The Citronella Bark Collar

Stop Your Dog Barking — With the Anti Bark Collar

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• Author: susan
• March 4, 2009
• Category: anti bark collar, stop dog barking

Whether your barking dog is annoying your neighbours, keeping you awake at night or scaring everybody who walks past your gate, it’s a problem.  While one immediate solution may be to use an anti bark collar, it’s not the total solution. There is a reason your dog barks and in order to effectively change this habit you need to work towards eliminating the root cause and employ other dog training methods.

Think about dogs in the wild. Do they incessantly run back and forth barking just to be annoying, or for the fun of it?  No, not generally. A dog barks to warn his fellow pack members or to warn away an unwelcome intruder. A female dog barks at her pups to let them know of danger or to call them to come to her. Sometimes, though not always, dogs bark when hunting to startle or scare their prey.

Constant barking is not normal for any dog.

If a dog is barking they are trying to tell you something.

They’re either:

• Afraid or in danger
• Uncomfortable in their surroundings
• Warning intruders to keep away from their “territory”
• Trying to get your attention
• Bored
• Manipulating/Training you–trying to get you to do something to get them to stop barking
• Or they’ve developed a bad habit of barking previously, due to one of the above reasons, even though their situation has changed.

Once you have figured out what the problem is, then it’s time to do something about it.

What is the immediate solution to training a puppy (over six months) or a dog not to bark?
An Anti Bark Collar

If you are looking for a more immediate solution, which you would need in a case where the dog has to be retrained or needs time to overcome whatever problems caused it to bark in the first place, you may want to take a look at the anti bark collar.

Just looking on line you will see quite a variety of these collars.  There are three main types to choose from:

• Static Shock Collar
• Sonic Dog Collar
• Spray Dog Collar

The Static Shock Collar is the oldest type. Many deem it to be inhumane, as when activated it sends a rather nasty little static shock into the dog’s throat.  These collars are usually activated by the vibration of the dog’s vocal cords, but they can also be activated by noise–usually the sound of the dog’s bark.  However, they have also been known to activate at the sound of another dog barking. Not only is that unfair to the dog, but it really doesn’t accomplish anything as far as teaching the dog not to bark.

The sonic dog collar emits a high frequency sound whenever the dog starts barking a lot. A big advantage with this type of collar is that the sound is usually of such a high frequency that it can’t be heard by humans.  Dogs detest the sound, and it is quite effective in stopping a problem barker. I also recently saw a device for sale that looks like a birdhouse, but which appears totally normal hanging in a tree.  A perfect way to control the neighbour’s barking dog!

The spray collar is common now, and readily available at most pet shops. The citronella spray collar is also activated by the dog’s barking, however this collar sends a spray of a harmless liquid up to the dog’s face. This surprises the dog and dogs generally find citronella to be quite distasteful.

The anti bark collar is not cheap; current on line prices run anywhere between $40 to $100. It pays to shop around, one shop offered a 60-day 75% return on any item that did not meet up to your expectations.

As far as dog training aids go, the anti bark collar could be just what you need to see you through a rough patch with your dog, or to help stop habitual barking.  Whatever the case though, it remains important to determine what it was that caused your dog to bark and to do something about it.

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