Dog Community

Barking at Lights!!

Posted : 3/21/2006 4:17:09 PM

Winnie is driving me nuts and I don't know how to stop it. Every day about this time, our neighbor's sun catcher picks up the afternoon light and creates prisims all over the kitchen ceiling, even when the blinds are closed. She goes crazy and barks at them and chases back and forth across the kitchen floor. She's doing it right now.

She looks frightened (tail is tucked under) of the prisims and I don't know how to fix it or how to make it better. Since I'm working at home, I can't just have her out because then she drives me nuts otherwise (she's learned to "place" - to sit on a cushion in my office, but she won't do it for more than about 10 minutes at a time - then she gets up and wants to play and it takes work to get her to "place" again.)

I also don't want her frightened of light like that - how's she going to react if we have lightning storms. Suggestions please?

ewin0210

Posted : 3/22/2006 8:56:14 AM

Oh, that really stinks! My dog loves to chase lights. Maybe she's just frustrated because she can't reach them and that's why she's barking. If the barking drives you nuts and she won't stop, you could try crating her when its that time of day. Or, if you're on good terms with your neighbor, maybe you can explain it to her and she can move it to another spot where it won't reflect into the house.

emily

lukats

Posted : 3/24/2006 11:19:31 AM

We had the same problem with our Standard Poodle and were able to resolve this obsessive/compulsive behavior. We were told to get one of those little horns that replicates the sound of a wounded animal. We found one at an Academy in the hunting department. When the dog started the behavior, we would turn our back on the dog and blow the horn and slowly walk away. The point is to not let the dog know that you are the source of the terrible sound. Also, the sight of the owner walking away is a bit disturbing to the dog. With time, the behavior stopped and has not returned.

marynh

Posted : 3/24/2006 3:32:52 PM

the dog I grew up with did this and particularly with a flashlight beam.
We realized it started right after she got spayed so we wondered if the last thing her brain stored away before the anesthesia kicked in was the overhead light and it left its mark.

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Posted : 3/25/2006 12:02:07 AM

Max isn't afraid of lights, but he sure loves to chase them. He gets as excited about seeing a flashlight coming out of the draw as he does his leash. A long time ago I made the mistake of showing him that the hand mirror could pick up and reflect the overhead lights onto the carpet in the bedroom. Now every morning when I start to get ready, he's right there waiting to play with the lights for a few minutes.

huskymom

Posted : 3/25/2006 12:13:49 AM

Its to bad she's so noisy about it. It could be a great way for her to exercise on her own!

Keithprice

Posted : 1/29/2013 3:16:55 AM

fuzzy_dogs_mom
Max isn't afraid of lights, but he sure loves to chase them. He gets as excited about seeing a flashlight coming out of the draw as he does his leash. A long time ago I made the mistake of showing him that the hand mirror could pick up and reflect the overhead lights onto the carpet in the bedroom. Now every morning when I start to get ready, he's right there waiting to play with the lights for a few minutes.

My dog loves to bark at bright lights. In evening she does not allows anyone to enter with car having too bright lights.

* edited by Moderator to remove link to unrelated topic*

Freedom

Posted : 1/29/2013 9:53:56 AM

I will come at this from a different angle. Would it help to put some vinyl window film up to dampen the prisms? I don't know how many windows you are talking about to know if this is doable. Here is one link, they do have just frosted somewhere too: http://www.mileskimball.com/MilesKimball/displayitem.aspx?id=309923

I was also surprised no one suggested asking the neighbor it the item could be relocated.