Michelle Nichols of Reno, Nevada, the BusinessWeek podcaster who offered interviewing interviewing tips in item #1 above, is now asking your help with this dilemma:
“I have two Lab-type dogs, and I record my weekly podcasts for BusinessWeek from my home office. Occasionally, the dogs decide to bark for no discernable reason, and it’s a real problem for the recording. I just need them quiet for a maximum of 30 minutes.
“Here’s what I’ve tried to eliminate the barking so far:
1. Put them in my master bedroom with the drapes closed so they can’t see any distractions 2. Bought them each a $15 Nylabone they only get to chew when I’m recording. 3. Take them out for a bathroom break just before we record so I know they’re empty, and give them a water bowl so I know they’re not thirsty.
I thought about:
1. Putting them in my car in the garage but worried they’d bark or eat the car 2. My non-dog-owning boss suggested a muzzle but that sounded harsh. They won’t die of dehydration in 30 minutes but still, I don’t like the risk of having them muzzled and out of sight.
Do you or your dog-loving readers have any other suggestions?
I work from home and have two labs and a beagle, so I can empathize.
Try taking them for a brisk walk or playing some frisbee with them in the yard shortly before you record your podcast. That should tire them out, and hopefully they will sleep through your recording session.
Michelle, when I do teleseminars for MarketingIdeaShop.com, I take my dog to “doggie daycare.” It’s $15 well spent to know that Lulu will be comfortable and I won’t have a problem with a barking dog during my recording session.
I also put a note on my door that tells all UPS, FedEx and other delivery people that I am recording a teleseminar and asks them not to knock on the door or ring the bell. Finally, I turn off my fax machine, printer and any machines that can make noise so I don’t have to worry about that noise either.
I hope these tips help. You might want to pick up a copy of Dan Janal’s ebook,”Secrets of Conducting No-Hassle, Highly Profitable Seminars on the Phone: Everything You Need to Know To Be The Perfect Master of Ceremonies!” http://tinyurl.com/ydvbxx
Lois Carter Fay
http://www.MarketingIdeaShop.com
Hi Michelle,
A suggestion: Get four medium sized Kong(r) toys. Smear the inside with a layer of peanut butter and then stuff them with your dog’s kibble (food). Keep layering the peanut butter and food until the Kong is *stuffed.* Put them in the freezer until you’re ready to record your podcasts. Then hand them out and off you go to do your recording… Dogs are happy and quiet and you can get your work done. It’s a win-win!
A question: Can they stay in the room with you? I have four (!) in the room with me now — all fast asleep and silent. (Two Labs, a hound/Great Dane, and an Australian shepherd.)
Thankfully I do not have this problem as my dog is blind and deaf…he doesn’t have a lot to bark about… 🙂
Have you considered “doggy day care”? These kinds of places are popping up everywhere and some of the larger retailers for pet supplies are offering it as well. You can take the dogs in for a few hours to have playtime and snacks and in turn, you’ll get peace and quiet to do your recording and worn out dogs. If I recall correctly, the cost isn’t outrageous either…
Good luck!
We have a Westie and a golden retriever puppy. We have typically crate trained our dogs in the past, but this time my husband didn’t want to – it was havoc. Ruined yard, plants, shoes, etc. So, now we have two kennels. The dogs get a treat to go into their kennel and then have a toy or two to combat boredom. They lay quietly while we are at work or when we have guests with small children that the puppy is overwhelming to. For the puppy, it only took her one day to figure it out and she doesn’t whine or anything, but you have to be tough – don’t give in! We started her with the kennel when she was about 8 months old, but it has worked. The Westie has had a kennel since day one and LOVES his!
Then you can have them in the kennel while you are working or need to be undisturbed and they are happy in their own personal space. Good luck!
Take the dogs for a good run so they are tired and they will be ready for a rest. The extra exercise will also put you in a better clearer frame of mind befoe you start your podcast.
Your current method is pretty good. I would add a few ideas to that. Put them in separate crates in a quiet room far from your home office. That way you can cover the crate with a sheet so they have no visual distractions and are not tempted to start play time with each other. If they have never been crate trained, you should consider it. If you ever want to travel or are forced to evacuate for a storm, it’s a good idea to get them used to a crate. They are the safest method for travel. Crating uses their natural den instincts. After they have made good associations with the crate (feed them and treat them in there with the door open) you should leave them in the crate for short amounts of time and increase it gradually each day. Make sure they are tired and fed before you get them in there. Take them for a LONG walk (at least 30 minutes) that ends 15 minutes before crating or a meeting. A treat or a little snack will get help too. Make sure they have used the bathroom, then it’s nap time in the crate. Do this ritual daily so they are used to it. You can also throw a kong toy containing a treat inside to entertain them if they are bored.
Here’s the deal, just because you’re in a home office does not give your dogs the right to be little children. Adult dogs need to be taught skills so they can quietly entertain themselves while you work. There is no magic pill to cure some symptoms occasionally when your schedule demands quiet. Making sure your dogs needs of exercise and boundaries are met each day will go a long way to help with the day to day annoyances like barking.
This might be stating the obvious, but can you hire a responsible neighborhood teen or pet sitter to take them for a nice walk while you record. Labs can be a handful because of their size, so an experienced pet sitter/dog walker would probably be best.
Buy a couple Kongs and fill them with peanut butter or other favorite treats! It will keep them occuppied for quite a while between chewing on the toy and trying to lick it all out! If you want to get really fancy, you can buy one of those timed Kong dispensers that shoots out Kongs every so often 😉
Good luck!
My client, Bash Dibra, is an animal behaviorist, celebrity dog trainer and author of six books and a video. Suggest you go to his web site, http://www.bashdibra.com and purchase his book or video, “Teach Your Dog to Behave” that includes a chapter on BARKING PROBLEMS. You could also email him at bashdibra@earthlink.net or call at 718-796-4541.
Try giving them each a thick beef marrow bone — you can get them in the meat department of your grocery store. Or try providing a sterilized marrow bone (find at pet supply stores) and fill with cheese or peanut butter. That should buy you a couple of hours!
My dog loves nothing more than a kong filled with frozen peanut butter. If your dogs are allowed to have this treat, here’s my suggestion for keeping them quiet for a half hour. Buy two kong chew toys, which are hollow and are intended to be filled with treats. Fill with peanut butter and toss in the freezer overnight (we wrap ours in plastic wrap). When it’s showtime, give each pup a kong and they might just lie down and work on that treat for the whole 1/2 hour! Works like a charm at our house – but I’d suggest keeping them in the kitchen on the tile or linoleum- the peanut butter gets messy as they gnaw at the kongs. Cheers!
I don’t have any suggestions, just sympathy. I also work from home and Pepsi (border collie mix) has a perfect sense for when I’m on the phone with a client and trying to sound professional. Invariably, that will be the one time during the day she must urgently bark. I just cover the mouthpiece and try to move farther away from her.
Dogs bark for a number of reasons. Some are curable and some not. The easiest to cure is “recreational” barking (or howling). It requires consistency on your part.
Recreational barking is from boredom. “Pay attention to me”. Any attention, including hollering at them, is still attention and reinforces the bad behavior.
Whenever they bark without cause, spray them in the face with water (a squirt gun or squirt bottle will do) and say “NO” forcefully, then pay no attention to them for at least 15 minutes (unless they bark again). Dogs hate that.
Never give them attention when they bark from boredom. Instead give them the spray treatment. It’s okay to give them love and attention when they’re being good. After all, that’s why you have pets.
Remember, it takes the average dog 4 days to learn a new thing.
You can’t stop dogs from barking at intruders or strange noises (it’s their job), but that doesn’t sound like your problem.
Why not make lemonade? In other words, do what you can to keep the dogs quiet, but if they do bark incorporate it into your podcast. “Well, it sounds my dogs like this concept too!” Most people love a glimpse of an expert’s humanity. And if it’s a really long episode of barking you can always edit it out.
Hi Michelle,
I’m just a fellow dog lover and my thought was what about hiring a dog sitter or dog walker to take them outside. They’d be safe and supervised. If a pro is too expensive, maybe there’s a trustworthy teen in your neighborhood looking for a few extra bucks especially during the summer.
Good luck.
Cheryl Pickett
As one who is owned by three dogs, I’ve found that when I need to have some peace and quiet for interviewing or just plain phone time, I have to work for it, by letting them run out of steam.
I have a couple of real barkers at home…leaves falling, the neighbor’s in their driveway 2/10 of a mile down the road-but visible, birds flying…anything will get my pups going!
Take your dogs for a drive in the car (my secret weapon and doesn’t take long)…take them outside and play for a while to burn off the steam. If they are labrador retreivers, they should be good fetchers which can tire them out.
Oh, BTW, muzzles won’t stop them from drinking and probably won’t make them stop barking or making noise. It’s just enough that they can’t bite, which is the only reason a dog should be muzzled.
Hore a dogwalking/sitting service to come to your home and take the dogs out for 45 minutes when you are planning to do a podcast. That way they get excercise and fun and you get peace and quiet.
Hi Michelle,
Have you thought about having a dog walker take them out for some exercise? I own a dog walking service and we exercise our clients dogs for a good 30 minute walk. The dogs will come home happy and may look forward to a quiet nap. It will cost less than the 2 nylabones and the dogs will enjoy it more. You can find someone at http://www.petsit.com. Check out the pet sitter locator with your zip code. Also, they could still probably bark with a muzzle on. Good luck. Jan Q.
My favorite tip for keeping my Lab baby quiet 🙂 . . .
I always keep a Kong toy in the freezer that is filled with peanut butter. When I need quiet in the house, I just give her the peanut butter-filled Kong and don’t hear a peep from her for about 45 minutes! Labs are particularly food motivated, so this really works for them well.
Thanks for looking for an animal-friendly solution!
I can offer some suggestions that might work.
1. Give the dog a healthy meal then keep it in a pen. Being bloated the dog is less active less likely to bark. But there is always the doggie mess issue dogs tend not to not do this in the same area they are resting so with the pen you can control when and where this happens
2. Just have someone take the dog outside or keep distracted when you record
3. Record during the natural times that the dog will be asleep. Dogs have a natural rhythm to this.
4. Record outside I know it sounds funny but when it’s hot I think dogs know they need to shut down and preserve energy so they’ll less likely to bark
5. I think smaller dogs tend to be barkers more than big ones. May not be much you can do when the dog’s genes are telling it to bark.
6. Hate muzzles I think you should only use them with concerns about biting, that’s it.
7. When you record can the dog hear you but not see you? The dog may think that you being part of the family are in danger the barking warns attackers. So let the dog see you so it knows you are ok.
8. Related issue. The dog may think it’s the Alpha in the family. There might be a control issue going on. You might need to reinforce that you’re the Alpha male in the family.
Hire a dog walker, a neighbor or professional, to take them outside for the time you are recording. Or enroll them in a doggie day care program, where they can enjoy a few hours romping with others while you do your thing.
hi,
right before your big phone call take your dogs out for a run for about 30 minutes or so. Then, when they come in give them a stuffed Kong or a large raw beef knuckle bone.
Another trick is to schedule a dog walker to come by and take your dogs out to the beach or the park while you hold your conference calls. If you live in a neighborhood that has teenagers or college students, you can probably have one of them come by every day and gladly play with your dogs for an hour or two.
Depending where you live you can make use of a doggie day care center. Some have 1/2 day play programs with pick-up and delivery.
Good luck,
ami moore
Some people do not like the idea of bark collars that correct with a shock, but because this is for only 30 minutes at a time, and it is extremely important to your livelihood (and your ability to earn enough to buy dog food) I would invest in one (or two). Use the instructions that accompany the collar. They can be had for around $50 on ebay. I purchased one for one of my dogs who would bark at campgrounds when we walked away to take out the trash or visit the camp store. If we went back to her, we were rewarding the behavior. It we stayed away, we were disturbing other guests. This seemed to the only solution. We don’t keep it on her all the time, by any means. Only when necessary. Smart dogs will get the idea after a couple small shocks and won’t bark when wearing the collar.
I have 2 kids, had a big dog (sadly, recently had to have him put to sleep due to a horrible condition he had), and often work from my home office, so noise control is often an issue for me too. While I have not gone to this extent since my work does not rely on sound quality, perhaps you could look into sound-proofing your office. Not sure what the cost or effectiveness would be, but you could certainly at least minimize noise impact, whether it’s the dogs or the Fed-Ex guy. Seems like it would be more sensible to control your surroundings, rather than trying to control every potential impact on them — who knows when a big truck with an obnoxious horn, or random kid with a pack of firecrackers, will let loose in your neighborhood!
Look at it from another angle: incorporate the barks into the show! Anticipate an occasional bark or whine and have a couple of comments ready that tie in to each show. [‘barking up the wrong tree,’ ‘sniffing out a good option,’ ‘taking a bite out of your investment,”having a bone to pick with your accountant’ etc.]
What are the dogs’ names? Why not mention them when you sign off at the close of the podcast? This could turn into a kind of added attraction!
Michelle,
I trained a service dog for my mother who has Alzheimer’s. Her dog was allowed to accompany her wherever she went–restaurants, movie theaters, doctor’s offices, the mall, grocery stores, airplanes, etc. He helped her get dressed, bringing her articles of clothing on command, picked up anything she dropped, carried a pillow for her to sit on, and even carried our “doggie bags” out of restaurants. He never barked in public, unless I told him to.
Strange as it seems, try training your dogs TO BARK. On command. Once you train them to bark, you train them NOT TO BARK. One of the best books I read was Dog Tricks For Dummies—might even be where I learned this.
I can walk you through it if you like.
Want to see a dog with 3 tails? Click here: http://www.amisimms.com/gonetodogs.html
Ami Simms
Author, Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece
Hi! Perhaps you could go into the garage in the car and the dogs where ever you put them when you go out. I guess do it early before it is too hot! The car is really good for recording, pretty sound proof. I recorded an interview for a student one time in the car. Could you record your podcast remotely? I have no idea.
Donna Cook
I had to chuckle at this because I took my parrot to
a pet/walk/fundraiser Michelle and her daughter put
on for the Cancer Society and even outside Harpo’s noise is horrendous!
Hi Michelle,
1. You can put up an advertisement at your local high school for a dog walker. Offer volunteer hours as opposed to pay since many students have to do so many hours of community service per year to be included in their credit hours for graduation.
2. Do a pet swap sitting service, where you agree to watch a friends dog/pet a set day and time for 1 hour per week and they watch your dogs 1 hour per week.
It’s summer! Lots of kids are home and bored. Ask a neighbor or friend’s kid to walk your dogs for an hour. Who knows? You could inspire them to become an entrepreneur and start a dog walking business.
I love, love, love my dogs and have had some of the barking issue myself. If you ever watch the Dog Whisperer, his suggestion would be a LONG walk. Tire out the dog. 45 minutes at least, right before. Tired dogs do not want to bark.
And of course some of the other ideas suggested most certainly will add to it.
I see many great tips on the dog blog. But don’t under any circumstances resort to the electric shock collar I see suggested in some posts.
As an additional precaution, Michelle, you can use some of the techniques recording studios use. When I was in the music publishing business in Nashville, we had a recording studio set up in a carriage house surrounded by fenced yard. Some of the biggest hits of the 1980s were written and recorded in this little room we called “The Studio By the Dogs.” You can guess we had a problem similar to yours!
Here are two ideas:
Obtain a device commonly used in recording studios which is designed to solve the exact type of sound intrusion problem you are experiencing. It’s called a “gate” or “noise gate” and is triggered by any intruding sound louder than a level the user sets using a control on the device. When the sound exceeds the predetermined level, the gate closes or opens according to how you have it set up. Recording studios use it to silence the passages in between sounds to keep noise levels down. You can use it in the same way, set to open only when your voice is in use, which will cut out the barking if it is not as direct and loud as your voice on the microphone. Alternatively you may be able to set it up to filter out sharp, loud sounds like barks. Either way, your recordings will be much cleaner!
Another trick you can use is to obtain a graphic equalizer and “notch out” the frequency surrounding the deeper voice of your dog so the recording will not pick it up.
For the very best results, you can even try a combination of the two.
Good Luck!
Wow! Joan, you and your crew are awesome! I hope you can generate some additional publicity just by the fact that you received at least 33 great ideas on this common problem. Thank you, thank you! (That’s from Penny and Oreo, my dogs.)
[…] Offices and Barking Dogs Joan Stewart of The Publicity Hound’s Blog asks her readers to help Michelle Nichols of BusinessWeek with a dilemma that a number of us with […]
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