Dogs In Apartments + Thoughts On Ecollars

[chichihuahua]

Hi all,

My current circumstances may mean I may have to move into an apartment soon and I was concerned about my dog. I have no problems with exercising him on a daily basis but he does have a tendency to bark at loud noises (ie. kids playing loudly outside, random startle sounds, footsteps etc). I was reading up on electronic collars and was wondering if something like this would help curb this habit. At the moment he does mostly stop when I tell him to but I really need to get it to a point where he won't bark even when I'm not around. Obviously I know not to leave the collar on him when I'm not home but I was hoping that the negative stimulation might be a permanent deterrent after a few wears.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Guest Willow]

The problem with those type of collars is that he may not think the barking is triggering the aversive stimulus. There is the potential for him to think it's the thing he is barking at that has triggered it, and the problem could get worse, eg...instead of "every time I bark at the kids playng outside I get a zap...hmm, better stop barking then" he might start to think "Everytime those kids play outside I get zapped, I better bark more to make them go away"....so more zapping, so more stress, and building anegatoive association with the "wrong" thing etc.

Better to get in a trainer or behaviourist who can do some ongoing one-on-one work and tailor a specific programme to suit your particular dog once they have observed the behaviour in action.

[Cosmolo]

I think its best to get a trainer or behaviourist in- to decide what the best course of action is AND if any kind of collar is used, to show you the correct and clear way to use it so that your dog learns from it and develops the correct association.

[Erny]

At the moment he does mostly stop when I tell him to but I really need to get it to a point where he won't bark even when I'm not around. Obviously I know not to leave the collar on him when I'm not home but I was hoping that the negative stimulation might be a permanent deterrent after a few wears.

How long does he continue to bark for if you don't tell him to stop?

Does he bark much, if at all, at these things when you are not home? (IE Do you know that for a fact?)

Is it an "alert" bark, or is it based in anxiety to the sound of loud noises?

[Kirty]

We have only tried one of these collars once, and it had the opposite effect. Our dog would bark at EVERYTHING. When the collar zapped her, she would bark at the collar.

[Nekhbet]

We have only tried one of these collars once, and it had the opposite effect. Our dog would bark at EVERYTHING. When the collar zapped her, she would bark at the collar.

which one did you use? I used the innotek on even the most annoying of barkers and they soon understood when the stim got high enough that they were to stop. If your dog is barking at or through the collar time to re-evalutate the dog, reason for barking and if you need a stronger collar.

[Steve]

Depends where you live - in some states they are illegal.

Funny I want my dogs to bark when anything is out of the ordinary

and Id rather have their voices lowered if I was in your position than train it out of them.

Im lucky Ive never had to use either a collar or voice lowering because I live in the boonies

and they get to bark their hearts out.

[all that glitters]

We have only tried one of these collars once, and it had the opposite effect. Our dog would bark at EVERYTHING. When the collar zapped her, she would bark at the collar.

I've never heard of that before?? I thought e-collars were pretty much always effective if used correctly

[Erny]

If your dog is barking at or through the collar time to re-evalutate the dog, reason for barking and if you need a stronger collar.

Or if the collar was too strong.