We have two beagle/basset hound mixes that live across the street.

They like to bay/howl...a lot. Our dog Toby, who's a fluffy, friendly Golden Retriever, seems to crave the canine companionship of these two dogs in the worst way. Unfortunately, our neighbors are very private people, and have never allowed their dogs to socialize with the other dogs on our block. We hardly know them, to be honest.

So...in order to facilitate a "long-distance" relationship with those two dogs, *our* dog has taught himself how to howl/bay. Loudly. When I let him go outside for relief purposes and play (we have a 30+ foot run that stretches from our backyard to our front yard, and he's attached to it with a 10-foot cable) he will get as close to the street as he can, and commence with the loud combination howl/bay. This ALWAYS results in a harmonic howl/bay from the hounds across the street, which is presumably the point. Sometimes the other dogs start the ruckus, and Toby joins in. However, the noise is more than a little nerve-rattling and disturbing.

I am rather proud of my dog-training finesse, but even *I* have not been able to train this away. So long as the neighbor's dogs are over there making this noise, Toby has more than enough positive reinforcement to justify ignoring ME and having fun with THEM. This always happens during daylight hours, and it's not constant, so I can't really complain about the noise itself, and since our friendly overtures toward said neighbors have largely been rebuffed, I am uncomfortable talking to them about it.

So...here's my dilemma. Should I make a fluffy rug out of my dog, or would two dozen pairs of extremely fluffy slippers be a better option?

:rofl:

aaaarrrrOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*hint hint*

Toby's an entirely-inside dog who sleeps in a kennel that's 4x6 feet, and our living room is only big enough for one right now. He's too big for a companion dog that's smaller than he is--he loves to wrestle and pounce, and I'd be afraid of what 100 lbs of hyper Golden Retriever might accidentally do to a littler dog. As soon as we find a place where we can comfortably fit two extra-large kennels inside the living room, I have every intention of finding him some female big-dog companionship--spayed, of course.

http://www.comforthouse.com/pesconforout.html

My stepdad used one with his obnoxious chocolate lab. Seemed to work.

*Disclaimer: I know nothing about training dogs and have no idea if this is cruel or not.