Hello to anyone who reads this.

I'm in need of some desperate help. I have a 13-year-old beagle. I know he's losing a bit of hearing and his eyesight is kind of going. I've been told and read about how these can be factors in an increase in your dog's barking behavior.

Recently, in the last six months or so, my whole family has notice a dramatic increase in our beagle's barking. He's a purely outside dog, so this is getting to be a real stressful problem. In fact, we've already got a polite, but pointed letter from some unknown neighbor asking us to do something about his barking.

The whole family has gotten involved in shushing him if any of us are home. We even bought him one of those humane, gentle spray citronella no-bark collars. We thought it might have increased his barking, but in the last week to ten days, it's gotten bad again. Barking at all hours of day or night. Barking at things only he can hear/see. In the last few days I've had to run out at midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m. to try to confine him to the enclosed patio area.

s you can imagine, I, and my family, are at our wit's end. I have no idea what to do. I did read that barking can be a sign of boredom as well. I've tried toys and chew things in the past, but he finds absolutely no interest. He'll chew or toss them around for a few minutes, then abandon them or run away and hide them so we never find them again.

overall, I'm hoping anyone who is reading this who might have something to suggest...please! Something to entertain him or some technique we can try to stop the barking. As I mentioned already, nothing works. I put him in time-outs, we've sprayed him with a squirt water bottle. I've got the spray collar. I've tried to scold with the tricks I learned years ago in puppy class. I feel like he's so old that nothing at this point is working. I'm hoping that's not the case because I'm so very afraid that neighbor who sent the letter will get annoyed enough to call the proper people and we get a ticket.

rry for the long-winded message, but I really at at my saturation point. If anyone can help, has some articles, some books to read, etc, please, please!

Thank you,

Natalie

It can also be a sign of dementia. If it's a new and somewhat sudden thing I would get him a check up first. Since he's an outside dog you don't have a very good idea of his general health, he should have a going over. I would also be proactive and confine him before I went to bed.

Why is he an outside dog? I've honestly never seen the point of having an outside dog. Imagine how boring and pointless his little life is. I would bark all the time too. Maybe he tried it once and found he got some attention from it, so he keeps doing it. Dogs are very much like kids in that respect, even if you're running around spraying him it's attention. The punishment is worth it.

You could get him a friend. That might help decrease the tedium a bit.