Hi,
Any one got any advice on stopping barking?
Kass is a six month old GSD who has taken to barking ALOT!!!!
Been looking at anti barking collars, but am a little confused

They are advertised as training collars, however the manufacturers say that to reverse the effects just stop using them.
Surely this doesn't actually train the dog, just puts atemporary fix on the problem?

Does any one know whether they work permanmently or not? I don't want to have to keep her on the collar forever!!!!

Would it be more use to use it just when she is unsupervised- i.e. when out in the garden alone etc?

I have read that I should reward her for barking and then reward her for being quiet, and she should learn to be quiet on command, could I use this method and a collar (obviously not at exactly the same time), just when late at night, early in the morning etc.

It's just that she barks at everything- the neighbours, people waking past etc, and I dont want her to upset the neighbours for much longer - we have to live next door to them as well!!!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Many thanks,

KAyley and Kass

Can anyone help Kayley and Kass?? :)

Kath.

What are the circumstances of her barking?
A barking collar is just a temporary fix, it's much better to find out why she is barking and how she is being rewarded for it. Then you can work to remove the cause and the reward.

The 'speak' and 'quiet' command don't always work. If the dog is barking for a reason, such as territorial barking then the 'quiet' command wont work because the dog is trying to protect itself. The need to stay safe and keep scary intruders away is much greater than the need for a piece of cheese. If she is barking from excitement then the quiet command can work, but it's much easier (and more effective really) to teach her to deal with frustration and excitement in a calm manner, and assess her lifestyle.

Jo

What happens if your dog is barking for attention, then what do you do? Recently When my dog has been put to bed or out side he will start barking, but if you tell him 'NO' or 'Quiet' then he carries on twice as much when you leave him again, and I dont want to let him back out from bed time as I feel he will associate (SP) barking with 'I can get my own way' am I doing the right thing by ignoring him or shall i try a different approach?

Sorry for asking my own question on youre post:) just didnt want to start another 'barking' thread.

I've heard a theory, though I've never tried it, that if you teach your dog a signal to bark first, it's easier then to teach a "Quiet" command. Apparently, when he's barking anyway, you encourage him, saying "Speak! Good boy! Speak!" until he learns that "Speak!" means he has permission to bark. (With a dog that likes barking anyway, this shouldn't be too much of a problem!) Being praised for barking removes the stress of the situation.

Once he's understood what "Speak" means you can then teach the "Quiet" (or "That'll do" or whatever you decide) by getting him to bark, then when he stops (as he will if he's barking on command) introduce the quiet command.

Hope this helps. It's worth trying anyway.
:)

Just shows I should have read the whole post, I thought it was just about anti-bark collars so I couldn't help!
Bess used to bark at me if I stopped to talk to people on a walk. My cousin is a vet nurse and has done a course on behaviour and she advised me to teach her bark/quiet commands. Bess could already bark on the command "say woof!" :D so as soon as she woofed I'd put my hand up and say "quiet". Seems to have worked. :)

Kath.

I am just about to get one of these anti bark collars as well. Quite a few people here have used them with good results. Think that thing with the reversed effect after removal is a missunderstanding. Once the dog gets the message - the collar comes off - and your new well behaved dog goes on and on ........... well at leat that's the theory.
You will find threads here about the use of them - and different opinions. And some wisely suggesting that you should not use them if your dog is nervous or frightended.
My dog is the youngest one (11 months now) in a pack of three. She is a confident happy little thing - but one or two barks from the others and she thinks she is part of a barking competitions. When she is not with the other two she takes the opportunity to practice on her own.
Like you - we have to stop this - and I am quite certain that a barking collar is the right thing for my little barkey, and woul'd not harm her.

I would never suggest using an anti bark collar in a multi dog household as the other dog barking can also trigger the anti bark collar - which will a) teach the barker absolutley nothing b) the barker maybe become agressive towards the other dog as it appears to be that which triggers what it perceives as an unpleasant experience......... Many dogs learn that the collar being on results in unpleasant experiences, so learn only to bark when the collar is off, and some even learn that the weight of the batteries in the collar (because the owner has taken the batteries out to stop the collar spraying) makes the difference and will continue to bark because the collar has no effect..

As I understand it is only with the Aboistop that other dogs barks can trigger the collar - not so with the Master Plus which has a remote controle.
And yes - Some dogs will relate the unpleasantness with the collar, in which case nothing much is gained of course.But this is not the general rule I think, so in many cases the collar has proven to bee successfull.
The Master Plus is expensive but someone here has just told me where I can rent one. I will definately give it a go - then come back and let you know how we are doing.

Barking on command appears to be quite hard to teach from what Ive observed/tried myself. GSD and GSD X bark on command easily, also Weims. Ive tried teasing with a treat/toy just out of reach, rewarding spontaneous barking then giving the command Speak, but it dosent work. Morse will bark if strangers come to the gate/door or dogs walk past the garden, and yelp blue murder at squirrels but no Speak. Any ideas?

This is true - but then the Master Plus can't be operated when you aren't around - so you lose the benefit of 'teaching' the dog not barking when you aren't there........

I tried teaching my BSD to bark on command and also to be quiet, but to be honest i feel it is a bit hit and miss.

I personally would only suggest it for dogs who are not particularly barky or guardy in the first place - so for example would not use it for a GSd who is similar in guardy nature to BSds :)

I ended up using the clicker for rewarding quiet behaviour and taught !Quiet! rather than Speak. EVery time she barked, i waited til she stopped and then waited a few seconds and then clicked and treated. I gradually lengthened the duration of the "Quiet" and of course added the command.

She now barks at things she perceives are a threat, but for example has stopped barking at the dog 2 doors up even if they bark :) She is also much mroe controllable if she does bark.

What i w0uld say though is that socialisation is very important for these guardy youngsters so that they don't bark through fear and anxiety.

Lindsay