Anti-Barking Devices

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I’ve only had the device for two days, and the instructions say it could take up to 2 weeks. I don’t hear much barking between 10pm-8am, but I live alone, so my place is constantly quiet, so if I’m reading or writing, and suddenly a bark startles me, and distracts me, and then the anger on top makes it impossible for me to do anything. I stopped watching movies, unless I’m watching it at 5am, and I seriously go weeks without leaving my house. If I go outside to remove dust from my vacuum or to grab my mail, its just a few seconds, but the barking doesn’t stop when I run back inside for 3 seconds.

I just feel I have no security, for many reasons. So I actually try and seek out movies by a lake with one or two characters… I’m tired of having to have music or video on constantly, but every time I pause, I hear some dog bark. Besides the combined three dogs on each side of me, there’s dogs across the street, one which came into my yard a week ago, so I did go outside and yell for it to leave, because that made the other dogs bark. It’s a chain reaction, and becomes a horrible doggy orchestra.

Oh, and I live in one of the worst cities in the US, that we don’t even have Animal Control. You have to call 911, and they didn’t even come when the **** next-door (not the one I’m talking about here) neighbor and her son broke into my house and stole all my instruments, big screen TV (my sister gave to me, my first television over 20"), cameras, etc… I even told the police so much evidence, including how each one gave me a COMPLETELY different story.

Son: Oh, there was this MEXICAN guy who was carrying a lawn mower (I didn’t have one), a TV, instruments (maybe he had 5 hands?)…
Mother: Oh, there was this MEXICAN guy who ran behind your house… He stole some of my clothes on the line.

I asked, “Why didn’t you call the police??” Then she asked if I was calling the police, and I asked why, and she said “Well, my son has a warrant” (she told me months ago it was for breaking into the storage facility down the road from us)… But THEN, a week later, she calls the police on me for playing drums (my job), and they were over in 15 minutes… She kept pounding violently, even throwing a cement cinder block against my door, and when I told the officers this, they smiled, as if the marks were insignificant. Then one officer talked about me possibly adding walls, sound-proof shit, and I wanted to hit em… I live in one of the poorest cities in America, and I have to hear that shit… This was 4 years ago, and since then, I hate to leave my house in fear of getting burglarized again.

But, I did call the police about 4 times, once because her crazy dog was barking at 6:30am (on a good day, I wake up around 7am) but that rude awakening was too much, but they just SAY they’ll come, and never do… So I don’t bother, and I don’t care when people discuss defunding the police, because they’ve never helped me… It seems like they’re only around when you don’t WANT them around!

22

No, that’s not just dog owner bias. Happy “conversational” barking doesn’t bother me at all. It’s not just the existence of noise per se that’s upsetting, it’s also being drawn in to the emotional state - aggression, distress. I can “tune out” a leaf blower, for example, but I find it really hard to tune out the noise of a dog that’s in distress.

23

This is it, exactly. I already spent the time to train my dog, I don’t want to train your dog too just so I can take my dog for a walk. Or that I should be able to put my dog out in my fenced back yard without your dog barking the whole time she’s out there.

Another thing that is bad around here is women (sorry ladies, it’s about 99.9% women) who think they need the largest dog possible. Which is fine at home, I’m sure you feel safe. But when your 120 pound dog is taking you for a walk around the neighborhood, pulling at his leash, standing on his hind legs and choking himself trying to get to other dogs/people, that’s not safe for anyone, the dog included.

You’re right about the different barks. The playful happy stuff is nothing like the constant barking that never stops. My dog rarely barks, her main form of communication are some weird noises that sound a little like Charlie Brown’s teacher.

24

Agreed.

The one that’s worse, still, IMO, is the separation anxiety barking that can go on Non-Stop for as long as they’re left alone.

Breaks your heart and takes your peace.

Best of luck with her.

It would be nice if you got a ‘grace period’ where the neighbors quieted their dogs just a bit until your new one was up to speed.

“Baptism by fire” comes to mind.

25

That sounds awful. My profound sympathies that it’s been (and continues to be) so hard. I can’t promise any results, but I’ll do some research on things that might help with the dogs. I know how to train my dogs not to bark, but I’m less familiar with how to stop other people’s dogs. I’ll see what I can find.

26

What worked with your dogs?

27

One of them I trained with a collar that beeped when she barked (she hates the beep), and the others have been trained with a collar that is also used to train hunting dogs. Some have responded to a vibration and some have needed small shocks. Two things I’ll add about the shocks: we tried these collars on ourselves to see what it felt like and make sure it wasn’t painful and we talked to animal control and a rescue group before using them. Their strong feeling was that many dogs are surrendered due to noise complaints. They would rather that they were trained and kept in their homes.

28

Thanks! I’m glad those work for somebody! We tried the vibration/shock collar on my barking dog many years ago, but it had no effect, sadly. He was happy to ignore it as long as he was doing his job of protecting the house (from indoors) from perceived dangers. He was an exceptionally slow learner. The beeper collar sounds like it could have been a good alternative, but it didn’t exist yet. I wonder if the spray collars work.

29

Every dog is different, so the spray collars may work for some people.

In terms of the shock vibration collars, some brands are absolute garbage. The fit is also extremely important. If it’s not on correctly, then it won’t work.

30

Agreed.

31

I appreciate it :slight_smile:

Each of my neighbors at one time or another say they have the dogs because “its getting dangerous around here”… I’ve never ever seen anyone walk their dog, or even be outside with their dogs. I heard one refer to her dog as “cheap security”… A few weeks ago, one dog was left outside in the pouring rain. Sometimes when its 20 degrees outside. They get sick of their barking, so they let them stay outside.

32

The ultrasonic anti-bark devices work about as well as yelling “Hey!”. It may distract the dogs enough that they forget to resume barking, but determined dogs will ignore it. Based on all the dogs you have around you, I doubt that it is going to make a significant difference. Some may curtail their barking, but there’s enough dogs that some of them are going to keep barking. I would discourage you from rearranging the device while they are barking as they will start to associate the noise with you.

It’s very common for dogs to bark at people that they think are strangers. If you can get to know the dogs, it will make a huge difference in how much they bark at you. It will also change the nature of their bark. Rather than being a “Stranger! Stranger! Keep Away!” bark, it will be a “Friend! Friend! Come pet me!” bark. But to be honest, the success of that will depend a lot on how much of a dog person you are. Dogs are very perceptive and they will sense if you are apprehensive or just faking it. But in any case, petting them and speaking to them kindly will go a long way.

33

Any chance the “money back if not delighted” is good for two weeks?

I’ve known several people who’ve tried “ultrasonic” anti-bark devices. No effect noted.

34

I’m not sure… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to quantify the effectiveness, but I don’t think I’d go through all the trouble sending it back. I don’t have a printer or a car, so I’ll just hope barking goes down 10%…

I woke up at 6:45am, and I immediately went to wash my face, etc., and I heard a dog across the street barking. Had it been 5:45am, I’d be really pissed right now.

35

Petting them? LOL - one of the dogs should be in prison! He barks like a maniac, and I can actually hear this little but feisty dog out of breath, wheezing because he barks non-stop… I looked out my living room window to see what the hell it was – just a boy walking, but the dog had to bark for minutes…

I’m not a dog person, and hate noise pollution, and wish I never had to hear anything from outside my house, but this dog barks at everyone. I hope he dies barking. Today would be great!

36

If you’ll be satisfied with a 10% reduction in barking, confirmation bias alone will give you that.