Bark Collar

My biggest dog, Revan, is one year and five months old. Ever since he was little, he has liked to bark. Normally this isn't a problem, but I live in an apartment complex and he barks every time he hears a human or dog outside, or if he hears a door open or close. My other dog, Eve, never barked until she got older, at the urging of Revan. Monkey see, monkey do. Now, she often barks with more fervor than he. I have tried working with them, encouraging them not to bark by distracting them and treats, to no avail. Well, Revan did get a little better but not very much.

Then, last weekend I took Revan and my smallest dog, Annie, outside at 2 am, shortly after Joey got home from work. There happened to be a person walking and Revan went nuts. Annie is easily encouraged to bark, believing everything is a game. So the two of them were barking loudly, with Revan running over to the terrified walker. I wrangled Revan back inside, but not before one of my neighbors came out and asked if I couldn't do this earlier, meaning take the dogs out earlier. I had just calmed Revan down, and when he saw my neighbor, he started up barking again. I apologized to my neighbor and tried to explain amidst the barking, while holding Revan back, that Joey had just arrived home a short while ago and that was why I was taking them out so late. Anyhow, I felt terrible for having woken up half the neighborhood and decided I needed to put an end to the madness. So the next day I went out and bought the cheapest bark collar I could find.

Here's how it works. It has seven levels of "shock" and it always begins with the lowest level. It also has a sensor that detects the vibrations of the dog barking, so that other barking dogs around won't effect the collar. When a dog barks, it shocks them with the lowest level. Then, it waits 30 seconds before shocking again. If the dog continues barking, the level moves up, every 30 seconds. If the dog doesn't bark for 30 seconds solid, the level reverts back to the lowest level. After 15 minutes of continuous barking (and thus continuous shocking at 30-second intervals), the collar takes a three-minute break for the safety of the dog.

I was surprised at how much the dogs can get away with. Little "mini barks" that are softer, along with growls, don't trigger the device. But this thing has worked wonders. The first time Revan got shocked, he instantly looked down at the ground to see what had bit him. For the rest of the day, Revan stuck to my side like glue. He was so scared. But it also lessened his food aggression, something that has been a struggle since he was a little puppy. He wore it a few days and then I switched it over to Eve, who goes into barking fits. Revan just does single barks for the most part, stopping to listen between barks. Eve is a chain-barker. She is skittish so I had thought it wouldn't work well for her, just making her scared. But she wasn't nearly as scared as Revan. I think, though, that she may have figured out that it is the collar that is biting her because she seems to not even try barking when it's on.

I would recommend a bark collar to most people.