Nobody wants to admit that they have a problem child. You always think that other people’s children are naughtier than yours and that your kids can do nothing wrong. That’s how I felt about my two girls dogs, Annie & Emma. Until recently. You see, it’s hard to admit this but they’ve become barkers. Yip, I have two spoilt, naughty, irritating yappers! (OMG, I said it!).

They bark at the neighbour’s dog, the neighbour’s cat, the neighbour himself. They bark at the security guard and cars driving into the complex. They absolutely hate hearing kids playing outside our gate and they detest the hadedahs. KK and I have pretty much ignored it and when we hear them bark, we shout at them. But when we leave the house, I can just imagine what it must be like! I’d hate to be our neighbour.

I kept thinking that my only option was electric shock collars but then the owner of the dog salon told us about a Chihuahua who has to wear a vibrating collar when he has a treatment because he can’t stop barking. (You see, there’s always someone else’s child who is worse than ours).

So we spoke to the Vet who showed us two options: a vibrating/sound dog collar or a sound emitting bird house. We opted for the collars. My girls hate the collars. As soon as I put them on, they slink away and give me the hairy eyeball. The guilt trip kills me! But so far, so good.I think they hate wearing the collars more than the uncomfort of the vibration when they bark. But I need them to learn to stop their ugly habit. I have no other option. I now realize what they mean by ‘tough love’!

I’m holding thumbs that the collars work. I’ll keep you guys posted…