Anti Bark Collar and other methods

[RuffWoof]

Has anyone used an anti bark collar T where it sends a sound and or vibration to the dog to stop them barking? Do they work and what are the pros and cons?

What other methods can be used to stop dog from barking? Very barky dog at home inside and outside of house and garden and has free reign of the property.

This - distract instead shake a rattle and reward when the dog stops

@Hoppinggreen
you train them by making it attractive to do something or stop doing something
I agree with you to a point. But sometimes what the dog wants to do (chase a deer) is more attractive than anything you can offer (a treat, a ball). At that point, what do you do? Give up? Or show the dog that there will be consequences that it might not like if it carries on? There can still be a reward if it makes the choice you want.

In this case the dog wants to bark more than to please its owner. Distraction and re-education might work, but if it doesn't, then what?

@Sitdowncupoftea explain further? Explain why training using fear and/or pain is a bad idea? Surely it's obvious?

I have a 35kg rescue. It would be easy to walk her using a choke collar and use other old fashioned aversive training methods as seen on Southend Training. He gets brilliant results and really quickly. Almost too good to be true...

Nah. I'll stick to gentle, kind training. She responds to it. She is happy. She is trusting. She is even happy to meet strangers which she wouldn't have entertained a year ago.

Do your own research.

Adverisve training does work. How ever it always has fallout.

Cons of adversive training is that it is not very accurate and can be confusing to dogs and always has a fall out or damages a relationship with the owners.

So dog barks whilst it is looking at another dog. The bark collar is activated the dog thinks it is from looing at the other dog and then over time becomes dog reactive.

A dog is wearing a bark collar and another dog barks the bark collar goes off on dog that has not barked. One stressed dog unsure or what caused the vibration and will no longer go into the garden as that is where he feels the vibration.

Some bark collars release a citronella smell and these are horrendous. Dog barks gets a squirt of citronella that then hangs around for hours on the dogs fur and the dog will have no idea at all or why and will have the unpleaseant smell for ages.

Dogs bark. It is normal. However if you can work out why your dog barks that will help you find a solution.

Some dogs bark for fun - it realeases endorphins and makes them feel fab - increase the dogs activitiy and brain work - dog will stop barking

Alert barking - teach an alternative behaviour when dog sees the trigger

Fear barking - increase the dogs confidence and desentisize to trigger

Territorial barking - Set up management away from boundaries and build new behaviour.

I dont watch all sounthend dog training videos as its a paid subscription. I dont agree with prong collars. However some of the videos I have seen have good advice. I have a 38 kilo rescue and manage well with him with reward based training. Not all dogs are the same nor all trainers. However some of the videos Southend put up are very good. I trust you have watched all the videos or is it just a sweeping generalisation.

By no means does he recommend a prong or choke collar in every scenario. 90% of the videos I've watched are just spotting a behaviour before it becomes an issue and diverting attention one direction.

Nothing aversive about that.

Don't want a prong collar? Don't use one.

It doesn't mean you can't desensitise a dog to doorbells - they use exposure methods and sending a dog to bed etc. That's not aversive, it's a cue. Reactive dogs are usually lacking in confidence - they work on building that. How is that aversive?

Is Southend that shouty aggressive looking fellow?

To use an e-collar you need an in-depth knowledge of learning theory, canine behaviour and impeccable timing.

And if you have all that you don't need an e-collar.

Effectively what you are doing to a dog with an e-collar is the same as the cane in schools many moons ago - it doesn't teach them WHY they've been zapped, because you're not communicating what you actually want then to do.

And in some cases they can cause reactive behaviour (ie dog barks when stranger comes to door, gets zapped/sprayed. Dog thinks person at door is cause of pain/nasty spray, dog fears people at door and this bites them).

@RuffWoof What would you do if the dog barks and isn't wearing the collar or the battery has run out.

You need to adress the issue by finding out why the dog barks.

Just seems to be the world around him, trees leaves birds sounds everything

So - you have a dog who is incredibly overstimulated and overwhelmed at the world and is reacting in the only way he knows how - by barking.

So, why would you want to potentially make him scared of trees, leaves, birds and sounds by making it unpleasant for him to bark?

You need to deal with the reason he's feeling overwhelmed - likely it's caused by a lack of socialisation or a dog that isn't adequately exercised, or given enough brain training.

So, my first questions would be - what kind of socialisation did you do when he was a puppy? If he's a rescue, what can they tell you about his past? How much exercise, training, brain work and sleep does he get on an average day? What can you do moving forward to help him feel more confident when he's outside and surrounded by the things that make him bark?

Basically you have a dog that, as @sunsetsandsandybeaches says, is overwhelmed/overstimulated/worried by the world. It's the same as if you were terrified of everything but every time you tried to explain that you're scared of the thing you're smacked across the face and told to shut up. So eventually you stop trying to explain why you're scared, but you don't actually stop being scared, if anything you get MORE worried. For a dog, the only next step to trying to tell the people around you it's scary or overwhelming, is to run away, hide or bite.

Find a good reputable and registered trainer who will work with you slowly to teach your dog to be more confident and do less shouting at the scary or overwhelming things. Avoid anyone who claims they have quick fixes, this is not a quick fix.

Please do not use bark or shock collars, they are inhumane. Also do some research into a trainer. Just a tip, when looking for a dog trainer be sure to look at their previous work, look at their social media along with trustpilot for reviews, a lot of "dog trainers" do online courses that add letters such as IMDT to their title, in reality they have just studied online and never had to work with any dogs to become a "qualified dog trainer". The moment they mention medication, or avoiding a trigger (i.e walk them at night to avoid other dogs) you will quickly realise they are not equipped to handle your case. It is an unregulated industry meaning any qualifications are meaningless.

Would you like to be shocked or your neck vibrated every time you spoke?

Exactly this, don't use them, teach an alternate behaviour.

Any reputable trainers would not use these methods IMO. I know several who have refused to work with clients who use them.

I taught mine to fetch and bring me a toy when he wants to bark. It was fairly easy and effective. I did it accidentally by using toys to distract him from barking at things out of the window when I was working. It's not how I would usually train out this behaviour but if you have a dog who loves to play it is very effective.

I basically just waited for a second of silence, grabbed a toy and called him over to play. After a few days of this he started bringing me a toy instead of barking. It's not always perfect. Yesterday for instance he brought me a roll of wallpaper because he'd buried all his toys in the garden the day before.

My usual way of training this was to train "speak" and "quiet" in dedicated training sessions and to wait for silence when they do bark outside of training sessions and immediately treat, you can add the quiet command to reinforce it if you've already started the speak/quiet training. Once you have their attention this way lead them away from the window and run through some simple commands/lure training to burn off a bit of energy.

Just sitting outside/in the window and rewarding calm behaviour is also an effective way of calming an overstimulated dog. If there is a general trigger eg other dogs/people try to sit at a distance where your dog notices and is interested in the trigger but not so close that they lose their shit. Reward any behaviour you like (sitting, laying, checking in with you and ignore them when they're focused on the trigger).

I haven't watched all of the below videos but their training is generally spot on

Avoid antibark collars. They're cruel and ineffective. The dog can get confused and start to believe that what they are barking at is what caused the pain and it can add to fear aggression issues. It's also common for dogs to learn they can bark and bark and bark and the collar will run out. Dogs have burned and injured themselves this way in the past.

These collars should be banned imo.

They are supposed to be banned in the UK since 2018.

@vodkaredbullgirl shock collars are banned in the UK. They were modified and renamed "E collars" with the word shock being replaced with "stim" to get around this ban. They're basically the same thing.

Antibark collars have never been banned. They should be. It's lazy, cruel training and completely ineffective. There are multiple types of antibark collars some give the dog a "stim" aka a shock slightly milder than the traditional shock collars gave, some vibrate, some spray the dog in the face with an unpleasent smelling substance (usually citronella). The spray ones are usually the ones that dogs learn a prolonged period of barking will make the collar run out and the unpleasentness will stop.

They can cause anxiety and confusion in dogs not least because other dogs barking and other sudden noises like a car door slamming can set them off so the dog never learns what he is being punished for and becomes a quivering mess.

I was just reading that, it's horrible to think people would use these on their dogs.

Depends why he’s barking. Our dog used to be great at being left alone, but post lockdown he started to bark when we left the house. We’re working on separation anxiety in many ways and we use a collar that makes a high pitched beep, rather than a shock or vibration. It works. We actually never replaced the battery in it, but he still doesn’t bark when it’s on. As part of our leaving the house routine, we put the radio on, get him to sit for his collar and then give him a lickimat (filled with peanut butter or pate or yoghurt - he loves this and apparently the licking is soothing for them). He never has a lickimat any other time. As soon as we put the radio on now he runs and sits to get his collar on, as he knows lickimat comes next!

You need to train your dog to stop barking when told. Situations are different. My dog does not bark unless to alert me something is wrong for example someone is out trespassing in the field at night. In which case he goes ballistic. However that is what dogs do. When he's instructed he stops. He only alert barks which is what dogs do.
Using a antibark collar is not training your dog. What happens when your dog does not have the antibark collar on. You need to look at the context and reason as to why your dog barks.