.