Anti-bark collars

[Pawsitive Thinking]

has anyone used these - do they work?

[sanford8916]

I thought they sounded like a good idea for a dog that barks alot but not anymore. I have a friend and her dog would bark at everyone that walked by their house, so she put a barking collar on him. Well he barked, it shocked him, which made him yelp, then it shocked him again, yelp, shock, you get it, so she tried to get the collar off him and he bite her hard enough that she had to get stitches and he only bite her because he didn't know what the heck was happening( he was scared and thought she was hurting him) He is a good dog and has never showed any signs that he might bite, this was not his fault. She returned the collar and was very upset with herself for putting her dog through that! I think I would talk to a dog trainer to see what they recommend if your dog barks alot!

[Glacier]

I'd recommend a citronella collar over the shock type ones. I've seen some dogs get very messed up from the shock ones. The citronella ones give out a spray of citronella or lemon scent every time the dog barks. Dogs generally don't like citrus smells so they will stop barking to avoid it.

I bought Nytron a muzzle called a Husher yesterday. It's a thick elastic, so he can pant and drink with it on. The theory is that the elastic makes it too much work to bark. Too early to say if it will work, but it looks promising.

Of course, as with any training device, you have to be there to make sure it's working. I wouldn't leave any type of collar(besides a normal one) or muzzle on an unsupervised dog.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Thanks for the replies - may just buy Archie or my husband earplugs!!!

[GreyhoundGirl]

A friend of mine has one for her lab X grey. It works quite well, but the dog is too smart for it. The dog trained itself.

The collar only zaps the 3rd time. Now the dog knows to bark twice, then stop for 3 secs, then bark twice again. And people say dogs can't count !

[Argranade]

Hahahaha what a smart dog.

[Kosy]

I have a remote citronella collar. It's great.

[catnapper]

The problem with bark collars is that it stops the problem but doesn't get to the bottom of the issue. So if the dog is barking to say hello, he might opt for alternative (less attractive) ways of saying hello like juming up. OR he might associate the shock with the person he's saying hello to and become human agressive. If he's barking from hyperness (is that a word?) then he'll take out his energy (again in less attractive) ways.... digging, scratching, jumping, chewing. You get the picture.

The citronilla collars work well, until you get a smart dog that figures out he can turn his head (naughty naughty!) The ultra sonic sound collars can actually turn certain breeds deaf because they rupture the eardrum. Some breeds just have such sensitive hearing that the pulse from the collar deafens them.

To truly solve barking issues, you need to discover why a dog barks. People often say they bark all the time. But, if you stopped and kept a log of when they barked and what was happening, you'd see a pattern develop. One bark that says "yippie, visitors!" andother bark that say "I'm bored, give me attention" and another that says "Stay away from my house you evil squirrel!" Once you kow which bark it is, then you can work on training him to stop. Each type of bark has a different way to stop it. Visitors may not pet the dog until he's quiet. The command "leave it" works well for those evil squirrels.... and so on until you've solved barking.

Some breeds are known barkers -- were bred for their barking abilities so you'll never completely rid them of barking. Nicki used to be great about inappropraite barking, but now she's old and I swear she pretends to not hear our commands She's been driving us nuts with barking lately so I understand how frustrating this is!

[luvofallhorses]

I personally wouldn't use one on any of my dogs. why? dogs bark and that's what they do. that's their way of expressing themselves. my hound is a barker like no other and I am just used to it now. Rocky, our lab only barks once in a blue moon out of protectiveness or he howls sometimes. Ginger has a yippy yappy bark and Jenny has a deep bark. maybe the ones the are effective like the cintronella bark collars, but you wouldn't ever find me using one. JMHO

[cyber-sibes]

I found it very helpful. I used one with my rotti-mix as she would bark all night at other dogs barking (lots of them in our old neighborhood). But I also worked with her a great deal - till she understood "Hush, no bark" and "Good girl, no bark" and so on. Eventually she wouldn't bark as soon as I put it on her, even when it wasn't turned on. I only used it at night, and like I said, worked on behavioral training too. Ours had three levels, a mild buzz, then a little stronger, then stronger - don't think she ever barked more than 2x and never yelped. I have also loaned it to my friend for her barking GSD to help train him, she said it worked well.

[wolfsoul]

Visa's breeder tried a bark collar on her when she owned her because she would bark with the neighbor's dogs. The shock collar didn't phase her at ANY level and she learned that if she barked enough, the citronella collar would eventually run out of citronella, so she just barked until it ran out and then she would stop barking. I don't have any barking issues right now, but if I did, I would try either type of collar.

[DrKym]

Goofy barks at wind farts I swear! I have thought about the collar (evil thoughts amuse me) but decided to find out why she is so "barky" we didn't it's just a thing for her we have some sucess with whispering to her it distracts her and she has to shut up to hear us,so far so good. Will let you know if it worked as a long term solution.

[pnance]

I used a training collar on Bear (he's really bad when it comes to barking), which is similiar to the bark/shock collars except I control when it goes off. Since I won't leave it on when I'm not home it worked really well and he could never learn to avoid it. I was able to quit using it after a couple of months. That said my neighbor put one on her dobbie and it hasn't helped at all, so I think it's dog dependent.

[binka_nugget]

Anti-bark collars can be useful but I've never had to recommend them to my clients yet and if I ever do (haven't yet!), I'd recommend the citronella collar over the shock collar. Shock collars are painful! Ouch! I'd only recommend the citronella collar as an absolute last resort as they're expensive (to buy and to refill!), and they're really just bandaids on a problem.. they take care of the barking.. but they don't care of the reason why the dog is barking.

I agree with Catnapper. There are reasons for barking. Some dogs are just bored, some don't like people walking on their territory, some think their purpose in life is to rid the world of evil squirrels and some were bred to bark (unfortunately, I own such a breed. )

Kaedyn has some major issues with barking. The breed is known for constantly "talking", he doesn't like people coming close to his territory, he wants to rid the world of all cats, birds and squirrels, and he gets bored often (my fault.. I work long hours). I try to lessen his motivation to bark by providing more obedience training (easier to mentally tire out a dog than to physically tire it out! ), and working on boundary exercises [not allowed to look out the window and bark at people, dogs, cats, etc]. It helps but he still barks. When he does, I give him a firm "no!" then ask him to do an obedience exercise.. it gives him something to do other than bark, and it gives me a reason to praise him after scolding him.. as he has a pretty soft temperment.

I'd suggest trying just a firm "No!" after barking. Consistency is key though. If that doesn't work, there are a few alternatives. You can also put a few pennies in a can, tape it up and shake it when he barks. I've found most dogs don't like the sound of it. If that doesn't work, you can also try spraying him with water. Doesn't work so well for inside barking but if it's outside, a water gun works really well.. but the key is to squirt him without him seeing.. so that barking=him getting wet/punish.. and not punished by you.. otherwise barking when you're not around, or too far, is a-okay.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Thanks for all the responses....Archie's citronella collar arrived today but I am going to use it in conjunction with the "quiet" command that I have been working on with him.

To be honest the problem isn't really Archie's barking - its my husband's reaction! He thinks sitting on the sofa and shouting "shut up" loudly will work whereas I actually go to Archie when he barks, tell him "quiet" and treat him when he stops!!! If he gets too bad I put him on a lead and he lies quietly at my feet...........

hmmmmm.........maybe I'm training the wrong animal