Barking dog in backyard needs some basic training

"The neighbor directly behind me got a new dog, a beagle, about 18 months old. Our backyards are not very large. My neighbor is a man in his early 80s. He takes off for a few hours two or three times daily and leaves the dog outside in his backyard — where she barks, howls and bays the whole time.

"I figured out real quick that my neighbor is afraid to leave the dog in the house because he does not want her damaging the inside of his home. He was, however, concerned about the noise she was making.

"My husband and I politely advised him that his dog barks the whole time he is gone. We understand the dog is in a new territory, but the barking is bad. I asked him why he is not leaving the dog in the house, and he flat-out told me he does not trust the dog to be in the home alone. He seemed overwhelmed and confided that he had wanted a lap dog, but his daughter got him this dog.

"We want to be good neighbors and told him we would call if the dog continues to bark excessively. We want to give him some time to work with his new dog.

"Last Saturday, we were sitting in the backyard talking quietly, and the dog barked for an hour and a half. We peeked across the fence and saw that she was sitting by the back door barking to be let in. I spoke in a soft tone using the dog's name to try to quiet her, but it did not work. My neighbor's next-door neighbor also tried speaking softly to the dog, to no avail. My husband called our neighbor and spoke to him politely to let him know what happened.

"On Sunday, our doorbell rang, and I answered it. My neighbor's daughter was at the door with the dog on a leash. I told her the dog barks continually when her father is gone and asked why the dog is not kept inside when he leaves. She did not give me a straight answer. Instead, she told me that her father has early-stage dementia and she got the dog as a companion for him. She said she is going to train the dog, but in the meantime, when the dog is barking, we should spray her with a hose.

"I told her I am not going to do that to her dog or any other dog. She then basically told me that this is the new dog on the block and we should deal with it.

"Could you please give us some advice as to how to deal with this?"

Dogs that are left outside all the time inevitably develop behavior problems that extend beyond excessive barking. As if that's not bad enough.

This dog needs training. A housebreaking program and some solid obedience training would alleviate the man's concerns about leaving the dog inside, where she belongs. It would also help him to better understand and fully experience the joys of dog ownership.