Q: My 3-year old, 95 pound mixed breed (I'm guessing Australian Shepherd and/or Collie) is aggressive toward the neighbors to the point of biting the chain link fence. The neighbor is admittedly afraid of dogs but insists he has tried to make friends, mainly by throwing dog treats over the fence. Other times, when barked at, the neighbor screams at the dog and showers him with the water hose.

I can take the dog anywhere on a leash and trust him to act admirably, even friendly toward strangers. I receive compliments on his good behavior. Meanwhile, at home the barking is getting on everyone's nerves, including mine. Would a bark-breaking collar be a wise investment? Do they really work? The aggression is really becoming a problem between us and the neighbor. Any suggestions? Thanks.

A: I don't think the barking is the primary problem here. A collar might stop the barking, but make the dog resent the human on the other side of the frustrating fence even more, resulting in greater aggression, more dangerous than barking.

A second fence could be a good solution, separating your dog further from the fence bordering the neighbor's property. Although I'm not a big fan of wood fences, they rot and fall down, there could be some benefit to a fence that also blocked the dog's view of the person.

I wouldn't blame the neighbor for this. Whatever the cause, it's always our own responsibility to control our dogs, and that includes the peace-disturbing barking, as well as threatening behavior. The neighbor is probably really confused about what to do. Heck, there may be times when the dog is barking and biting the fence because this behavior has brought treats in the past!

I would ask the neighbor to totally ignore the dog, and I would not let the dog out in the yard alone, at least until you can build a second fence. You may even need to keep the dog on leash, if you can't get him to instantly stop the behavior and come to you on command when he is in this state of mind. I would communicate to the neighbor that I'm going to stop my dog from doing this behavior. It would be the best way to make peace, both with the neighbor, and with the dog's barking!

I've done the second fence thing in my own yard, and I love it. In my case, the fence encloses an area just out the back door, keeping my dogs off all the property line fence. It prevents so many problems. I also don't leave them out there unsupervised.

Any experience of this kind that happens to your dog in the back yard is a big risk to his safety and to his future behavior in that situation as well as others. It's very much worth the effort to control the dog's environment so that he doesn't get worked up in this manner. I know fences are expensive, and supervision is a lot of effort, but it pays off.