JOSH HUTCHINS.COM

Watch a couple of episodes of The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. Seriously. Pay attention to what he does with "problem dogs" (it usually turns out to be problem owners!) and you'll have some valuable tips on how to save Luna's vocal cords and your sanity.

Why not load her up in the car with you & take her to work with you every day? Nothing like a dog on business calls & lots of dog hair on your business suit to give you that true Montana professional look! No?
Well, doggy classes might help & lots of attention & love. I sure she is just trying to let you know how deprived she is what with the big fence & barbed wire & all!! You mean thang you! LOLOLOLOLOL!! (There is a reason I have a ton of cats & no dogs.)
Good luck, my friend......

I've watched tons of Caesar Milan already. In fact, I have erected a small shrine in my house in his honor, and I worship it daily. I found out later today that she might be in heat. That may have something to do with it...right? Now all I have to do is remove her from the heat...right? SHE'S AN OUTSIDE DOG IN WINTER...HOW CAN SHE BE IN HEAT?!?!?!?

Hutch,

I would recommend against de-barking. I don't know -- it just seems wrong to me. Our oldest dog was de-barked (by a previous owner).

Thoughts?

I was only joking about the surgury thing. In fact, I didn't think it could be done.

Oh ok -- I just missed the humor.

Yes it can be done -- like I said, our oldest dog's last owners had it done to her. I just think it's wrong -- I mean they are a dog and dogs bark.

I'm with you there. But unless the house is on fire or there is a burglar, I don't want her barking at 3 am. And I just saw her today do this: she can stand up with her front paws on the fence and have her whole head above the fence... it's a 5 foot fence.

We have a lab mix that had the same problems barking a cars, shadows, the cops that came to tell us to keep him quiet...(he now lives on my parent's farm - but that's another story). He could also scale a 6 foot privacy fence. One suggestion for both problems - can you keep her inside at night? It solved our problems and it was awesome, he'd lay down and go to sleep the whole night, no barking, no escaping, no cops.

We did that too. And it worked for a while, but then she started waking me up every two hours with that cold wet nose on my face. But alas, Luna hasn't come back since Sunday morning. She ripped a hole in the side of her kennel, then pushed hard enough to break the bolts and split the whole thing in two. We had the kennel literally wedged between the house and the deep freezer. So we haven't seen her since. I did have an appointment to have her spayed today, but I guess I'll have to cancel that. Let me know if any of you out there see an abnormally large and white lab running around.

Have you tried a muzzle? My old neighbor used to show me how to train my Aussie "Dusty" the whole thing revolved around a plastic bowl and a wooden spoon. Digging, BANG BANG, Chewing..yup Bang on the bowl, barking, same old same old. With some consistency and my other neighbors looking at me like I was a COMPLETE (note I am only partial) nut job.after about a month, almost all the problems were resolved, her new owners , find her to be a very great pet and we get visitations...she is still cured of the barking disease. As for the running away, is she using the gate? Dusty was able to nose the gate open and occasionally would actually just unlatch it. we she nosed it, she would push it shut behind her and would show up at the front door a few minutes later. These guys are a lot smarter then we tend to think...If you can't dig your way out...use the gate.

I have an Akbash too. We live on a 200 acre farm and she has free rein of doing her job, which is protecting our property from wolves. Barking and patrolling is what they are programmed to do. Akbash do not take instruction from anyone, including humans and you have to deal with them in a completely different fashion to most other dogs.

Cesar is a hero in this household too BUT he deals with domestic dogs and unfortunately for you, Akbash just are nowhere near akin to regular domesticated dogs as they have never really been domesticated. They don't choose to be with us, they choose to do their job without us and they certainly don't need our help.

As to the barking, this is one of their primary methods of defence. Not an easy problem to stop in the Akbash as this is part of it's genetic programming. You cannot shout at them, you cannot reprimand them so what do you have left? Well not a lot. You CANNOT tell an Akbash to do something they do not want to do so your best resort to trying to contain your dogs barking will be to distract the dog. You will find that with these dogs, almost anything you try to do, will have very short lived success and in no time they will revert to type. Spaying her will likely make no difference to her guarding instinct I'm afraid - I know, I tried it!

I have other dogs (collies and a GSD) and all are highly trained by me and will do whatever I ask of them. The Akbash is NOT the same. The Akbash does whatever she likes when she likes, because she does not take instruction as she is genetically programmed not to. She makes her own decisions and you cannot shout or raise your hand to these sensitive dogs.

I found this site which may give you some pointers on how best to deal with your dog.

http://www.possumhollowfarms.com/aboutlgds.htm

Sorry I was not much help to you, but I sympathise. The howling can become a bit monotonous at times.