Citronella Dog Collars - Anti-Bark

[Catty1]

I just heard about these today. A woman in my walking group uses them, and swears by them. Also, she didn't need to use hers after a while - the dog would see the collar and stop barking.

Safer than the shock!

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2751019

[Sowa]

I was actually thinking of this too and talked my trainer. Here is the message she sent me:

"I don’t like them much at all, although sometimes if it’s a family being evicted due to barking problems, or taking the dog to the shelter, I’ll sometimes recommend giving one a shot if it is in dire circumstances and it will keep the dog and family in its home. They don’t cause pain, in the way that a shock collar does, but they DO cause a dog to be uncomfortable by spraying a burst of citronella oil into the dog’s face, nose, and sometimes eyes. Many people think they are less aversive than shock collars, because they don’t use electricity, but what a lot of folks don’t consider is how important a dog’s nose is to their world, and how dogs understand scent. Knowing about how much better a dog’s sense of smell is than ours, and how important it is, it may even be more aversive (it doesn’t have to be painful to be aversive!) than a momentary shock because of how long the oil sticks to the nasal passages, hair, etc.

The secondary problem that they come with is the same with the shock collars – once you start using it, if it is effective, you’ll probably be reliant upon it for life, because dogs become very knowledgable about when the collar is on versus off. Most dogs who need to use these collars cannot be weaned off of them, and once you do, the behaviours come back quite quickly. This is because the dog has learned by context, and the behaviour depends on the presence of the collar.

That being said, of course dogs who are trained using food rewards will always need random rewards for good behaviour throughout its life (as any behaviour will only persist as long as it is either reinforced once in a while, or punished for lack of compliance). The learning component is no different. But personally, I would much rather use rewards for good behaviour, over the life of the dog, than punishments for unwanted behaviour, for the life of the dog. "


Not sure if this is useful, but it made me rethink this collar.

[Catty1]

In the case of the woman I mentioned, her husband was concerned about the shock collar. Apparently he put it on his arm and it sent him "halfway across the room".

With either collar the point is that the dog will be conditioned to stop barking, and as in the case above, no longer need the collar. I don't know if the 'dosage' can be adjusted up or down.

Another case mentioned in the discussion is a family who leaves their little dog in the house from the time they leave in the morning til about noon. This little thing barks and barks and barks. Now there are probably a couple of things the family can do - but a collar of some type would seem to be necessary. Crate training would be another solution perhaps.

Again the best thing about either collar is that at some point they won't be needed.


I also heard about an aerosol can that makes a weird sound when used and interrupts the dog barking. Apparently this works well. In the case of the dog alone mentioned above, that wouldn't work so well.

[wishbone]

Not all dogs need it, there are dogs needs to be constantly trained in more often manner and with proper use of this kind of corrective device with proper supervision, it will surely effective. Trainer advice is needed too before buying and using it.

[Freedom]

Positive reinforcement is always a much better training method.

Personally I think stuff like this should be illegal.

[snakemama]

Jasper turned his head and barked off to the side so the spray didn't bother him.

The thing about he shock collar is....it doesn't hurt him, becuase he doesn't bark when it's on. It took him exactly two barks to catch on, and now he just knows that when it's on he is quiet.

I can't find it offhand, but I read a study about dogs who wear bark collars, and it turns out that over time the level of cortisol (the stress hormone) present in their blood decreases. Dogs who bark wind themselves up by barking and tend to have constant high levels of cortisol. Dogs who don't wind themselves up by barking are calmer and less stressed over time.

I've certainly noticed a positive change in Jasper's behavior since we started using the shock collar. He used to pant and bark and drool and bark and scratch the front of his kennel and chew up his beds and bark and bark. Now he still pants a little, but he doesn't scratch at the kennel, drool giant puddles onto his bed, or bark. He also hasn't eaten a bed since we started.

We also tried a vibrating collar, which gave Jasper a full on panic attack.

They're certainly not the right solution for every dog, but they are an excellent solution for some.