Are No-Bark Dog Collars Really Effective?
There are several no-bark dog collars on the market. But, before purchasing you should give some consideration to what your circumstances are and when you will want to use the n0-bark collar. These no-bark electronic collars come with a variety of features. First, you have the basic no-bark collar that has a sensor that detects when the dog barks, which is a noise or sound sensor. With these basic no-bark collars the electrical stimulation occurs when your dog barks, but they can also emit an electric shock to the dog when a loud noise is detected other than your dog barking. Loud noises such as dropping something, a loud ringer on a phone, other dogs barking, shutting a car door, a car horn or children yelling can trigger the sensor. When your dog receives an electric shock that has nothing to do with them barking it is very confusing for the dog. If this basic type of collar is used, you should be very careful not to have the collar on your dog when children are present or you anticipate a situation where a lot of noise could have the potential for triggering the sensor on the collar.
A better choice might be the no-bark dog collar that has a motion sensor along with the noise sensor. The sensors must be activated simultaneously before the shock is administered. This type of collar is better suited for families with children and who have more than one dog in the household, than the collar with only the noise sensor. The motion sensor must be activated by the vibration or movement in the dog’s throat along with detecting sound before the electrical stimulus is given. This prevents an accidental shock being administered to the dog due to other loud noises or other dogs barking triggering the collar. Many of the collars with both the motion and sound sensors also have adjustable levels of stimulus, which is important. Not all dogs have the same level of tolerance. You should begin at the lowest level of stimulus and increase in small increments until your dog responds to the correction.
We moved to an area close to a University and the students are walking past our house all day long. My dog is a good watch dog, which means he alerts us to everything happening in the neighborhood and this gets old after a while. I have worked and worked with him to get him used to all the people walking down the street, but he hasn’t responded the way I hoped. I finally decided to try the no-bark collar and was quite surprised to see how quickly he responded. It didn’t take him long to figure out that when he barked, he got shocked. He barked only once at two different people and then sat on his chair on the front porch and just watched the rest go by.
There’s something else I noticed and that’s when he’s barking his level of physical excitement escalates. The other day, he had his collar on when my husband came home from work, he didn’t bark at him and he always barks, his level of excitement was less, not all the jumping up and down and running around his feet. And, he calmed down much quicker than what his normal routine usually lasted. I wonder if the act of barking releases adrenaline or some other chemical that escalates the dog’s physical excitement level? When the use of the collar stops the barking, then no biological chemicals are being released and the dog is calmer. Humm… does any one know if this scenario has any validity? Or do we just have an unusual dog?
Anyway, I thought I would pass along my observations and to point out the different collar options to consider before purchasing a no-bark collar, in case anyone is considering one for their dog. The collar has proved very effective in our situation and I no longer have to usher our dog into the house and shut the door to keep him from barking. Now our dog is enjoying the summer afternoons on the front porch with us.
Tags: dog, dog collar, dog collars, dog training collar, dog training collars, Dog Training Equipment, electronic dog collars, no-bark dog collars