excessive barking ultra sonic bark collar

[BigE]

Mine also belongs to the nervous type . It seems to me the corrective measures do not work for sheltlies. Consistent love and patience to help him build his confidence from within is the key to "debark " my baby. He now has learnt that nothing is that fearful as long as mom is around. It took me one year to curb his excessive barking. In the beginning, every action was taken slowly - e.g. i stood in front of a running dishwasher with him for almost15 minutes, calmly, until he stopped frightening. I did this for almost every triggering appliance and situation.

In your case where other dogs are co-existing, it is indeed a challenge. Good luck ...

 

[Skelly48]

Barking Shelties and remote

My daughter bought a device that she set on the coffee table and would emit a sound when the dog barks that humans can't hear but the dogs can. All that happened was her Sheltie would walk over to the coffee table, stare at the device and then start barking at it. He barked more not less. She took it back to Pet Smart.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

Like others I'm not a fan of collars except in the most extreme cases where all else fails.

But there are two other ultra sonic devices you can consider. One is a remote trainer that YOU control as and when the dog is barking outside acceptable limits.

The other has both an indoor and outdoor version. It a unit that sits inside or outside the hour and is triggered by barking.

Again, people - these are ultra-sonic (i.e. like a silent whistle), not static (i.e. shock). I can't say for certain as to the effectiveness, but the vendor guarantees the product. So what's to loose?

The manufacturer is Petsafe. This is from the Canadian website, but I'm sure US is similar.

What's to lose?? Your dogs trust!!!!
and demeanor, because they may never associate the correction with the action! These things are ridiculous and not worth it. Education, training and patience is what is needed not a short term fix, which has the potential to shut a dog down! Working on ONE trigger at the time, change the association why the dog barks, change his feeling about it. Using a device that startles, shocks,whistles whatever!.... does exactly the opposite!

 

[Justme]

The sonic collars use sound.

Sound is a useful concept, but I don't know if it's appropriate for a fearful dog.

(I rarely used it, but when all else failed, I used a Referee Whistle to interrupt an unwanted behavior. It was very effective.)

When my boy was being barky, I would kneel down right next to him and talk to him in a very quiet voice. He would stop barking, because he wanted to listen to what I had to say.

 

[BarbV]

What's to lose?? Your dogs trust!!!!
and demeanor, because they may never associate the correction with the action! These things are ridiculous and not worth it. Education, training and patience is what is needed not a short term fix, which has the potential to shut a dog down! Working on ONE trigger at the time, change the association why the dog barks, change his feeling about it. Using a device that startles, shocks,whistles whatever!.... does exactl the opposite!

Ok, whatever....I was just suggesting another alternative to static collars. And in some cases, I do know they work. If they didn't work, the company would no longer be selling the product. Its as simple as that.

Let's face it people.....not everyone has the education, training and patience to do what is needed to done in the way YOU describe.

If there are alternatives they can try that will not hurt the dog, then I say, go for it. The alternative is.....they end up in a shelter, and then maybe dead......seriously! So let's get off our high standards and help look for all possible solutions for those families that can't do it without help.

 

[Caro]

I agree with you on this one Barb. I was also disappointed by the responses and a little upset.

Unfortunately some dogs are just obsessive barkers and it can be really exhausting and damaging to an owner's relationship with their dog. Yes some barking can be dealt with by training with positive methods, but some barking can't. While I am not against debarking I don't think it is the first response to an obsessive barker. Over here you cannot get a dog debarked unless you have tried bark collars and they have failed (not e-collars as they are banned). For me, using a bark collar on Deska was a much more humane approach to dealing with his barking, and much less stressful for him as well than debarking surgery. I tried every other training technique imaginable, but they had limited success. Please don't make judgements that all people who use collars don't understand their dogs, or are doing damage to them, or haven't trained them.

 

[Toffee's Mom]

I answered what I believe is at stake. Remote device should be sold as a management tool and be a last option, and I believe any type of remote device is not worth the risk of making a dog insecure. I know many places sell these things, but unfortunately they are being marketed as training tools.
Training IS putting in the time first, and I believe the original poster asked for opinions.

 

[bibluegirl]

I guess what I'm more looking for is something that I can use in combination with training. Something where I can intrupt the behavior then reward him when he stops barking.

I don't want to cause pain or trauma to him. I've worked to hard to get him where he is now. I couldn't have people in the house without him barking and basically running away from them. Now people can come in he still barks but he will at least stop now and actually go up to them.

he gets plenty of exercise and I take him to classes to get him exposed to other dogs people places sometimes he does ok in class other days he will shut down and wont work. Depends on if there is alot of noise from other classes going on.

Its not that I don't want to put in the work and I would never get rid of him. (Barb I know you wernt saying I would) But you are correct alot of people wouldn't put up with it and many have ended up getting rid of them.

Even if people had other suggestions for helping with it. I know dogs bark and I know shelties in general are barkers I'm ok with that but when its over every little thing and becomes obsessive I need to do something.

 

[HolisticFurMom]

I have to very much disagree that using a method such as spraying an animal in the face or playing a loud noise when they speak is considerably more inhumane than de-barking a dog.

Dogs who bark obsessively have other issues that need to be addressed than barking; it's just being routed to barking but barking isn't the core issue. Dogs are instinctual and they act on instincts so as we all know they bark when to alert, to herd, etc but a dog who is literally OCD with barking would most likely be due to poor breeding as it would never occur naturally.

Is de-barking a good choice for a dog who is truly an obsessive barker? No. But it's more than ideal for someone who has to live in an apartment and doesn't expect their dog to be trained to never speak...

 

[Toffee's Mom]

Do you know what sets your dog off the most?
Is it possible to start far away from that trigger, far so that you can reward BEFORE the barking starts?

Here is the idea for a dog that goes crazy when he sees other dogs, you reward before the dog gets set off, see how close you get... go further back if you need to...
Funny this was meant to be more about a statement about the Myth that positive trainers don't train red zone cases etc... But it also shows nicely the idea behind how to train in that type of scenario. The REWARD placement becomes the interruption of the behaviour, so you don't reward the barking, but you get the treat in BEFORE the dog barks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WjIoLNN1N4g

I also found this article helpful, Ian Dunbar is the godfather of all that is positive and sensible in dog training...
http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/excessive-barking

Maybe a few good ideas in here too: http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/excessive-barking-why-some-dogs-bark-and-how-to-fix-it I honestly used this 'puppy push up' method, to get Toffee to snap out of it, get his focus back to me and to interrupt his demand barking for example... barking for attention, treats or out of frustration... Dr Sophia Yin mentions in here the collars also and why she doesn't recommend them
Also try to work on impulse control to get the dog to focus more on you and make better choices in her behaviour, I know it may seem unrelated but it works SO well to give a dog a choice and reward the correct ones, a dog will always look for you for affirmation that they did it correctly and that you will reward them for the right choices! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT5k1gaXhc

I hope there is something useful in there... oh also, I have used the frozen kong filled with peanutbutter when people come over, for example... keeps his frustration threshold super low... once he goes to his safe spot, he gets the kong... even get the visitor to give it to him... keeps him busy AND associate good things in his mind when visitors come over, he gets some yummy stuff! His barking is based on insecurity, so the worst thing I did was to shush him, holler and/or made a big deal out of it... and yeah I made it worse because I corrected him with sound!!
Until I got involved with helpful instructors and I learned to be better... I am not judging anybody who has been through this and found other methods, but these were the best for me and my dog. I hope this can help you also

All these tips will take time and commitment, but one step at a time, if you give yourself a couple of months you WILL see a change of that I have no doubt.