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Doug Miller

In article . com, wrote:
Would've made a lot more sense to find out why the dogs were barking,
and
eliminate the cause...
For the barking to tick off the neighbors, it would seem the dogs were
outdoors

I believe they were being left in a screened porch.

Then they should have been given away to a responsible owner who knows how to
care for dogs properly.

They seemed to
think the dogs competed with each other.

Not relevant. Confining dogs all day in a small area is not proper care, and
responsible dog owners don't do that.

The neighbors were elderly
and home all day, which made them more sensitive to the noise issue.

Not relevant. If the dogs were being cared for properly, there would not have
been a "noise issue".

Out of curiosity, I looked up in a number of dog training books what
the proper solution was for barking, but none of the authors seemed to
have a sure fire cure.

Well, DUH! Dogs bark for many reasons. The idea that there is one "sure fire
cure" for a behavior with multiple causes is insanity.

Dogs bark to chase away intruders. They bark to warn their humans of dangers
such as fire (or intruders). They bark when they're bored. They bark when
they're excited. They bark when they're fearful. They bark when they're happy
and want to play. They bark when they're ****ed off. They bark when they're
startled. And so forth.

As I recall, the typical explanation was
insecurity and the only solution was to make the dogs more secure.

That's one cause, and one solution.

Punishing them was not generally effective.

It rarely is.

My sister-in-law grew up with the same breed of dog and never had this
problem;

I bet she didn't confine them to a screened porch all day long, either.

they'd had an earlier dog that wasn't a barker. These dogs
also had the problem of urinating on the floor when they got excited,
such as when you petted them. My brother hated these dogs.

There are ways of training dogs to eliminate almost any undesired behavior.

Did the family cause the problem somehow?

Yes.

I don't know. I'm generally
inclined to think bad dogs have bad families,

Yes.

but I'm also open to the
idea that even the best environment can't *always* overcome genetics.

It certainly can mitigate genetics to a great extent.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.