I must confess that I wasn’t at all keen on the idea of “shocking” my boisterous dogs when they barked excessively, but after reading several encouraging and helpful reviews I decided to give it a go – it was either that or surgically remove their vocal chords! However, having opted for a more humane method, I used my small terrier as a guinea pig for the collar, since she is the ring leader and tends to spark off all the others with her barking. I actually tried the Petsafe PBC – 102 no bark collar but there are several other collars in this particular range and also numerous brands to choose from.
The product features of this particular collar are:
- the anti dog barking collar sends a harmless static shock to the dog whenever he barks
- the collar senses the vibrations in a dog’s throat when it is barking
- lightweight receiver which is ideal for toy or small breeds
- a water resistant receiver, operating manual and replaceable 6 volt battery
- receiver measures 1.75 x 1 x 1.25 inches
- limited lifetime warranty
How does it work?
The dog bark shock collar houses a receiver which senses the vibrations in his throat when he is barking and delivers a fairly mild static shock together with an audible warning beep. The shocks get progressively stronger if he continues to bark, but for safety if he barks more than 15 times in a 50 second period, the collar shuts off for 3 minutes. The idea is to introduce your dog to the collar over a gradual period of time and to concentrate on particular occasions that you know are a problem – such as when the kids come out of school and there is a lot of activity going on outside the gate. It does mean, to a certain extent, that you have to build the collar wearing into your dog’s routine but this didn’t present too much of a problem for me. I’ve got to admit I was pretty surprised at how soon the dog bark shock collar began to take effect. Normally, my terrier is barking for the whole time that she can see someone outside her gate, but once wearing the collar she barked a couple of times and then stopped. It has now got to the point that I only have to wave the collar at her and she stops her barking – result!
Conclusion
You need to be aware of the reason for your dog’s barking because it is unrealistic to expect him not to bark at all. After all, he has a voice and is only trying to convey a message to you. That said, I found the dog bark shock collar collar very effective for my dog and was careful to use it to control her in situations where I know her barking is a nuisance, both to me and my neighbours. I think it works really well as part of a daily routine and have no hesitation in recommending it.
