Barking Collars

[d2dave]

Our dog is becoming a nuisance barker. We are considering a barking collar.

Has anyone had any experience with these things? Do they work?

[dromader driver]

you can get citronella or electric shock. Not sure if legal in all states.

[RIN03]

Some may not agree but the shock collar is a very effective tool if used correctly. Get one that you can manually control, mine even has a vibrate function. Only use the shock when the dog barks so that the shock/negative feeling is associated with barking. Depending on the dog you may also have to be hidden as some dogs see any attention as good ie Yelling at them. This will mean tricking the dog into thinking you are out and even some very late nights without sleep if necessary.

A dog barking is a natural behavior try and turn it into a positive and allow it to bark when commanded this not only stimulates the dog but can also come in handy ;).

I am sure you will get hundreds of answers and opinions but this is what I have found to work.

[lyonsy]

the electric collers are allowed in victoria for a maxium of 12 hours a day

[Larry]

Every time someone mentions these, I think of this clip. :D:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn0h3aRa1NI

[phibbzy]

Depends on the breed of dog, temperament and how the collar is used and other external factors.

I am not a dog behaviourist however I have gone through the same situation as you.

If your dog is intelligent, has a flair for figuring things out & is not afraid to push boundaries then you have to be careful with what collar is used and how it is used. Avoid "ramping up" the solution as you may inadvertently train the dog to ignore it or worse, like ours, figure out how to over come it all together!

I would REALLY suggest that you speak to a vet and/or a dog trainer as this is a solution that is only going to be effective if implemented properly - perhaps with training and even a diet.

Anyone can see that every dog has a personality. Your experience will not be identical to anyone else and it will take investment of time, effort and money to resolve the problem. You can't just hook him up to a car battery and consider it fixed (not that I am saying that you will, just stating a point).

[harlie]

Hi Dave, we had issue with our German Sheppard, as soon as we left for work she would carry on at anything that moved. Got several complaints to the council (in BNE you are guilty immediately and have to prove that the dog isn’t a problem).

Tried heaps of things including a very expensive training program that guaranteed results – we got our money back after more complaints…. Big issue we had was she never barked when someone was home.

Ended up getting a shock collar from a company on the Gold Coast, she took about 10 minutes to work it out. Didn’t have a problem after that, she still put on a big intimidating show for any passer-by at the front fence – just without the barking. If I forgot to put it on when I left in the morning, I often got a call from our neighbour, who kindly went in and fitted it. She wore it with a flat battery for several years, just knew that the orange collar means no barking. Battery lasted about 3 years.

I was not a fan of the idea, but a nuisance pet can destroy neighbourhood relationships. Would I use one again? Yes, we should have done it sooner, the dog was no longer loathed by the neighbours.

[aussearcher]

We have tried both types on one of our Border Collies. Don't waste your money on the citronella collars - they are effective for only a limited time and the dog will acclimatise itself quite quickly to the spray. The electronic collars are extremely effective and the dog will soon work out that it is wearing its collar and not even think about barking.

[Don 130]

If the dog barks at movement it can see throughout a fence, then using shade cloth or similar to stop the dog seeing out may stop it.
Don.

[Chucaro]

How To Quickly Stop Dog Barking

[Bigbjorn]

In Brisbane City Council area, the council takes complaints about serial barkers seriously. You must do something about it or lose the dog. Also get fines if you ignore warnings.

Extreme measures have been taken by seriously ****ed off neighbours. One large noisy serial barker a few hundred yards from our house got shot one night. This dog was a true pest and obviously someone had quite enough. Police came around asking questions. Coppers don't like neighbourhood shootings. Senior Sergeant at Camp Hill told me most people questioned wanted to know who so they could give them a carton.

[dullbird]

the electric collers are allowed in victoria for a maxium of 12 hours a day


I just want to point out that this is only a small snippet of the legalities of putting an electric collar on.

While the collars can be used...it appears you can't just go buy one and put it on..it's not that simple in VIC there are conditions that need to be met

You have to go to a vet first is one of them.

Dave If you are considering an electric collar I urge you to do your homework so you don't find yourself in trouble.

[d2dave]

I just want to point out that this is only a small snippet of the legalities of putting an electric collar on.

While the collars can be used...it appears you can't just go buy one and put it on..it's not that simple in VIC there are conditions that need to be met

You have to go to a vet first is one of them.

Dave If you are considering an electric collar I urge you to do your homework so you don't find yourself in trouble.

Thanks Lou.

The problem with our dog is during the night. We are home all day and she isn't a problem when we re home. When she barks we tell her to be quiet and she responds. It is most likely that she is barking at animals, probably rabbits or foxes.

What we are going to try is locking her up at night in a large cage which is around the other side of the house, away from the road fence. Across the road is just paddocks.

[Chucaro]

Dave, our dogs have been trained to sleep in a cage and the cage is inside the house.
If it is possible bring the cage inside, and put some relaxing music at very low volume.
If that does not work add some recording with the voices of the family between some of the music tracks.
Put in the cage some toy, the one that you can put treats inside.
I hope that it works.

[Homestar]

Love the title Dave - you want a collar that barks? :p:wasntme:

Had a neighbour use one on his dog when he started to get complaints. It only took a couple of days for the dog to change its behaviour. It was a Shepherd as well - very smart, so it doesn't take them long to figure it out. He did find that the dog did revert to barking after the collar was first removed, but he put the collar back on - didn't turn it on, and that was enough to keep it quiet. After a couple of weeks, he removed it again, and no issues since.

Our little ratbags sleep on the bed, but only because they are small.

[Kev the Fridgy]

Yep those shock collars work well....apparently..... when I was married we had a Bluey... we received some complaints about barking, purchased a collar, worked well for about 2 weeks.... I thought it wasn't working so checked it out.... it worked :eek2: .... Cattle dogs are tough buggars, she was just barking through the shock, you could actually see the muscle contractions but she just pushed on through it

[digger]

Neighbour had a red heeler and it loved barking...

so he rented a citronella collar from the council where we were living.
fitted said collar to dog who after a number of barks realised he liked the taste,

he started barking MORE!! Then he managed to bite the collar and get the citronella out of it!!

Within a few days collar was wrecked and dog realised the citrus trees in the yard tasted a bit like the spray, so then he was barking as loud and as often as before but then he also was taking every slightly yellow or orange bit of fruit from the trees and munching on it.

so he lost the money for the collar, the citrus up to about 3' on his trees and
his sanity!!.

Go the leccy shock. (can also buy some that have proximity markers and shock if they cross the boundary)

[dullbird]

Personally I like your idea Dave.

Shocking a dog is not pleasant it can be done without resorting to this kind of stuff.
There not even legal to use in NSW and people manage here without those sorts of tactics :)

[d2dave]

From what I read here

The Truth about Shock Collars - researched results (http://www.barkcontrol.com.au/choice/working-dog-training-collars/shock-collars-for-dogs-the-not-so-shocking-truth/9)

shock collars are not the nasty things that they once were.

[Sue]

Personally I think the shock collar is a lot less barbaric than what happens if there are one too many complaints to the council about the dog barking. :(

A couple of years ago we adopted a dog from a rescue centre; she arrived with a number of behavioural problems but most worrying was her barking at anything and everything. I tried the citronella collar first which worked a treat but our other dog soon figured out that if he ran past her and barked while she was wearing the collar then she would be sprayed with a cloud with citronella.. he obviously thought that was a good game and while it was somewhat amusing we had to remove the collar.

Out of desperation we resorted to trying a shock collar (which the other dog never did bark at thank goodness!) and to our surprise within a week her barking habit had been broken! We removed the battery but left the collar on her for several months to make sure her good behaviour wasn't just a passing fad then removed the collar for good. Dogs are smart, it doesn't take them long to work out how the collars work and to adapt their behaviour to suit.

I used to think that the collars were cruel - but really leaving the dog to bark is cruel-er as it risks the council taking action to put them down and or neighbours becoming so frustrated that they resort to taking matters into their own hands (baiting etc).. Oh and if anyone is wondering our dogs can be vocal still, they bark when someone comes to the door or on the property, they bark at each other and us when playing and they bark at the neighbours cat. But our problem barker is no longer just barking for no reason and it's like she knows the difference between having a valid reason to bark and not.. :)

[d2dave]

Dave, our dogs have been trained to sleep in a cage and the cage is inside the house.
If it is possible bring the cage inside

The cage is walk in and about 3 metres x 2 metres so going inside is not an option.

[digger]

The cage is walk in and about 3 metres x 2 metres so going inside is not an option.

so Dave, will the "cat roundabout" be changed for the dog?
(if he squeezes along that run from the cage you have all sorts of problems coming!)

[d2dave]

so Dave, will the "cat roundabout" be changed for the dog?
(if he squeezes along that run from the cage you have all sorts of problems coming!)

Digger. Not the same cage. I assume you saw the cat one near the front door. We have a similar size one out the back door beside the back gates.

[Piddler]

Our Blue Healer Electric collar had no effect, we tried Citronella one he got it out of my wife's bag so no for that too.

We got him debarked $400.00.
Best $400.00 every spent, he does not give a stuff is just the same no Physiological effect whatsoever.

Works a treat every one happy. Especially us in the car :)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

we tried this a long time ago (15 years?)with Burleigh, he just kept barking, altered his sound totally,, god only knew what it did to his throat. everytime he barked from then till he died i felt guilty.:(:(

I can only hope the new ones are NOT the same.

[d2dave]

we tried this a long time ago (15 years?)with Burleigh, he just kept barking, altered his sound totally,, god only knew what it did to his throat. everytime he barked from then till he died i felt guilty.:(:(

I can only hope the new ones are NOT the same.

Pedro. Have a read of the link I put in post 19.

[dullbird]

I did and I had a bit of a chuckle...but anyway I won't go in to it..

I can assure you that modern collars don't all give you a little shock like your rubbing your foot on a carpet..and they also fail!! I took a collar from a dog once that had a short in it so the dog didn't even need to be barking the small amount of movement cause a high intensity shock, a shock that might I add made a person jump like they were touching a horse fence the person that jumped was 90kg while I appreciate its not a shock that is going to kill a person the collar was still taken off a 10kg dog.

I love the little snippet about the study too but no other reference to it.

Still wont say anymore on it much like he protests that no matter what he says the anti collar people won't agree, same principle applies to someone that agrees with them. :)

[jonesfam]

I was going to write something about SWMBO & collars.............................but that would be inappropriate, so I won't.






But I really Want to.:twisted:

[BMKal]

I was going to write something about SWMBO & collars.............................but that would be inappropriate, so I won't.






But I really Want to.:twisted:

Most inappropriate ...................... :twisted:

I've been thinking the same thing all morning .................... but behaved myself. :angel:

[UncleHo]

We have a Border Collie Bitch that is a dinner time barker,we feed at 5.00 pm, and she starts at about 4.00pm depending on the time of year,so she must go by sun position,we have tried everything but finally had to get a barking collar,got a "Sportdog" brand voltage adjustable,brilliant,it goes on when she starts 4.00pm and comes off when we feed 5.00pm, she is no problem during the day unless somebody comes to the gate or down the side fence (semi-rural).