May 18th, 2005

Filed under:
Mixed Bag
14 Comments »

Anti-Bark Collars?

Most dog owners seem to have great love for their pets. And yet, there’s a market for collars that electrocute your dog? This page is just one of many examples:

A Bark Collar is your answer to stop excessive barking. A Bark Collar is an effective and safe way to stop barking dogs fast. Keep the Peace! A Bark Collar is a safe, humane and effective way to stop excessive barking. A Bark Collar is the best way to control nuisance barking.

Lower down, the page explains that, in fact, “Dogs bark. It is part of their normal and natural communication and behavior.” Amusingly, most of the pages I looked at never actually discuss the electrocution mechanism. They espouse “18 levels of electronic correction”, “control your pet remotely” and “new microprocessor technology provides a warning beep with the first bark”. They rarely articulate how their products inflict pain. Why not skip the collar and just whale on your dog?

There are lesser alternatives, including a collar that sprays citronella, which the dog apparently doesn’t dig.

Here’s a tip: if you can’t humanely train your dog not to bark, or can’t abide its natural behaviour, don’t own a dog. Are we so lazy that we need a remote control dog?

I learned about this product via the always-amusing Dooce, who described how her friend “zapped him a few times with the zapper collar”. Charming.

Comments: 14 Responses so far

-j.
May 18th, 2005
3:23 pm

I work for the SPCA, and I have used a citronella collar. The issue is not whether a dog can be trained (of course they can), but how you can reinforce behaviour that occurs when you are not present.

Our poor dog would apparently bark relentlessly when left alone for any period longer than 15 minutes. My wife and I did our best to accommodate him, but that was simply impractical. (We could abide the behaviour, of course, but our neighbours couldn’t.) A citronella collar did help in his training.

Even the SPCA does not condemn their use: http://www.spca.bc.ca/Animalbehaviour/barking.asp

Shock collars, on the other hand…not a good idea.

[Reply]

Aaron
May 18th, 2005
4:59 pm

I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but “electrocute” and “electrocution” mean to kill with electricity. I don’t think there is any product being marketed that will kill your pet if it barks. I suggest you use “shock” instead.

As for the collar itself… I’ve never used one, but I would suggest that pet owners try it out on themselves before putting it on their pet. Maybe the shock is mild enough to not actually hurt. On the other hand, if it’s as strong as an electric fence, I wouldn’t go near it (I know from experience).

[Reply]

Darren
May 18th, 2005
5:09 pm

Aaron: There seems to be some disagreement between the American and English definitions of the word. Microsoft Encarta says “injure or kill with electric shock: to cause injury or death with an electric shock”, while my OED says it means to kill with electricity.

The OED is more authoratative, but I think I can get away with it on a technicality.

[Reply]

Heather
May 18th, 2005
5:11 pm

My parents bought one of the “very humane” anti-bark collars for one of their yappy terriers, after the dog learned to outsmart his citronella collar. How? He would bark furiously until it was out of juice - about 10-15 good barks - then spend the rest of the afternoon terrorizing the neighbours.

It was decided the collar was perhaps less than humane when Dad tried wearing it and shocked himself so thoroughly that he momentarily passed out. A truly “humane” solution to the barking problem? Obedience lessons. Or a remote rural property. With enough space, no one can hear you bark.

[Reply]

Kirsten Bole
May 18th, 2005
6:24 pm

I also heard of a dog that learned to outsmart the citronella collar by barking and then backing up, scrunching up his face, and closing his eyes to avoid the spray.

With all the training we’ve done with Dexter, he still barks furiously at the telephone when it rings, and nothing we’ve tried has convinced him that it’s not an evil demon we must exorcise. We considered a citronella collar, but the above story convinced us it’d be a waste.

[Reply]

Darren Harkness
May 19th, 2005
11:53 am

Sadly, some people are going to do whatever it takes to get their dog to stop barking. This is at least more humane than the debarking treatments some dogs are put through (where their vocal cords are essentially cut out).

We discipline our dog when she barks at the neighbours, or other people she’s not ’supposed’ to bark at… but it takes the form of telling her to go to her kennel for a few minutes.

[Reply]

Brian Langle
July 21st, 2006
9:54 am

Sometimes the issue isn’t the inconvenience to one’s self caused by barking. Sometimes the issues is separation anxiety. My dog is a good guy, but he’s also a rescue with many issues. Separation anxiety is one of them. After weeks of training and professional help, the destructive chewing has subsided. The whining and barking has not. One month later and there is improvement, but not enough to stop the phone calls and notes from the neighbors. The use of a citronella collar is justified. Not out of laziness or incompetence, but necessity.

[Reply]

Kit
June 20th, 2007
10:09 pm

Citronella collar and sonic collar both do not work for my bichon frise. I am seriously considering a shock collar, as I am left with no choice. I’ve tried the can of coins, sending her to her ‘room’ (crate), swatting her on the bum, yelling back at her, grabbing her mouth; and yes, she has been through kindergarten and obedience classes. She is not dumb, but her barking is chronic whenever she hears something outside or I have to go to work. The sonic collar goes off, but it does not stop her, and I’m getting all the complaints from neighbours and now my Strata Council. I don’t know what else to do.

She outsmarted the citronella collar by just toning down her bark a lil, but still enough to drive people crazy. Ditto with the sonic collar; she barks, which is a higher pitch and frequency that doesn’t generate enough force for the microphone to detect it. If she woofed at a lower pitch and frequency, it would definitely go off, but she rarely woofs. Frustrated emails to the antibark collar companies left me emptied handed and $200 down the drain.

Only other option is to remove her vocal chords. I’m scared and hating myself more at every thought of it (and the shock collar), but people have left me no other choice.

[Reply]

meeya
August 30th, 2007
4:28 pm

my problem is my great dane barks in the early hours of the morning if somthing disturbs her and we have had a letter from the council to say they have had a complaint it is not all the time but very loud when she does so what do you do buy a collar that may or maynot work sleep downstairs with the dog so you can tell her off or as my neihbour who doesnt like dogs or cats suggests and have the dog put to sleep

[Reply]

Julie
October 30th, 2007
8:54 pm

It’s all very well for people with dogs that don’t bark to adopt a holier than thou attitude and make those of us with barking dogs feel even more guilty than we already do by telling us that using anti bark collars is cruel. I agree that the use of the word ‘electrocute’ is highly sensationalist so suits this cause.

We have moved to acreage only to find that our dogs have more to bark at - chooks, koalas, neighbours in paddocks -and our neighbours (whose seemingly mute dog jumps the fence into our property and makes them bark!) have had enough despite the barking only being in the daytime. We too have tried everything to no avail and are so frustrated that we are now considering a collar. The other ‘guaranteed’ products have all been ineffective. Our dogs are trained and come when called, sit, stay, wait, roll over, offer paws etc etc but refuse to stop barking no matter what…!!! I am losing sleep over the whole thing.

[Reply]

Judy
January 3rd, 2008
1:26 pm

Today I visited PetSmart to inquire about the purchase of a bark collar. What I got instead of a collar was a lecture from, not one, but two clerks trying to convince me I was being cruel. They made suggestions that I needed patience — even though I had fully explained that my dog’s barking in the crate when I was away from her was causing a situation where she would need to go to a new home or to SPCA. In 45 minutes, neither one of them would open the showcase for me to even look at a collar for my dog. Yet, when I assured them how much I love my dog and am NOT looking into a collar to be cruel to her, they suggested I put her in a doggy daycare. And they are supposedly selling the product?! What’s with that? After much research, I intend to get one…elsewhere. The store clerk and their dog trainer were telling me it is “natural for a young dog to go through anxiety when left alone and to be patient till she’s about 10 months old”. Good grief. By that time the neighbours will have shot her! Should we also be patient and let them chew shoes apart because “it is natural for a young dog…”??
Yes - there definitely is love for our pets in the decision to teaching them what is not acceptable, for their own safety!

[Reply]

Ace
March 15th, 2008
8:43 pm

If I was the manager of that Petsmart, those people would be fired. Its simply not their place to tell you what you should and should not be doing with your dog.

It would be like a pharmacist telling your birth control is immoral.

[Reply]

Michelle
May 26th, 2008
4:38 pm

There are dog friendly solutions! If your dog becomes a public (or private) nuisance, then I strongly suggest ‘The Dog Whisperer’ DVD by Cesar Millan. Also, there is a no shock/spray bark collar that is new to the market that is 100% humane which amplifies your dog’s bark that only the dog can hear (similar to a dog whistle) by using ultrasonic sound. As an animal lover and owner, whatever you decide to use, please take a time out (for you), take the dog for a walk since he is most likely frustrated with boredom, or send the dog to his kennel/outside/another room. It is shown that animals (dogs in this case) need to be conditioned with repetitive but consistent training. Alternatively, you can find humane bark collars for less than $20 that work well on Google or eBay. So please, be kind to your pets…because they have feelings too!

[Reply]

franky xi
September 5th, 2008
12:15 am

I think dog training collar is many kind of it. We are from china.We have many kind of the training collar including anti bark shock collar,humanity vibration collar,ultrasonic flea-free collar,GPS tracking collar etc. Good to your pet. Contact us soon.our website: http://www.okok.me our phone number: 0086-579-85582835 Best regards Franky

[Reply]

Add a comment