Bark collar for dogs

[GregbkH]

I saw another thread on the use of shock collars for dogs. Not wanting to hijack that thread I thought I'd start my own. I have a rescue dog that we got when he was 9 months old. He is now 4 years old. He is a black mouth cur (old yeller dog) named MF Jones. He can really live up to his name. At first he became really protective of my wife and I but soon turned over protective. For a little over a year I have been retired and worked with this dog every day. I am with him all day every day. He is sometimes a bit head strong but the smartest dog I've ever had. He great at keeping intruders at bay on our 45 acres be they animals or people. We also own and operate a bar and grill about 15 miles from our home and I take him with me when I go to work every day Maintainence man). From doing so I have managed to socialize him with other people to where acts well around them.

My (his) problem is when he is in our vehicle. He is terrible. He will bark and growl at everything and everyone. He seems to enjoy scaring anything that we come close to. People walking, jogging on the sidewalk, people in cars next to us, cows, deer, horses (he hates horses) you name it. When I am driving, I can't control this because, well, I have to drive. If I reach over and grab him he is super tensed up and beyond my control. This is where I thought a Bark collar may help curb this behavior. I would like to hear any opinions on this, especially from people who have tried a Bark collar.

The only good thing about this behavior is that I never have to lock my vehicle when I go into a store!

Thanks

 

[rustyshakelford]

I'm not a dog psychologist but by him being super tense I would say he has anxiety from the truck ride. That said. We have used bark collars in the past that shock and they are excellent. Dogs figured it out in about two mins. They pout when it's on but aren't barking. Ours learned from them and now no longer bark all the time for no reason, only when they want to alert us to something. For reference we have a Rhodesian ridgeback and Doberman we used them on. German Shepard and bully hardly ever bark

Brett

 

[s219]

Yeah, I think the real issue is some stress/fear from the car ride, but it would be hard to figure out why -- probably some experience that happened before you got him. Maybe a dog expert would have a good idea how to deal with this. I'd worry that the bark collar would be punishing the dog's reaction without really treating the root cause. Dogs are smart in some ways and dumb in others, and aren't really able to connect the punishment with the problem. Chances are he'd just learn to fear the collar and/or you putting on the collar.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

If he's really smart as you say (I believe you), he'll likely just get "collar wise" and learn he only has to not bark when the collar is on. One of our rescue labs used to like to get loose and roam around when we first got him. He would totally ignore you calling him back and just keep roaming around. He knew what the command already was, but was ignoring it. The shock collar "cured" his hearing problem, but only while he was wearing it. When the collar was on, he would "instantly" come to you when you called him. For a while we left a fake "dummy" collar on him, but eventually we didn't need that anymore.

Try the bark collar, just don't be surprised that he figures it out, and only changes his habit while wearing it. You can change the sensitivity of the trigger, as well as the corrective shock to fit your individual dog. And at least on the one we have (speaking about our barking collar now), it has an indicator light you can check to see if it's being triggered (as in he's been barking) while you're not around. We used the barking collar on one of our other rescue labs when we lived in the city to not annoy our neighbors.

I'll try to hunt ours down and give you the model # if you like. May take a bit to find, haven't had it on any of our labs since we moved out of the city.

 

[jfh28]

this sounds more like dominance and territorial behavior which is magnified by being in a small enclosed space.....your car.........he's basically doing what an alpha dog does which is protecting you from whatever is approaching your car........what you want to do is try to get him to see what is acceptable and what is not.......you could try by taking him on very short trips and when he doesn't bark immediately give a reward......if he does bark then give a correction (have his leash attached so you can give a tug) and say no and then turn around and go right back home (reason for short trip) drop him off and then you drive away without him.......if he's smart he will catch on quickly......bark and get left behind.....behave and go on trips and get treats........these training trips will be best done while someone else is driving so you can safely concentrate on him in the car.......and in the mean time be extremely careful with him as it sounds like he could easily attack someone.....alpha dogs can be a handful........you may want to consider a few lessons with a trainer who specializes in dogs with his behavior.........Jack

 

[GregbkH]

this sounds more like dominance and territorial behavior which is magnified by being in a small enclosed space.....your car.........he's basically doing what an alpha dog does which is protecting you from whatever is approaching your car........what you want to do is try to get him to see what is acceptable and what is not.......you could try by taking him on very short trips and when he doesn't bark immediately give a reward......if he does bark then give a correction (have his leash attached so you can give a tug) and say no and then turn around and go right back home (reason for short trip) drop him off and then you drive away without him.......if he's smart he will catch on quickly......bark and get left behind.....behave and go on trips and get treats........these training trips will be best done while someone else is driving so you can safely concentrate on him in the car.......and in the mean time be extremely careful with him as it sounds like he could easily attack someone.....alpha dogs can be a handful........you may want to consider a few lessons with a trainer who specializes in dogs with his behavior.........Jack

I think you've nailed it! He is not afraid or tense because of the truck ride. As a matter of fact, he will give up all of his favorite activities, food, hunting or playing with his horse ball in order to go for a truck ride. I will have to try your tactics.

I do believe that he thinks he's protecting me from some perceived danger. At the same time I believe he enjoy's it. He seems really happy when he sees how big he can make people's eyes get. We live out in the sticks and people here are real friendly. It is embarrassing when they wave and I wave back only to have him snarl and bark at them.

Thanks for everyone's input.