Recycled Dog Bark Stopper to stop the dog from barking

Dog barking is normal.  I know that.  Excessive dog barking is just plain annoying.  My dog, Maddy is a barker, yapper you name it.  She barks when people come over, she barks when they leave and she sometimes barks just to hear herself bark.

What’s a person to do?  There is a simple solution to this dilemma.  It comes in the form of a regular old soda can.  Did I say soda can?  Yuppers, I sure did.   When you turn the can into a mini noisemaker and shake it whenever the barking becomes inappropriate, the barking will stop.

It seems that if you distract a dog’s attention to something other than the object that is causing him/her to bark, the noise becomes the focus and magically the barking stops.  I know, it sounds unbelievable but it really does work! 

I’ve had this can sitting in my foyer for ages and it kind of looks, well, tacky, so I figured why not spruce it up a bit.  So what follows are instructions for my recycled, redecorated dog bark stopper.

P.S.  With New Year’s Eve fast approaching the dog bark stopper also makes a great noise maker for partiers without dogs!

Be very careful while using a glue gun.  They are VERY hot! I do not recommend the use of a glue gun with small children.   I used a glue gun but you can also substitute tacky glue as a child’s project.

You will need:

One empty soda can, washed and dried

Eight or nine pennies

Duct tape

Felt in desired color (I used a mottled beige)

Scrap of darker brown felt

Pompoms (1, large beige, 2 medium beige, and one small black)

Wiggly eyes

9-inch scrap of ½” ribbon in desired color

scissors, pencil, ruler

Hot glue gun and glue sticks (or substitute tacky glue)

Put the pennies inside the can and tape the top with a couple of pieces of duct tape. 

Cut a piece of beige felt 9 inches by 5 inches. 

Place the can, top down on the rest of the beige felt and trace around.  Draw ear like shapes on each side of the circle you just traced.  Cut out.  Fold in half and trim the ears so that they are semi-symmetrical.  (It is not necessary to be exact)

Glue the 9” x 5” piece of felt around the can to cover. 

Glue the top only of the ears piece to the top of the can.

Glue a large pompom on top of head. (Top of can)

Make the face by gluing two medium pompoms halfway down the center of the can.  Make sure you line it up with the ears on each side. Glue the small black pompom in between the two medium ones to make the nose.

Cut two small oval pieces of the darker brown felt and glue above the muzzle.  Glue two wiggly eyes on top.  (Face made)

Glue a 9-inch scrap of ribbon around bottom to represent a collar.