Basil Chupin wrote:

What you need to do is to train the dog to behave by punishing bad
behaviour on its part. Do what dog trainers do with problem dogs (and
charge you lots of $$$).

Go to the hardware shop and get about a foot/300mm length of iron chain
- the links are ~1"/25mm long and are galvanized. Get a couple of
lenghts, it's cheap.

Now, every time the dog runs up and down the fence barking, chuck the
length of chain against the fence about where the dog is. The chain
hitting the fence makes a loud "ringing"/clanging noise (you'll know
what I mean the first time you do it) and this gets the attention of the
dog as well as frightens it. As you throw the chain yell out, "Quiet!"
or, as trainers usually say when training dogs, "NO!". You will find
that in no time at all the thing will stop barking.

If your neighbour complains then you have a choice of either having a
fight with him/her, explaining what you are trying to do, or telling
him/her that you have full right to chuck whatever you want at your side
of the fence (bearing in mind that you and your neighbour are 1/2-owners
of the fence and it is only your side that you are punishing with the
chain).

BTW, if you travel with a dog in your car and it barks at every car
passing by or other dogs it sees out of the window, carry a basin (a
metal basin, washbasin) and drop the chain (with a bit of force) and
say, "NO!" everytime the dog carries on - and this will stop the dog
from misbehaving. This approach can also be used if your fence is one of
those at which you are not able to chuck a chain and if so place a few
metal buckets stragetically along the fence.

By using the chain approach either the dog will give up it's barking
very very quickly or the neighbour will get the message and keep the
bloody thing inside so as not to hear the chain hitting the fence.

(If you think that this is a bit of a leg pulling on my part, I trained
our dog, who was a stray, from barking this way and even now, some 7
years after the training, a simple gentle jingle of the chain (which now
normally sits in one of my desk drawers as a momento) makes him prick
his ears up. The chain has a very distinctive "ring" when handled and
totally different to, say, bunch of keys which he recognises as me about
to go to the garage and follows me out.)

Cheers.

Basil, I stopped our dog from barking (and howling at the moon and
whining at the back door) by using your method with one small
modification. Instead of using a loud chain, I used a water cannon!
(Well, not really... 'water cannon' sounded good, but it was actually
one of those far-reaching water guns they sell to kids in toyshops). I
started with your basic squishy-bottle, but that soon ran out of range
as the blessed dog began racing up the back yard in her efforts to avoid
it. No, the water gun was the way to go. Within three days, I only had
to pick it up and she would stop barking. Within a week, calling out
'No' from the kitchen shut her up. Within a fortnight, she had
completely stopped barking!

Khangu, all you do is squirt the dog full in the face as it barks. Say
'No' in a firm, commanding tone (do not shout: you'll find yourself
shouting more and more loudly and will ultimately lose your voice and
still have a barking dog...). The idea is to associate the word 'No'
with the squirt and the cessation of barking. Dogs are really bright and
Rottweilers are among the brightest, so this one ought to respond fairly
quickly.

(NB. The garden hose won't work because it takes too long to go out,
pick it up and turn the tap on. You need the instantaneous satisfaction
of a water gun that you can keep handy by the back door.)

It might be a kindness to discuss with your neighbours what you plan to
do. I wouldn't take kindly to anyone assaulting my Alice without my
say-so! If the neighbours express a desire for you *not* to discipline
their dog, then you have every right to get exactly the whistle you
describe. Or, perhaps a loud hooter which is even *more* annoying to the
neighbours than their dog's barking is to you. I don't think hurting the
dog is the best way to go. 'tsnot the dog's fault it annoys you - it's
just being a dog.

HTH,

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia