Barking Collars?

[StaceyW]

Hi - Ollie is a little bit over a year now and suddenly seems to be a teenager - he is counter surfing, not coming when called and most annoying of all - barking incessently!  We tried a citronella collar that sprayed him when he barked which worked for a couple of weeks but now he seems to think the citronella is his own personal cologne and just barks until the collar is empty!  We had him trained when he was a puppy (we have three young kids and both work fulltime so knew that we had to outsource) but must admit we werent great on the follow-up training.  The trainer says she can train him to stop barking (and fix his other teen behavoirs) with clicker training but we would have to give Ollie to her for a week and close to $1000 which we would rather not do!  Has anyone used the barking electric shock collars?  

[Adina P]

I don't think it's a matter of either A) Bark collar or B) $1000 clicker training for a week -- there are free training options you can do at home if you have time. $1000 a week is incredibly steep for such a short time (in my opinion--perhaps she's a miracle worker?). Cant she just SHOW you what you can do for $50 or so? Unless the trainer came to live at your house, so he can work in the environment he lives in...I just don't think it will be a miracle cure. Just an expensive week. My guess (just a guess...again she might be just immensely skilled and able to truly solve it for good) is he'd be back to his normal his-house behavior quickly.

I've never used a bark collar, but that might be a good solution for you. Typically the folks experienced in bark collars use them for the nuisance barking some dogs do when their owners aren't home. If you're home it's recommended you train the dog to quiet on command.

But here's an article with lots of info: http://loucastle.com/bark.htm -- for the most part since he's not barking out of anxiety (it doesn't appear from what you've written), it should work pretty well. Once he learns he's in control of the stim from the collar, he shouldn't bark when the collar is on. Lou Castle (who wrote the article I linked above) is very good about responding to emails, so feel free to email him using the email on his site.

Finally...here's some past discussions on this topic:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/bark-collars

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/bark-collar

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/2065244:Topic:227867

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/communicating-or-barking

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/when-did-your-doodle-start

[Adina P]

Great idea!  Did it make him hate the hated thing more though?

[StaceyW]

I have been shaking a can of change at him and he seems to hate it enough to stop barking - problem is - soon as I go upstairs or to the other room - he is at it again. Adina - the article you sent seems to deal with barkers who are primarily doing it when home alone - that is not the issue. When we are home - Ollie barks at anything he sees outside - and we have a lot of windows!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

The only thing I have found that works is the change thing - not sure about being on opposite ends of the house though...

[Adina P]

Yes that is because they are MOST recommended for nuisance barking when home alone and owners can NOT stop their dog or redirect them.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Harlow has recently started doing the same thing, barking at anyone or anything that goes past the front of our house. She 16 months and is testing her boundaries like any teenager. She won't bark if I am in the same room with her, but if I am somewhere else in the house she will bark like crazy. The can of coins did not work at all. In fact she grabbed the can and chewed it up when I had my back turned. I finally broke down and did something I said I would never do, I bought a training collar. This collar is different than a standard bark collar. It has a remote control that allows you to correct the dog from up to 50 feet away. The thing I really like about it is it has an option to use just sound (small chiming sound) for correction or adjust the level of stimulation. For Harlow just the sound correction has worked. She barks, I push the chime button on the remote, the collar 'chimes' at her and she stops barking. A training collar is a bit more expensive than a bark collar, but you have more control over stimulation level and when to use the correction.

There are several types of training collars on the market and you can spend a couple hundred dollars for those that are used to train hunting dogs. But the one I bought was under $150 as its range is a max of 50 feet. It is PetSafe Big Dog Remot Trainer.