Barking Madness -Help!

[Pam Pieroni]

I need HELP with Simba's barking issues! He is now 3 yrs. old and barks a LOT when I put him outside and anyone (dog or person) passes by. He'll continue to bark at a dog who's passed and is now blocks away. The citronella collar worked like a dream for about a year and a half and then, suddenly, he no longer pays attention to it. It still works, spraying out the scent, but he  just doesn't care anymore. He wears a collar for our electronic fence, so I don't want to use a shock collar for barking because I think that might really confuse him plus it hurts. It took a long time to get him to observe his limits with the invisible fence, and now he never goes off the property.  But what can I do about this incessant barking?

I got the citronella collar when a neighbor complained and now that that stopped working, I'm at a loss. BTW, Simba does not do well with training (even when I hired a pro when he was a puppy). He only obeys sit and lie down, and that's only when I have a treat in hand.  I'm wondering if those ultrasonic collars work?

[Jacqui and RosyNose]

A dog park friend of ours has been using an e-collar to break his Boarder Collie of barking and chasing along the fence.  It has been working out well for him (about 4 months so far).  The collar he uses vibrates as opposed to delivering shock but the owner is also within range to tell his dog to stop the behavior and he doesn't use the collar as the only cue, the collar is used mainly to break the dog's concentration.  I believe the brand is called Pet Safe and he got it at Petco. Our 4 year old ALD Rosy barks too and we've spent a significant number of hours training/correcting her while in mid-bark so she knows it's unacceptable and we break her concentration. Rosy's improved somewhat but definitely not 100% bark free- as an aside it seems like the barking happens more often when I have work conference calls but suppose that's just Murphy's Law of working from home...good luck with Simba!

[Nadia]

Bentley also barks a LOT!!!!! Whenever someone passes by the house, when he is in the back yard and hears the slightest sound or when someone comes to the door. I tried an empty Tylenol bottle and put coins in it ( he never saw me shake it) but that didn't work. I want him to bark if there is danger or something is wrong but not for every little thing.

[Emily and Sophie]

Sophie barks a lot too, very frustrating!

[Linda And Callie]

Callie also is a barker but only barks at other dogs (and kids on skateboards), never at people. Think I'm going to try the citronella thing and see how that goes but I have a feeling that won't last either.

[Pam Pieroni]

Thaks for the responses here.  Just wanted to update the barking problem with Simba. I bought him a collar that emits a high-pitched sound when he barks. Absolutely no shock is given with this collar; many of them add a shock with the sound, but I didn't want that.  And the good news is that he's virtually stopped barking when I put him outside. He'll bark once or twice when a dog goes by, then stop. That's good enough for me! He can bark all he likes when he's in the house (within reason). So I highly recommend this type of collar (can't recall the name of mine); only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have an on/off switch. You have to remember to change the battery once a year.