Bark Collars

[Hanne]

Never use such methods and certainly not on
such a sensitive breed as a Sheltie

After all - There is a reason when our dog bark

How can we think that a collar and not least our dog
can distinguish between "now I must bark" and "now I must not bark"

 

[woof]

This is another old thread I am jumping on and one after years of being owned my shelties I think could go on forever. Our two recent dogs bark but not excessively-- a problem neighbor I will bring up at another time in a different thread-- but as the training video in this thread suggest deflection of behavior helps. To that end on our walks when our dogs start up a chat with other dogs or vice versa I have a hand held sonic device activated by button. When other dogs rush us barking and ours start the return conversation I tap the button- that usually distracts them and they look at me and I give them the quiet or no bark command and surprisingly it works for a few seconds, if they start up again I tape the button and soon they are just sort of grumbling under their breath. Not 100 % but it does cause them to break their current behavior. It is also interesting that several times the dog in the yard quits barking or is confused by what just happened-- so far so good but I don't pretend this is the end of the problem. It is also under my control so I can chose to tap or not and I don't in ever circumstance so unlike a collar it is not a constant response. The problem is much greater for "all day barkers" and that is much more complicated so this is not a solution for that.