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Stop The Barking!
when your dog won't stop barking, it bothers the neighbors (even if they don't complain). If they do complain, it could mean a visit from the police! Or even getting an eviction notice from your landlord! Yikes! One easy solution is a bark collar that uses a specialized sensor to detect vibration, which discriminates barking from other external noises. When the dog barks, A small electric shock is administered.
The best bark collars will use vibration detection as well as sound detection so the doggie doesn't get shocked if the neighbor's dog barks. It will also provide several levels of correction, a progressive correction feature that increases correction to the next strongest level if the dog continues to bark, and a safety time out to shut off the correction if the dog continues to bark. (It's very rare, but some dogs just do not get the connection between being mildly shocked, and their continued barking.)
Another solution is a Citronella Anti Bark Collar. It is safe and humane. When your dog barks, the collar makes a hissing noise and sprays a light mist of citronella in front of his nose. Dogs really do not like the smell, and almost all of them quickly make the connection between barking and the unpleasant smell. There have been some studies showing that citronella bark collars are twice as effective as shock collars.
A third option to stop your dog from barking is the Super Barker Breaker. It is not a collar at all. It is a fairly small unit that uses an ultrasonic tone that only dogs can hear. Dogs don't like it and quickly learn that their barking triggers this unpleasant sound. The Bark Stop detects barking up to 25 feet away. It works well as long as there are no other dogs in the area. One dog barking will set it off, and all of the dogs in the close vacinity will experience the unpleasant sound.
There are some situations in which you should definitely not use a bark collar or the Bark Stop. If your dog has a high pitched yip instead of a bark, a bark collar may not be able to detect the very high frequencies. If your dog barks because he is frightened or very anxious because he has been left alone, you should seek a professional trainer. If your dog barks because he is blind or old and conrfused, a bark collar is simply pointless punishment. A veterinarian may be able to provide a drug to help eleviate the confusion old dogs sometimes experience, and the barking will stop. If your dog is just uncontrollable, and doesn’t respond to anything you do, a bark collar or Bark Stop probably won’t work, and you should find a trainer who specializes in dog behavior counseling.
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