[dezertblu]

We have a 3 year old Border Collie, and anyone who ownes a Border Collie will tell you they are a very vocal breed, they don't just bark to hear themselves, but actually bark in differnt manners in a "conversational" way.....I know when Sassy is barking just to let it be known that she is there, or when she is telling me or my husband something, even when its her bark to tell me to do something in a very pushy manner I might add.Teddy my mixed breed, whippet lab...is quiet, he sits back and observes and he says everything with his body language and eyes......if you hear Teddy barking you know there is someone on the property, cat, human or other.Moe on the other hand does a bit of both....he will "tell" the other dogs he is boss and in charge ect, but never barks at me or to me, he will bark for mail delivery or neighbors outback in adjoining yard.....but Moe won't bark for the sake of it.I feel personally just as in the human species.....the canine species has many methods of communication....some like Teddy save the vebal ones for emergency and important reasons only......some like Sassy will be as verbal as they like, as if they understand our language, which Sassy does.....we most certainly must understand what she is saying.....only problem is we don't know thier language...only the tones and influctions in the tones....so I don't know why your dogs barking, there are safe cruelty free methods of breaking them of it, water seems to work for Sassy....but there is also citronella bark collars, not just the electric ones.We actually started out with Sassy using the electric collar, as we moved from the country to in town, and had to change her habbits.We got the one that has adjustable levels of shock..and with her the lowest one, which we tried on ourselves first, was less shock than when you put your tongue on a 9volt battery.It isn't painful , as like I said hubby and I tried it on ourselves first.....its more a sudden shock..as in scarey....and the fright is what stops them.Sassyno longer wears the collar as about 6 weeks after getting it Teddy chewd it off her, he felt it was evil as many other do...so I figured Teddy knows best and didn't replace it....and we went to the water method.....which if your consistent with it will work.