Say your neighbor’s dog(s) is in the habit of waking you at times you don’t want to be awakened, and the neighbor won’t do anything about it. Do dog bark control devices such as the one shown here (http://shop.petmarket.com/nobark.html) really work? Assuming it’s placed indoors (and the dog is outdoors but within purported range), what kinds of walls/windows will it work through (eg, placed above ground level in a basement)? Do they hurt the dog in any way? Are there any legal ramifications (in Illinois specifically) for using such a device on someone else’s dog? Will the device be effective if it’s used only at certain times or must it be used always to make the point?
Well, the link says that walls, fences, etc will decrease its effectiveness. With a maximum range of 30 feet, unobstructed, I would say that having it in your basement wouldn’t do much good.
But for $45 it may be worth a try.
I doubt using it just sometimes would be very effective - but I have no cite.
Well, of course THEY say it’s “humane” and doesn’t inflict “harm or pain.” But I have to ask what the biology of it is: What is it doing to the dog to make it shut up? I can tell you that those “Invisible fences” are a lot more dangerous than people would have you believe.
I WOULD NOT, I repeat NOT use it on a neighbor’s dog. I can’t give you a specific ordinance against it, but barking, however annoying, is quite natural. Trying to remedy the problem by using a controlling device on another person’s property isn’t very ethical. It may tick you off, but is it really worth imposing something unwanted on another creature you have no legal right over? I don’t know, that just seems a little unethical to me… I know I’d be upset if someone did it to my pet.
Man, I have a tendency to think of things after I post them… The other issue is: Do you really want the dog to never bark again? What if there were a burglar late at night?
Are you within city limits? There is probably an ordinance against the dog barking in the first place. Call the cops (the non-emergency line).
We have a barking ordinace in our town, but it’s vague - something to the effect that it has to be loud and excessive (hours at a time)…
Our animal control office required us to log the date and the time of continuous barking, which we did, but mostly to no avail.
The damn dogs - pit bulls - would even get loose, but to prove they were on my property, I had to take pictures of them a few times. I did so and that worked somewhat. They had to pay fines of about $100 each time.
Ultimately the owner had the larger dog put down, and the smaller one tends to stay in the yard.
Wow, she had it put down because it barked a lot? That sounds cruel. 
I figure if you’re going to euthanize the dog, giving it to the pet shelter will at least give it a chance.
It wasn’t really just the barking.
My son and his wife were visiting us with their dog, a Lab puppy, and they were all in the back yard, letting the pup run and play.
The Pit Bulls got absolutely frantic at the sight of this dog and jumped the fence to harrass her. It was pretty hairy for awhile, but fortunately, no bites, no injuries.
Shortly thereafter, we learned from Animal Control that the owners had the older, bigger dog, along with her puppies put down. Apparently, they finally got the message — all without us saying a word to them — that their dogs were a menace, and could cause a very expensive law suit.
We live in a small, suburban town. People in the neighborhood exercise by strolling in our street. Every so often the bitch would get loose and the smaller dog would follow. If people were in the street they’d be at risk. When I walked with my wife, I’d carry a sand wedge; even got a Moses-like staff for the winter months. (It looked - and felt - a little goofy, carrying a golf club with snow and ice on the ground.)
Now, I can walk unarmed. 
we had next door neighbors that had two large dogs. pretty often, on a friday evening they would put the dogs outside when they came home from work. they would then apparently drink heavily for the next couple of hours and get into a screaming fight. the husband would storm out, leaving behind dire threats. the wife would then leave out of fear, and they would be gone all weekend. every few minutes, around the clock, the dogs would bark to be let back into the vacant house. a couple of times i was able to get the humane society out to pick the dogs up to rescue them from animal cruelty, but they stopped responding. the police were not interested in the problem at all.
i caught both the husband and wife sober one afternoon and assured them that on the next occurance i would let the dogs out of their yard to run loose then report the dogs as dangerous strays to the humane society.
we never did find out what happened to these people. one afternoon, we came home from work and they were gone, dogs and all
we do not miss them much. the new renters have a dog also, but they seem to be able to keep it quiet.
I tried to report a barking dog once in L.A. It had been barking for hours on end. It was getting late, and I had to go to work the next day, so I tried calling animal control. I got a recorded message saying that I had to file a written report with them, and if the problem wasn’t resolved within two weeks I would could file another written report. I tried calling the police, but they said I had to call animal control. :rolleyes:
I ended up calling the owner of the apartments across the alley. (The dog’s owner was the manager of those apartments.) The dog eventually shut up, and the owner was fired and evicted.
I didn’t read through all the posts so this may have already been said. But if I found out you had one of those to silence my dogs, I’d call the police on you for harming my dogs. If you have a problem the first thing to do would be to talk to the neighbors. If you don’t want to do that, or you already have, then call the police. If it’s during the night (or whatever hours your city requires noise levels to be down) the police will talk to them and possible issue a ticket. If it’s not within those hours you can still call the police, while they may not do anything, they still MUST respond. They’ll eventually get tired of the police showing up and do something about it. You may want to ask the neighbors to call the police as well. Of course if this is at 2:00 in the afternoon, you might not have much of a case. But back to the OP, don’t use that, you may cause more problems for yourself then it’s worth. Especially if it does cause problems and you wind up getting sued.
Well, according to the advertisement, it’s non-contact and only emits a tone.
I don’t see the difference between your dog emitting loud tones and my machine emitting loud tones. If you can possess something noisy, then can’t I? Why are your rights more important than mine?
For what it’s worth, I have a very lovely dog that I’d like to avoid having harmed maliciously.
I can relate the anecdotal experience with my own incredibly cute but incredibly neurotic standard poodle, who has the tendency to bark at everything from bloodthirsty murderers lurking in our bushes to clouds rolling by.
We tried bitter apple spray. He liked the taste.
We tried dropping bunches of empty cans on the floor. The noise startled him, but he kept barking.
We tried the high pitched ultrasonic beep. He responded with a high-pitched bark.
Finally we tried the shock collar (aka “mild corrective stimulus”) which led to the following sequence:
Bark
Zap
Yelp
Zap
Yelp
(at this point the device recycles for about 30 seconds)
Barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark
Zap
Yelp
Zap
Yelp
Repeat as needed.
Conclusion – if a dog wants to bark, there isn’t much that will stop it.
If you kept the floodlights in your backyard on all night long and they kept me awake, and I decided that I would starting pointing a really bright flashlight or laser pointer into your eyes, I doubt you’d be happy with that. What I’m getting at it it, your doing something to my dog, without my permission that may or may not cause damage to his ears. I would start by just talking to the person, or calling the police. I’m not trying to get into an argument, I’m just telling you how I feel about someone using that on my dogs. How would you feel if you found out someone was doing that to yours.
These devices work by startling the dog with an ultrasonic noise (some have the option of emitting an audible noise instead of ultrasonic) - pretty much like you running out and telling it to shut up every time it started barking. I haven’t seen where they work well and they certainly don’t stop any dog from barking if there’s an intruder around.
There’s probably an ordinance about barking dogs. There is probably NO ordinance about someone using such a device so you can get some sleep. I’m sure that someone will say such things are dangerous. If you go out an tell the dogs to shut up they’ll also worry about you damaging the dogs psyche.
The best option is to call the police and keep calling them until everyone gets the message that you don’t care if this is something “dogs do” (a favorite excuse of irresponsible owners … the excuse also covers killing your animals, tearing into your garbage can, biting the kids, defacating in your yard, uncontrolled breeding, etc.).
Sodium Pentobarbital or carbon monoxide administered at the pound would.
Really? When the police asked you, “How?” what would you answer them? That seems to me like a real good way to get on the wrong side of the police.
I’ve looked at American Humane’s website and the Humane Society of the United States’s website, and the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals website, searching for information about these devices. All three sites are generally skeptical of equipment solutions to barking problems, but none of them mention this specific type of advice.
The ASPCA, however, has this to say about anti-bark collars; I am quoting the sectoin and bolding the part that seems especially relevant:
So the noise collars are ineffective with most dogs, they say; this is for a noise generated right next to the dog. I seriously doubt a noise generated from next door will be more effective.
I’m guessing that using a local noise ordinance will be your best bet.
Daniel
I have removed some of the above post to make a point. Reading just this part of your post, you could be referring to the dog barking keeping you and the entire neighborhood awake, or the tone that only the dog can hear. Having a dog does not give you the right to make noise at all hours, at least not in my town.
If you haven’t talked to the neighbors, you really need to.
I had a dog who never barked much, so we felt perfectly justified in leaving him in the back yard when we went out. Several weeks went by before one of our neighbors informed me that the dog, silent in my presence, kept up a nonstop barking tirade that started about twenty minutes after we left him alone, and ended abruptly when we pulled into the driveway. We were horrified to learn this and kept the dog inside thereafter. It meant cleaning up the occasional accident, but that seemed a small price to pay for neighborhood harmony.
What your neighbors are doing is flat out rude. It’s no different than blasting heavy metal music for hours on end. You’d be justified in buying this device, but I strongly doubt it will work. The only thing that will work is the neighbors acting responsibly.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned - if these dogs do in fact present a potential danger to you, you can call your lawyer. My brother experienced a similar situation, and had his lawyer make several phone calls to Animal Control and the Police. Those organizations take complaints from lawyers much more seriously, and acted accordingly. When the neighbors refused to discipline or control their dog, the dog in question was taken away put to sleep.
I hate any outcome that results in the needless death of an animal, especially a beloved pet. But if there’s the possibility that someone could be injured or even killed (think if the dog attacked a small child!) then it’s the only responsible course of action.
-
-
- What I would to is take a three-foot-long piece of broomstick, and yell once at the dog to stop (whatever it’s doing wrong), and then I would bust it on the head, good and hard. It’s amazing what a bit of pain can do for a dog’s manners.
-
Anyway, concerning the OP…
- If the owners won’t do anything, you can always buy a slingshot.
, - Or alternately, the really great thing to do is if they leave it outside during the day, and then bring it in at night–go give it a nice big bowl of chili in the afternoon, and then remove the dish before they get home and find the dish. The next morning the inside of their entire house will be covered in dog shit. Repeat as necessary.
~