absolutely! christina, if you decide to do something about the dog, one possible solution would be to volunteer to take it for one or more long walks while the owner is away... or go over with a chuckit ( http://www.caninehardware.com/products/chuckit/chuckit.html ) and run the dog until it's too tired to bark.

i gotta disagree with you, there, lee. while discipline is a must and does improve a dog's overall mental stability, there isn't really any way to teach a dog that s/he shouldn't bark unless there's someone around to enforce the rule. (or a proxy, like a shock collar or citronella collar... and if you're not going to fix the underlying problem of boredom and isolation, putting a shock collar on the dog all day is just cruel.)

if this dog were barking constantly while the owner was home, that would be different. "howdy, neighbor! have you ever considered telling your dog to shut up?"

That seems wrong to me. A housebroken dog doesn't start shitting on the rug just because no one's around. I'm talking about instilling good habits through obedience training, and that absolutely does affect an animal's behavior even when no one is around at the moment.

Yeah, a shock collar as a permanent solution would be terrible, no question.

Also, I have been in a few situations where a dog was making noise pretty much all day long, so presumably the owner was there at least some of that time. I honestly do think that part of the problem here is really awful owners who have basically put zero effort into helping their pets adapt to their environment.

dogs do have a natural sense that there's a place poop and pee should go, and if they're taught that the place is somewhere outside, and if the house doesn't smell like poop or pee from previous accidents, they'll be able to extrapolate that rule to "even when no one's around". that's assuming the dog wasn't from a puppy mill or poorly managed shelter where they had no choice but to poop right next to where they slept. enough time spent in that environment, especially during a developmentally sensitive time, and they'll lose their squeamishness.

barking isn't like that. dogs can be more or less vocal, depending on the breed and individual, but they don't have much sense of propriety about when/where to bark.

those dogs you knew who were loud all day while the owner was there were definitely in need of some, er, guidance! but you can't expect a dog to be quiet while the owner's gone unless s/he's had some exercise and mental stimulation beforehand.

Thanks. I'm guessing they don't share their distress when their owners return because their anxiety situation has been remedied, so the only ways the dog owners would know would be from concerned neighbors or Animal Control. I own a different kind of animal that isn't allowed outdoors, so when it's left to a sitter or kennel owner during long absences, it lets us know for an hour afterward of its distress. Don't want to compare apples to oranges.

if a dog is just barking incessantly because it's bored, it would stop barking when the owners came home, because something's happening now. if there's separation anxiety all wrapped up with the boredom, sometimes dogs can hold a grudge for a while, or alternatively fawn all over the owner, "OMG OMG I THOT U LEFT FOR EVERS!" but anxiety and boredom aren't the same thing.