Anti bark collars?

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mattjm1017

Feeling the Heat
Oct 23, 2012
408
Corapeake NC
Our border collie has become a public nuisance with his constant barking all day long and the neighbors are starting to complain. He barks at anything that moves from cars to the wind and sometimes it seems he just barks to bark. Im looking into the anti bark collars like the ultra sonic or shock my wife wants the citronella spray one (which I don't think will work). Does anybody have any feedback on these things some are really expensive and they all have mixed reviews, so I figured I would check here for some more reviews. Also if anybody has any ideas on how to get him to stop barking that would be great.
 
Good for you to be recognizing the problem. We had neighbors with constantly barking Airedales (in the middle of the night) that were right behind our bedroom. Drove me nuts.

These are working dogs. How much activity does your border collie get? They need to be active. If not they get bored. if you can exercise the dog hard, then keep it indoors when resting the barking issue may go away.
 
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Dogtra works great, I have the Field Collar and the Bark collar, Adjustable and safe(used it on myself first)

and I agree I have a Heeler and if I don't get her enough exercise she is a terror too.
 
These are working dogs. How much activity does your border collie get? They need to be active. If not they get bored. if you can exercise the dog hard, then keep it indoors when resting the barking issue may go away.​

This is the primary cause of the problem. Your dog is bored. Borders are a personal favorite of mine but my lifestyle won't allow me to have one. I'd never be able to provide the life and activity level he/she deserves. Avoid the shock collars (best used under supervision of a professional trainer), the citronella ones work, they all have one drawback - without a lifestyle/activity change, your dog is likely to keep barking.

Borders are exceptionally intelligent dogs. Try upping the activity level with physically intense games like fetch or chase and go for at least one good walk a day. Might make all the difference. ;)
 
This is the primary cause of the problem. Your dog is bored. Borders are a personal favorite of mine but my lifestyle won't allow me to have one. I'd never be able to provide the life and activity level he/she deserves. Avoid the shock collars (best used under supervision of a professional trainer), the citronella ones work, they all have one drawback - without a lifestyle/activity change, your dog is likely to keep barking.

Borders are exceptionally intelligent dogs. Try upping the activity level with physically intense games like fetch or chase and go for at least one good walk a day. Might make all the difference. ;)

Bingo. We have a winner.

Do you have time to take him to an agility class or something similar? Either that or buy 100 acres and 300 sheep...
 
We have several border collies here at the resort for goose control. They are both aging, over 10 years old, and aren't as active as they used to be. They are taken out many times a day for as much exercise as they can handle but their bodies just can't keep up with their minds any more.

Recently got the bark collars because they would bark at nothing or everything and it has almost stopped the unnecessary barking completely. Only took a few days too. No idea where they were bought from or the cost but they do work well.
 
This is the primary cause of the problem. Your dog is bored. Borders are a personal favorite of mine but my lifestyle won't allow me to have one. I'd never be able to provide the life and activity level he/she deserves. Avoid the shock collars (best used under supervision of a professional trainer), the citronella ones work, they all have one drawback - without a lifestyle/activity change, your dog is likely to keep barking. Borders are exceptionally intelligent dogs. Try upping the activity level with physically intense games like fetch or chase and go for at least one good walk a day. Might make all the difference. ;)

I thought for a second you were against e-collars(shock collars);)

Yes, if used as a punishment tool by a lazy owner they can ruin a dog, or make things worse. The collars are meant as a reminder that you are talking to the dog, at a distance, not a punishment. Remember that and you will be 50% of the way to achieving the goal for the dog you have set. A good trainer or someone experienced in their use is encouraged, but not totally necessary. Just to a lot of reading before you begin to use the collar. Remember to train the dog in a fresh state at first, and then in a exhausted state after she is used to the collar, and be consistent. If 3 people in your house are consistent all it takes is one more to think that the dog needs a "break" to undo all of your hard work. Remember they are Dogs, they want to be in a pack, and NEED a strong pack leader(you). When they test you, and they will even with the collars, be firm and consistent. PM me if you want more info on training working breeds.

OH, one thing I would recommend if you live in a Subdivision is to take the dog for "walks" with a bicycle if you can. You can move a little faster and give the dog their required daily exercise in a shorter time. I have found that this works great for breeds that need more exercise with owners that aren't running 4-8 miles daily :p
 
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+1 on everybody in the house needing to be on board. Can't tell you how much my wife complains that they put 2 weeks of training into a dog (full-time board & train) and only to drop it off to an owner that they know will never follow through.
 
My BIL (and next door neighbor) has a border that is about a year old now. That thing has copious amounts of energy. It will lay in my yard all day waiting for me to get the quad out and take him for a run. He tops out about 29MPH and can hold that for a good 90 seconds. They really need something to herd...this one herds chickens and kids. Pretty fun to watch.

I'm really tempted to get one of his pups in a couple years. This is the best mannered border I've ever seen, by a long shot.
 
Border collies get rescued quite often as most owners dont have the stamina to keep them busy. If you dont keep them busy they will figure out how to get attention be it negative or positive. IF the dog barks and someone yells or beats the dog thats regarded as attention by the dog. A friend had a similar active dog and her living circumstances changed so the dog wasnt active. It chewed through 10 k of furniture one afternoon. She brought it to Tufts in Mass and they prescribed "doggie downers" to mellow out the dog. Once the owner got active again the dog was fine.
 
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My neighbors don't give a rip about the noise their dogs make. Three little dust mops that do nothing but bark whenever they are put out. The only time they don't bark while they're out is when they are making P or ...
I commend you on realising that this a a very annoying problem and are taking steps to resolve it.
 
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I have raised and trained I do not know how many very large LGD livestock guardian dogs (Anatolian/Great Pry/Akbash crosses), but it is in the many 100s. I have also raised collies and shelties, which can be exceptionally noisy dogs. Citronella bark collars are useless, as are ultrasonic beepers. Shock collars will work for a time. Training works, but you must be persistent and consistent. If you have any variation in dog discipline among family members, the dogs will figure it out. Most dog breeds will also try to attain dominance in the family, including dominating all the humans... if you let them. Most people are clueless when it comes to training and living with dogs, but the dogs only take a short time to train effectively. Its the human training that takes all the time.

When we sold LGD dogs into city and suburban settings (some just never did well protecting sheep), I recommended training with a bark shock collar or getting them debarked. People do not like debarking dogs, as they feel it reduces the effectiveness as a deterrent and affects the dog. However, I found that the dogs were actually happier after being debarked, as they can basically bark their heads off and no one cares. People are also far more effected by seeing large dogs than hearing them bark. We had anywhere from 12 to 20 dogs in the pastures at any given time and people never came up to our house. They thought we were raising wolves, and I encouraged that rumor to good effect. The LGDs were very effective at stopping cougar and coyote predation and driving off encroaching bears. Theoretically they will prevent wolves from moving into an area as well, if they are located in a place before the wolves arrive.
 
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I have had 1 shock collar for years. All of my dogs have been rescued jack russell terriers, with issues of course but nothing we couldn't train out of them. We have always spent time, money and energy training our dogs but it only ever took 1 wear of the collar, instant behavior modification. I've had it so long now, the battery is dead but all I have to do is pick it up and they are perfect little angels in a second. Mine is a 1" bright orange reflector collar so it doesn't look like the collars or leashes we use.

I can't stress enough, as others have said, working breeds need a job or they get bored. I know it sounds stupid but on rainy days when my guys can't get outside to burn off the energy, I put on their doggie back packs with a little bottle of water in each side pocket. They now have a job, to carry water they don't need but to them, it's a job and they walk around the house all proud.

You may also want to check Groupon for deals on doggie day care. Some around here offer 50% off deals all the time.

Good Luck!
 
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Wow thanks yall! We ended up getting the BC because the people that had him couldn't handle him. He had bit one of the kids we believe he was herding them and just nipped like he would a sheep, I also believe that the barking was a part of the problem. Im certain that a big part of the problem is that hes bored and just barking out of boredom from being stuck in the back yard. We don't live in a neighborhood exactly just on a street with a couple neighbors he has about an acre out back to run around in which has been a lot better for him than the tiny backyard he was stuck in. We get outside and play fetch with him as much as we can but we do have to leave and he is stuck in the yard all day from time to time and that's when the problems start. I would like to be able to curb his barking during the times we are not home. Before we moved to where we are now we had talked to a lady that has border collies and trains them to herd sheep but we moved away and weren't able to go out with her. Right now hes getting a kick out of chasing tractors up and down the fence. Ive talked to the feed and seed down the road and they carry the bark collars Im going to go talk to them about what they have and do a little more research.
 
We will probably have to delete this for copyright infringement but it was yesterday's Dilbert cartoon.

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Had a sweet dog, part Border Collie, part whoknows, when we lived in Virginia. The squirrels up in the trees (we had lots of both) just drove her crazy. She would bark, bark, bark, at the squirrels all summer long. Nobody ever complained to me, but it drove me crazy. I got one of those anti-bark collars and put it on her. She went out and when she wanted to do her normal bark at the squirrels, it was like a "b-OW!". I listened to her do that maybe a dozen times, but then I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt so sorry for her that I took the dang collar off & threw it away. She's long gone now, but I hope Ginger is barking at all those squirrels up there in the dog heaven trees whenever she wants.
 
Just thought of another "busy" job. I take 1 cup of all natural peanut butter, 1 really ripe banana and 1 cup of oat meal (soaked ith just enough water to get the oats soft) mash everything together and stuff it in a kong, hoof, butcher bone, etc wrap in plastic and freeze. When the dogs are getting antsy or I'm hosting a directors conference call that can easily be 2hours of needed "quiet time" (I work from home) I take them out of the freezer, let them thaw about 30 mins and give them to the dogs. They will spend hours trying to lick all that peanut butter out. Be sure to damped them with a little water if you don't thaw them so their tounges don't stick to the frozen surfaces!
 
Well its been a couple of weeks and I thought an update would be appropriate for anybody that's interested. I ended up buying the anti bark collar it has 18 levels in three groups of six. Each group starts at the lowest and moves up from there so far I haven't set it above the first group and half the time I don't turn it on. His barking has gotten a lot better. He doesn't bark at all when he's wearing the collar and is barking a lot less when he's not wearing it. We only leave it on him for a couple hours a day when we have to leave him outside. I think that it is a good training tool and he seems to be perfectly fine with it.
 
Well its been a couple of weeks and I thought an update would be appropriate for anybody that's interested. I ended up buying the anti bark collar it has 18 levels in three groups of six. Each group starts at the lowest and moves up from there so far I haven't set it above the first group and half the time I don't turn it on. His barking has gotten a lot better. He doesn't bark at all when he's wearing the collar and is barking a lot less when he's not wearing it. We only leave it on him for a couple hours a day when we have to leave him outside. I think that it is a good training tool and he seems to be perfectly fine with it.


Good for you guys matt :)

What i did is train Murphy and Emma with small bells on the shock collar which didnt take long and then just use a dummy collar with a bell on it. Works great and saves on batteries ;)

They were just playing in this picture ::-)

loon

 
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loon I love those dogs my neighbor down the road has one and he is the biggest and friendliest dog Ive ever met. I like the idea of the bells I might give that a try sometimes we leave the collar turned off and he wont bark but every now and then he has to test it and if he finds out that its off he will start barking a lot.
 
Im certain that a big part of the problem is that hes bored

This is the only problem mate. You've taken on a working dog and haven't provided the right stimulation for him. And if your idea of stimulation is "playing fetch with him" you need to do more research on looking after dogs...That dog is going to need daily exercise...lots of running....lots of different games to keep its mind active...I don't mean to be a downer, but i think it sucks when people get dogs, don't stimulate them, then wonder why their dog is playing up, then slap a bark collar on them.
 
This is the only problem mate. You've taken on a working dog and haven't provided the right stimulation for him. And if your idea of stimulation is "playing fetch with him" you need to do more research on looking after dogs...That dog is going to need daily exercise...lots of running....lots of different games to keep its mind active...I don't mean to be a downer, but i think it sucks when people get dogs, don't stimulate them, then wonder why their dog is playing up, then slap a bark collar on them.
I fully understand now what the problem is why hes running back and forth and barking hes bored yes we don't work with him enough yes. He was adopted looking back maybe we shouldn't have gotten him we had no idea what we were getting into but were learning. For the time being the bark collar will have to do but we are looking into ways to help stimulate him and not just have him outside running around. Were thinking about getting a couple of goats and theres a lady we met that works with border collies and trains them to herd sheep so were going to talk to her and see if we can get him involved with that a couple times a month and also maybe set up some kind of agility course in the back yard.
 
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Go with sheep. Goats might not take well to being herded. An agility class would be a better idea than a course in the back yard, at least initially.
 
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I fully understand now what the problem is why hes running back and forth and barking hes bored yes we don't work with him enough yes. He was adopted looking back maybe we shouldn't have gotten him we had no idea what we were getting into but were learning. For the time being the bark collar will have to do but we are looking into ways to help stimulate him and not just have him outside running around. Were thinking about getting a couple of goats and theres a lady we met that works with border collies and trains them to herd sheep so were going to talk to her and see if we can get him involved with that a couple times a month and also maybe set up some kind of agility course in the back yard.

Fair call. I do admire you for adopting him, and good work in trying to address the issue. Some people just dont care. Im no expert on dogs, but am a firm believer in exersize, discipline, and affection and in that order. (some dog trainer said that)....

PS, I love your avatar pic thing. Brings back awesome memories of being in Thailand.
 
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