Bark collars!!

[whymewhyme]

Urgently need advice, my dreadful neighbours have told me today that our dog barks when we are not in and if we don't do something about it they will report us to the RSPCA and the council! I didn't even know he barked when I was out because I'm in all day most days and if I go out it's no more than a hour or two! now I feel like I can't even take my child to the park incase he barks! I've googled the bark collars but it's like a minefield just wondering if anybody has experience of using a bark collar ( not the electric shock kind)

Thanks!

[Aquilla]

Ive got a buzzy/beeping one (not shock). I have to be there at the time though (remote control). Got it for jumping up. £25. No good for a big dog though - she barely noticed!

[kamillaw]

What about radio on for her or TV? Something to occupy her while you are out? I'm guessing you've done all this already.... Sorry your neighbours are being difficult.

[MrsMaisel]

Yes, bark collar worked for us. Got the buzzy one too - vibrates like a phone and beeps gently. Enough to spook the dog into cutting out the barking, but in my mind proportionate and not cruel.

[Bunnybigears]

Before you start zapping the dog or whatever you are planning to do do you know that the dog is actually barking excessively. Can you record it when you leave it and see for yourself.

[RuggyPeg]

How are the neighbours being difficult? Unchecked, barking dogs are beyond annoying. Why should the neighbours have to put up with it. Good on you though op for trying to address it.

[Wolfiefan]

Please don’t use a bark collar. They are unkind and aversive.
When and where is the dog barking? Ideally you would film the behaviour to see what’s happening. Is this a dog being wound up by something outside or full blown separation anxiety.
For now don’t leave your dog to bark.

[adaline]

Bark collars work through fear - they might work for some dogs but if your dog is barking because he's anxious or scared (because you're out) then using one will make the problem a whole lot worse.

[minsmum]

My neighbours told me my dog was barking all the time and were going to start a petition to force us to get rid of her. We were devastated got a trainer in etc. A few weeks later I had a day off was pottering around in doors.and saw my neighbours let themselves into my garden and bang on the kitchen window to make the dog bark. Turns out they just didn't want a dog living next door.
I would record what is happening and check with other neighbours before doing anything

[whymewhyme]

I don't think it's separation anxiety I have two dogs only one barks apparently, I must be Unreasonable but I don't think a dog barking for a short period of time during the few hours during the day isn't that bad, it wouldn't bother me but we are all different. I've ordered a cam and the bark collar last night. most nights we had them playing classic music very loud we can often hear it while we are upstairs and then they were watching game of thrones on until 12am! That happens regularly and I've never said anything I just turn my tv up because I'm a live and let live type of person! I have to admit I wasn't happy last night because when I'm out what happens with the dog while I'm out is out of my control but listening to classical and GOT excessively loud until 12am they can control and they are the cause of the noise disturbance !

[whymewhyme]

Also they have the radio on while I go out and the bark collar will only be on for a short while when I go out and if we go out on day trips a family member will have then

[StoorieHoose]

Bark collar didn't work with my barky boy.

And just because you don't mind listening to a barking dog others do and you need to be a responsible owner as your dog is obviously distressed and putting on a collar that could frighten him will make the situation worse

[RuggyPeg]

Bark collars don't necessarily make them worse. The ones that hiss or spray water simply snap them out of it - hardly cruel. I think letting a dog repetitively bark is more 'cruel', as they can get themselves so wound up and distressed.

That said, if your neighbours make noise until midnight on a regular basis, fuck em 😂😂😂😂 Get a big alsation that barks day and night and tell them that you'll be more considerate when they are.

[BiteyShark]

A dog barking can be bloody annoying. I have a dog so I am more tolerant but if my dog starts to bark outside he is called in straight away.

Sounds like you have an adjoining house so a dog barking is intermittent noise which can be worse than a continuous background one like a tv.

Also just because you have two dogs doesn't mean one isn't suffering from anxiety when you leave. Some dogs miss their owners and having a doggy companion does nothing to minimise that.

I agree though you need a camera that streams to your phone so you can hear and see exactly what is happening.

[whymewhyme]

I've taken on board what everybody has said I've made the purchases so I will see what happenes, I recorded their tv noise last night and sent it to a few friends and family and they were gobsmacked at how loud it was so in my opinion a dog barking in the middle of the day for a hour max while I'm out isn't as bad as tv/ music blaring out till 12am and can be heard from upstairs and we have a baby so nice and considerate, safe to say my dogs aren't barking from 7pm till 12am!

[Wolfiefan]

Bark collars are cruel.
A dog barking for a “few hours”? I’m bloody glad you’re not my neighbour. That’s completely unacceptable. Plus happy dogs rarely bark for that long. Having two doesn’t mean it’s not separation anxiety.
Poor dogs.
And poor neighbours.

[adaline]

Hang on, you leave your dog out to bark for an hour? I'm sorry but that's really not acceptable and it's what gives good dog owners a bad name.

I have a beagle - he bays and he can be so so loud. So he doesn't get the chance to do it. If he's out and starts barking he gets brought in right away - he's my dog, not my neighbours', they don't deserve to listen to him howling and barking at the birds.

[Parvuli]

I’ve got two dogs. I can’t bear barking beyond the usual brief “There’s someone at the door!!” or “There’s a cat on our fence!!” bursts. I feel for your neighbors.

Bark collars are unkind but obviously people who use them will choose to ignore that.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

Please, please, please don't use the bark collar; send it back for a refund. My rescue dog was handed over with a vibrating one, and I have a strong suspicion that it's part of the reason why he's such an anxious dog - he ended up too scared to even bark. His anxiety has manifested itself in ways which are much harder to live with and much harder to fix than barking ever was. No good trainer would ever advise them as they're aversive - a punishment based tool. He can't have been wearing the bark collar for more than 10 months (if that) but two years down the line I'm still trying to repair the damage, and will probably spend the rest of his life doing so.

My course of action would be to

• realise that the RSPCA won't do anything if your dogs have food, water and shelter. They don't lift a finger for many genuine cruelty cases so they won't even visit for a bit of barking.
• know what the council would have to go down the rather lengthy route of noise abatement - they don't just get a phone call from your neighbour, take it at face value and put a fine in the post or anything like that. I'd be surprised if they were interested in an hour a day of barking - they usually have bigger fish to fry. You have time to resolve the issue without resorting to bark collars.
• get a camera and record what's going on at home when you're not there. It might be that the barking isn't anywhere near as bad as the neighbours claim, in which case you have proof for the council if they do come. It might be that there's a specific trigger which you can fix (eg barking at passers-by - close the curtains and perhaps get a white noise machine).
• there's a good chance that one of your dogs has separation anxiety. It doesn't matter if you have two dogs, if one is anxious about being separated from their humans. This needs to be addressed with the help of a properly qualified behaviourist, who is APBC or CCAB accredited, and can put together a plan to help your dog stop feeling so terrified when left.

Is there a backstory between you and your neighbours?

[Fucksandflowers]

If it was me, for the dog, I would get a camera firstly, but I would also give a large filled kong whenever you leave which just might stop the barking if it’s not too distressed plus a bark collar.

I would also record the noise from your neighbours and if they start again report them to the council.

[Parvuli]

Re: separation anxiety - it doesn’t generally matter how many dogs you’ve got. It’s the human they’re anxious without.

[Twooter]

Adeline - read what she said. She’s out for an hour max

[adaline]

Yeah, I read that, and she said the dog barks the whole time. It's not acceptable - firstly it's unfair on the dog as they can't be happy if they're barking constantly. Secondly it's massively unfair on the neighbours - yes, barking is a normal behaviour for dogs but that doesn't mean they should be left outside to bark. If mine barks when he's in the garden he gets brought in immediately.

I have a neighbour who gives his dog free access to the garden while he's out and it's a real pain. It means every time I'm in my garden, I get barked at. It means if I leave my windows open in summer, I can hear the dog barking. It means my dog can't go out unattended, because he gets barked at l, and barks back and gets wound up.

If your dog can't be left without barking it's head off then you need to work on techniques for separation anxiety - you can't just bugger off and pretend it's not happening!

[ellabella84]

Please ditch the bark collar, get a camera set up to see if what your neighbour is saying is actually true. If it is an the dogs barking for the odd hour you’re out there are other things that are less aversive then those awful collars. Thunder shirts, frozen kongs/hooves, antlers etc.

[whymewhyme]

@adaline I don't leave the dog outside to bark, that would be very annoying for everyone around us and unfair on our dogs. To everybody else... Apparently the neighbour said when I leave the house the dog barks, I have no proof I've asked the other neighbour next door who is a SAHM and she said she's never heard the dogs bark, I niped to the shops this morning left my phone on record for the hour I was out and nothing not a peep! No backstory with neighbours at all, I know she doesn't like us parking outside our house ( terraces street) she once asked us to move our car so she could fit in which left us no room and had to park elsewhere. we tend to no park outside cuz her cars always a few ft in the way so no room, we have never aired our views or brought it to their attention Because we don't really care and we just want a quiet life, however on Saturday and Sunday my husband parked outside because we were doing a tip run and he parked again on Sunday when they were out, when they returned she came around about the dog.

[whymewhyme]

Also husband pick up camera from Argos this evening