# Thoughts on bark collars?



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I would never use a shock collar on my dog. It could lead to associated fear behavior, especially if the dog doesn't immediately connect that barking causes the painful electric shock in the neck.


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

What else would you suggest?


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

With Danny, when he was younger, he was starting to become a problem barker. I decided to shape the behavior into speaking on command. It worked and he stopped barking at every little thing. You have to have very, very good timing, catch her while she's barking and say "speak", and then say "YES!" and give her a treat. That way, she learns that barking when you tell her to earns her something.

Now, if she's barking because she's fearful, you need to get with a trainer to help you with stopping the behavior. A bark collar isn't something I would ever use on one of my dogs. As Megora said, it could cause more fear behaviors in her.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Find an appropriately qualified behavior professional to help you.

- Get in a good basic training class
- Establish appropriate ways for her to get attention from you and others
- Provide management to prevent incorrect behaviors from occuring
- Have a plan for if those behaviors do occur.

Like said...whether she's excited and frustrated or nervous about the people....it could get worse if you are using a product like a bark collar. The barking might stop.... but her underlying emotions will not have changed. She will still be very excited/frustrated or nervous about other people....and probable even more so.


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

We have tried to teach her to speak, but she never picked up the concept. We also did basic training with her, the problem is that she never barked in class.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Renee R said:


> We have tried to teach her to speak, but she never picked up the concept. We also did basic training with her, the problem is that she never barked in class.


She doesn't need to bark in class to address the problem. Chances are, a more solid obedience foundation with continued practice will make it easier for you to redirect her energy into a desired behavior when she starts barking out in public.

When out in public, consider distance to be your best friend. If she can't concentrate on you asking her to sit (or whatever) then she's too close to whatever she's barking at. Gain as much distance as you need to get her in thinking mode, successfully engage her brain and reward THAT behavior.

Time, patience and practice.


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

I now some folks have had success with the citronella spray bark collars. It is an annoying aversive rather than a painful one. I think AboiStop is the company.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

I have a friend with a shitzu that barked like mad - they had low windows and the dog went from window to window barking at any person or dog she saw...
They bought citronella collar (against my advice)...it took her 2 to 3 days to figure out the collar and the barking stopped...
She still wears the collar, but there is no longer any citronella in the canister...
She just doesn't need it any longer...
Going to the windows has nearly stopped...she still gets excited if she can hear someone in the yard and will run around to peek...but the barking has stopped.
Not necessarily the path I would have taken, but it has worked for them and their particular dog over the long term....


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Honestly... I would try to stay two steps ahead of my dog and correct the behavior. Until she settles down, anticipate those situations where you know she is going to bark and make sure you have her on leash and you are right there to correct her (leash pop + firm "NO BARK" correction). <- And for this one, I would check with a trainer in your area and maybe pick up a couple classes. A leash pop is OK if it's quick and moderate. I don't want anyone yanking really hard or hauling at their dogs' necks. 

Other thing is gently taking a hold of the dog by the collar with the one hand and the muzzle with the other and gently holding the mouth shut while firmly saying "No Bark". I would not pinch the dog's mouth or nose or anything like that, because I want my dogs to trust my hands. And I would hold the dog's mouth like that until they calm down and I would praise them. 

The second option is the one we use with our collie who absolutely can't handle any leash or verbal corrections. It works fine with him and thankfully we haven't had to debark him. Most other collies out there are debarked because their barking is so bad. <- And in fact, a collie owner I trained with years ago had a hard time getting obedience titles on his dog because he would bark incessantly in the show ring, especially on the sits and downs.


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

FlyingQuizini said:


> She doesn't need to bark in class to address the problem. Chances are, a more solid obedience foundation with continued practice will make it easier for you to redirect her energy into a desired behavior when she starts barking out in public.
> 
> When out in public, consider distance to be your best friend. If she can't concentrate on you asking her to sit (or whatever) then she's too close to whatever she's barking at. Gain as much distance as you need to get her in thinking mode, successfully engage her brain and reward THAT behavior.
> 
> Time, patience and practice.


I don't think distance is a problem. Lily can be within feet of someone she is barking at, and will always sit when asked.


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

Megora said:


> Honestly... I would try to stay two steps ahead of my dog and correct the behavior. Until she settles down, anticipate those situations where you know she is going to bark and make sure you have her on leash and you are right there to correct her (leash pop + firm "NO BARK" correction). <- And for this one, I would check with a trainer in your area and maybe pick up a couple classes. A leash pop is OK if it's quick and moderate. I don't want anyone yanking really hard or hauling at their dogs' necks.
> 
> Other thing is gently taking a hold of the dog by the collar with the one hand and the muzzle with the other and gently holding the mouth shut while firmly saying "No Bark". I would not pinch the dog's mouth or nose or anything like that, because I want my dogs to trust my hands. And I would hold the dog's mouth like that until they calm down and I would praise them.
> 
> The second option is the one we use with our collie who absolutely can't handle any leash or verbal corrections. It works fine with him and thankfully we haven't had to debark him. Most other collies out there are debarked because their barking is so bad. <- And in fact, a collie owner I trained with for years had a hard time getting obedience titles on his dog because he would bark incessantly.


 
I have tried the whole "no bark" thing before. I tell her "no bark" before she acutally notices someone outside with us. I would say it works 50% of the time. I also pop her collar, and put her in a sit (which she always sits nicely.) I have also held her mouth shut, and told her no bark. It is so frustrating. I don't want people to think I have some agressive dog, when Lily would rather lick you to death than bite.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I personally could never recommend training a dog to correlate barking with discomfort. You just never know when that bark might come in handy, might even save your life someday.


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

Jo Ellen said:


> I personally could never recommend training a dog to correlate barking with discomfort. You just never know when that bark might come in handy, might even save your life someday.


 
I agree with what you said. I don't mind the barking when I take Lily for a late night walk by myself. But, its just so weird b/c Lily barks at people she knows as well. 

I just don't know what else to do...


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Renee R said:


> I have tried the whole "no bark" thing before. I tell her "no bark" before she acutally notices someone outside with us. I would say it works 50% of the time. I also pop her collar, and put her in a sit (which she always sits nicely.) I have also held her mouth shut, and told her no bark. It is so frustrating. I don't want people to think I have some agressive dog, when Lily would rather lick you to death than bite.


 
The best I can say is be consistent with the way you correct your dog and try to stay ahead of her. Don't let her get away with any barking. <- And I know that's really easy for me to say since I have a blessedly non-barking golden right now. But my previous goldens were a little noisier (although they were more like "boredom barkers"), so I understand how frustrating this problem can be. 

So if you anticipate her barking and you can see her perking up to attention. Put her in the sit, hold the collar, and tell her "no bark". 

Getting her into group classes (in a place where there is a lot of room to move around and practice approaches with people) might help too, even if your dog doesn't present the barking behavior in class. It could be she just needs a little more controlled socialization, and of course you get the chance to be relaxed and happy with her and have something to praise her about when you can walk her behind another person or towards another person without her going spastic.

You can also start taking her to the petstore at least once a week and encourage people to come up and pet her. Make sure they all know you are working on approaches with her and getting her to stop barking at people. Most dog people are eager to help train _other_ people's dogs. :

Other than socialization, the reasons why she's barking could be she doesn't see people very well at a distance or she can't handle her excitement. It will either be something you train her out of, or it will be something she will grow out of as she gets older and more laidback about life. 

When people get twitchy about her doing her "big dog" bark, make sure you tell them she's all bark and no bite. Sometimes when people hear a dog barking and see the owner restraining the dog, they can probably think the worst. :


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

How old is Lily? If she's younger than a year or two, she very well may grow out of this as normal, everyday life becomes more ordinary. It's definitely possible.


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

Jo Ellen said:


> How old is Lily? If she's younger than a year or two, she very well may grow out of this as normal, everyday life becomes more ordinary. It's definitely possible.


 
1.5 years old


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## bioteach (Nov 13, 2010)

One of our goldens, Brewer, was a barker. He was very farsighted and barked at anything that moved so far across the street that we needed binoculars to see what he was barking at. We used the word "enough" and rewarded him when he stopped. Eventually the behavior stopped entirely but we needed to be very consistent with him. And yes, his fail wagged the whole time.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Renee R said:


> I don't think distance is a problem. Lily can be within feet of someone she is barking at, and will always sit when asked.


OK. So if she can focus on behaviors, keep her doing something. Don't let her sit there and bark. Establish the pattern of, "You listen to me when others are near," and by giving her other things to do, she'll develop the habit of paying so much attention to you, there's not much mental energy left for barking.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Well, I've had Milo on one for 2 weeks now, and it seems to be helping.

It doesn't freak him out or anything either.

I was worried about it too, but I had to do something.

So far, the choice has worked out.

This is the one I got:








http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.h...38039-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325[ame]http://www.amazon.com/SportDOG-Rechargeable-NoBark-Control-Collar/dp/B00173CWDW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1290114383&sr=8-3[/ame]


The best part it is rechargable, and a charge is supposed to last around 6 months.

Stay away from the cheap one's. For one, they use weird batteries that are quite expensive.

I have a recent thread in this same folder about this.

A good one like this does not "Zap the hell out of them" like people think. It has three settings.

1. When the dog barks, it starts off very low, and only increases until the barking ceases then stops. The next time there is a bark event, it starts at the last successful level setting.
2. When the dog barks, it starts off very low, and only increases until the barking ceases then stops. The next time there is a bark event, it starts all over at the lowest setting and proceeds from there.
3. The collar is set to 1 of the 9 levels available, and only uses that level every time.

I use setting #2.

He is not afraid of it. He does not fear it. I don't use it every day, though I probably should for consistency, at least for a while. If I have to put it on him, I call him over and he sits right down and lets me put it on, no drama at all. His barking has decreased quite a bit.

My biggest problem is actually Gilmour. Every time I go to put it on Milo he gets all excited thinking it's time for a walk 




Megora said:


> I would never use a shock collar on my dog. It could lead to associated fear behavior, especially if the dog doesn't immediately connect that barking causes the painful electric shock in the neck.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I have used a bark collar on one of my dogs. 

It's not for every dog. It's not for every owner.

But for me and this particular dog it has been a blessing.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

BTW... I don't think it's much different than "Invisible Fences".

Believe me, if I noted ANY ill effects to Milo, it would have been back in the box and back to Amazon in a heartbeat.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

It is a great tool if barking is an issue, most are very consistant. The ones I've used have usually been adjustable as far as the level goes, started on the dogs on 'low' so they learn that it will do something when the bark, and moved up if they don't care that it's doing something on low, until the barking stopped. Storee had to have one to get a grip on her barking or she'd have to be muzzled or inside a lot more, she LOVES to bark at everything outside. 

Ticket got to wear one when he was boarded, because he wanted to do the border collie thing and herd the other dogs on the other side of the fence and it turned into full out fence fighting. So I said fine to putting the collar on him as needed the next time, and he barked twice, stood there in shock, then went about his bathroom break and relaxed. 

No different really than the invisible fence system, you do have to 'train' them with it if it's not self adjusting. Put it on low and put the dog out alone to figure out the collar then move up the correction only if needed.

Lana


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

Renee R said:


> So, Lily has a barking problem. She does not bark in the house. Lily only barks outside, and at random people. My boyfriend and I have not been able to figure out what sets her off. I am so embarrased when she starts barking, oh yeah and she is always wagging her tail when barking. I have tried everything- I tell her no bark, tried rewarding her when she does not bark, have her sit, distract her, etc. etc. Nothing works! The barking is so bad that one day some guy called the cops on us b/c Lily barked at him (while wagging her tail) and he claimed that she was an agressive dog. When the cops showed up, they saw that Lily was just a pup and dismissed the situation (they could tell the guy was just afraid of dogs.) This past weekend was the worst with the barking, Lily barked at everyone at the waterpark. Lily also does not have a dainty bark, she sounds like a man.
> 
> So, my boyfriend and I are considering getting Lily a bark collar for x-mas. Anyone have any experience or thoughts of bark collars? Thanks.


I would look at either Tritronics or Dogtra for bark collars. They are reliable and consistant, something the other manufacturers have problems with.


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