Has anyone used this anti bark collar??

lovesabargain123

Just been looking at the pets at home website and it has mixed reviews..

The one that says her dog barked continuously at anything and everything sounds like my male springer, he goes mental if anyone dares walk past, cycle past, next door goes out, cat dares walks on the street,and god forbid someone trying to post things through the door! He also barks when he's bored, at the other dog, and really just because he can!!!! It's really is constant and has been since we had him but with summer round the corner I'm afraid to open my windows as I'm sure the neighbours are fed up of him already!!!

He's well exercised, fed well, gets plenty of attention, we leave the tv on so for company if we go out, tried distracting him, keeping him away from the front room windows but he still just barks continuously...

I've also read that people think they are cruel, again I don't want to be cruel to him but it does say its humane and do you sometimes have to be cruel to be kind and stop the barking (which I think is just habit if I'm honest)

Anyway here it is...

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/no-bark-collar-large-by-pettags-103169

krlyr

The problem with anti-bark collars is they deal with the symptom, not the cause.

Your springer is barking for a reason, and punishing the way he reacts to whatever causes his behaviour may just lead to him choosing another way to express his feelings. For example, he might stop barking but start becoming destructive in the house.

Another problem that can occur, and may be a risk in your household since your dog is barking at your other dog, is that the dog can develop a negative association with whatever's in his sight at the time the collar goes off. He might not associate his barking with the punishment, but, for example, he might realise that it happens when your other dog is around. You might end up with a problem worse than the barking, such as damaging the relationship between your two dogs which could even escalate to fighting between the pair of them.

I would, instead, deal with the triggers one by one. You can do this in a few ways - the most immediate, and generally easiest, is management. Can you prevent him from being able to see out of the window? Curtains, blinds, even putting window film on the bottom part of the window? An external postbox could solve the post issue.

You coudl desensitize him to the triggers. So, for example, get him settled on his bed with a Kong and have a friend walk past the window - you want to start at a distance where your dog doesn't react, so this might be with your friend walking on the opposite side of the road. Reward the dog for not reacting, and over time, your friend can walk nearer and nearer. You can then work up the scale - so from walking past silently, to walking past talking, walking past shouting, walking past with your window open a bit, etc.
http://www.druidalegsd.karoo.net/desens.htm

Desensitizing can be combined with counter conditioning. This is where you change the automatic emotional response to stimulus. Currently, your dog hears somene walk past and his response is to bark. Chances are, he has a negative association with people walking passed - he's perhaps afraid, nervous, feels the need to guard his house..whatever the reason, he's probably not that happy with them being there. You want to change that association and make people passing by a good thing. This is as simple as waiting for people to walk past (again, get a friend to act as stooge) and continuously feeding him high value treats. Like with desensitization, control the distance the friend walks past - if the dog is pushed too far, he will be stressed and won't be interested in food. You repeat this over and over, gradually making it more and more difficult as before, and keep feeding high value treats. The dog's emotional response will soon be that noises outside the house are a good thing. You won't have to keep feeding treats permanently, once his emotional response has changed, you'll find he just doesn't feel those stressful feelings that cause him to bark at the minute.
http://www.druidalegsd.karoo.net/cer.htm

If you're struggling to deal with the issue by yourself, a behaviourist may be worthwhile. They may seem expensive, but it may be that one consult is enough for the behaviourist to note the triggers, give you a training program to follow, and they often include follow-ups over the phone included in the price. http://www.apbc.org.uk is a good place to find a local behaviourist who will use positive, modern methods.

krlyr

Oh, another method that often works is to actually teach a dog to bark - put it to a command, such as "speak". Once the dog knows the behaviour, you can teach the opposite, "quiet". This can then be used in situations where the dog is barking - though generally it would be most effective in situations where the dog is not stressed or extremely over-stimulated. So it might work better for stopping him barking at your other dog, if it's just out of boredom or the way he's learnt to interact, rather than if he's going nuts at a cyclist.

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/Barking-at-door-window.pdf
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001c/manicbarking.htm
http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/excessive-barking-why-some-dogs-bark-and-how-to-fix-it