Must Protect this House

My delightful little four-legged black daughter barks at everything when in our backyard. No more than 3 seconds after we let her outside she is barking, at what we have no idea. At all hours of the day and night. It is rather unnecessary.

So...facts: She has always been an inside dog but has spent extended periods outside. She is spoiled but can go camping without an RV or hotel.

Fact: I don't want to eliminate barking FOREVA because I still need the guard dog aspect, within a reasonable definition.

Fact: We have wooden privacy fence in the current backyard, our dog barks. Dog left in backyard over 3-day weekend, returned to have neighbors complaining that she barked till nearly midnight every night. They then think she just wore herself out or she would have continued.

Fact: Our house was not broken in to that weekend. There was not a murder most foul nor vandalism.

Fact: Home prior to had a wooden privacy fence, dog did not bark as much. Dog was left in backyard many times over the weekend with no problems or complaining from neighbors. Minus the time the cops were called because there wasn't enough shade.....another story. There was shade.

Fact: Our current housing situation is one of those where the backyard borders the alley/street. Garage is in the back of the house, unlike 'normal' houses where garage in front or on side, does that make sense?

Fact: Previous place of residence backyard bordered other backyards.

Fact: We live in a gated community (I know, we are soooo rich...but we don't have a limo). Therefore, we don't have lots of traffic and it's usually the same elderly ladies with their dogs or the same vehicles going down our back street.

Fact: Callie has sniffed every single post box, fire hydrant, rock, sidewalk, and dog we meet. Numerous times. She loves to meet people and other animals. Except when they nip at her.

Fact: She does not bark at the front facing part of the yard.

Therefore is she seeing more action through the wooden planks that she can't comprehend enough to know there is only one car going down the street? I'm not really sure but it has to be gotten under control. We have weekends at the lake which will be occurring on a regular basis in approximately 3 1/2 months where she will need to stay in the backyard. We also have trips planned in the meantime and I can't be worrying about cranky neighbors and an excessively barking dog.

So does anyone have any suggestions? Shock collar is not accepted.

The Capitan is going to tape black garbage bags or a dark tarp on the inside of the fence which hopefully will eliminate confusion on what her eyes see through the planks. Perhaps that will fix it?

I saw this Dog Spray Bark Control Collar at PetCo earlier and wondered about it. I have a friend who suggested I look into. Has anyone tried it or heard anything? I tried to read reviews from Amazon but the posts at the bottom were about whether atheists have dogs or condemning people for breeding puppies that are going to end up in shelters getting put to death. It was way off topic and weird.


Fact: At least I don't have 2-legged kids! 'Barking' all night in the backyard would be the least of my concerns-chuckle. :)

Cheers.