Innotek 'no Bark' Collar

[SpikesPuppy]

Well... there goes $100-odd dollars down the drain.

We ordered one of these collars from eBay. It was a 'buy it now' item and the address it stated on the page was Wagga Wagga, NSW.

But no, it was sent over from CANADA and we got a letter in the mail today from Customs saying it's been seized as a prohibited import, etc.

We will apply to get it 'returned' but aren't expecting anything.

Why can't you import them? it is the EXACT same model that you can purchase quite readily here in Aus. What's the difference?

(I know the answer, more of a rhetorical question).

The letter explains that it is a device of cruelty, etc, but honestly, I could do more damge to a dog by kicking it if I wanted!

I just don't get it.

We ordered it for our rescue Kelpie X who just barks and barks whenever she is left alone. It's not boredom- she has plenty of toys, other dogs and cats to keep her company. It's more of a stress-type thing we think, as she will have ahissy even if we leave the room and shut the door behind us. It's quite understandable as we believe she was dumped.

She is getting less clingy over the months (had her since mid-January), but we really need to do something about the barking habit. We have not been able to leave the house together (mum & I) without taking her or having her in the boarding kennels.

It's really getting to the point where we have to stop the barking or rehome her or maybe even have her PTS (not sure about the chances of her being rehomed due to the Sep. anxiety, etc). We were going to try the collar and it was a good chance it would work. But we cannot afford to spend the $160 that the Aus Innotek site is charging, not within the next few weeks at least, especially after losing the money on this one.

We should have checked about importability, we should have just gotten one from a pet store here, there are lots of 'should ofs' and all mumn and I have been thinking all night is how plain stupid we both are.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? Anyone know where to get one for under $100 or maybe someone can loan us one for a little while untilw e can save up again?

We love Iko, but being housebound is not fun, and not fair on the other animals either.

Thank you.

Edited March 23, 2005 by SpikesPuppy

[pgm]

SpikesPuppy, as you know Innotek has offices here in Australia. Look up google for their Australian website and maybe email them asking for advice on how to go about getting it back from customs. I am sure they would not take kindly to one of their own products that they sell legally here in Australia being described as a "device of cruelty".

Or maybe you could phone them, they have an office in Qld. They are quite helpful - give it a go, they may be able to offer some suggestions.

good luck......

[SpikesPuppy]

Thanks, pgm.

Will get mum to give them a call or email them tomorrow.

[Koza]

we are waiting for a collar from Innotek already for 3 weeks. Can't buy overseas because some markings, classifications and all that s@@@@t has to be locally approved.

Contact the seller and discuss the issue with him, as he obviously gave you misleading info. If he refuses to refund, report him to the e-bay admin, you should get your money back!

Edited March 23, 2005 by Koza

[KitKat]

You have to have a licence to import them, same as Prong collars, but you can buy them from within Australia.

Contact the seller and discuss the issue with him, as he obviously gave you misleading info. If he refuses to refund, report him to the e-bay admin, you should get your money back!

I agree!

[ninaandted]

SpikesPuppy,

could you contact your vet about getting a prescription for the collar? that's what we have to do in NSW to have one anyway - that should pacify the customs people.

we just ordered one from K9 Force. Paid a bit extra for handling but it was here within two days.

[Ezza]

You can hire them from this page.

There was no way I could afford to buy two collars, and I thought this would be a better way.

[Clicking Mad]

...

Edited January 7, 2008 by Clicking Mad

[StevieandSally]

It's really getting to the point where we have to stop the barking or rehome her or maybe even have her PTS (not sure about the chances of her being rehomed due to the Sep. anxiety, etc). We were going to try the collar and it was a good chance it would work. But we cannot afford to spend the $160 that the Aus Innotek site is charging, not within the next few weeks at least, especially after losing the money on this one.

Is it fair to re-home her when she has this problem?..(just a thought)

Spikespuppy,

Thats a real shame they missled you about being in Wagga and that you may be out of pocket.

In hindsight I guess it may seem like for a bit more, you could of had a new one

If you end up buying one from them it is worth dealing with Innotec as they give an extended warranty in some cases and I have found them to be very quick.

My first 2 collars didn't work properly but they replaced them by express post (I had to express the old one back first so there was a cost there) but had it within days.

At $6 a day I'm not sure if it would be worth the cost to rent them, if you add up a 3 to 6 mth period (which I believe you may need) it might be better to own one as

they are handy to have.

I find now over a year down the track there are times you need it depending on the dog, hormones, the weather and how difficult he is to retrain out of the habit (my problem was exacerbated tho due to time wasted with the first two not working) but I recomend if you own dogs to have at least one, at times I wish I had two

[Guest terrieres extraordinaires]

It's just as well you didn't receive a bark collar for your rescue dog if she suffers separation anxiety as it could have TRAUMATISED your dog!

I'm speaking from experience with my puppy who barked every moment I was more than 2 metres away!!! A professional trainer, a citronella collar, and Innotek collar didn't solve the problem. He was so upset in my absence that the collar sent him into a frenzy. To cut a long story short he was put on to 'Prozac' to calm his panic so that I could begin to communicate with him. Once calm he began to respond to training. he has now become an excellent agility student, but still barks! I now DO use a petsafe electronic collar, now that I understand WHY he barks.

Please contact me for any further info as I really don't want to see anyone else go through what I went through with my boy.

[Cordelia]

It's just as well you didn't receive a bark collar for your rescue dog if she suffers separation anxiety as it could have TRAUMATISED your dog!

Rubbish!

The collar is a useful tool in stopping the CYCLE of stress.

Dog becomes stressed and barks which in turn stimulates that dog and increases stress levels in turn increases the barking which increases the stress which increases the barking further etc etc.

While some dogs scream (carry on like a porkchop) when they set the collar off, if you leave them alone and don't flip out yourself in front of the dog, they will learn that THEY control the stimulation of the collar completely and actually learn to settle down.

To cut a long story short he was put on to 'Prozac' to calm his panic so that I could begin to communicate with him.

This is an extreme case if the use of drugs is needed in order to get even basic control.

Most dogs DON'T freak out when they first feel a stimulation unless the people/person near them also carries on like a porkchop about it.

[Coolibah Coolies]

Our local council hires them out try yours is pretty cheap. good luck nothing worse

[ninaandted]

The collar is a useful tool in stopping the CYCLE of stress.

This is certainly how it has worked with Nina and has been very quick to give results. we've now done our two days under supervision and Nina is up to wearing it during the day while we are out, but even in the first few days I noticed a huge drop in her "cycle" of barking.

when triggered she would start barking and just wind herself up into a frenzy - running around the yard in circles and completely stressing out - long after there was any "need" to bark. it was obvious that she was upsetting herself and it was at the point where she was always "on duty" - twenty four hours a day - waiting for something to happen.

just in the short time we have had the collar she's responded really well. when she goes out in the back yard she's not looking for things to bark at regardless of whether or not she has the collar on at the time. she still barks at the normal things that used to set her off, but gives only the two barks and calms down.

I admit to being really nervous myself and I didn't enjoy the first day of Nina wearing it - she probably didn't care though!! I was waiting for her to get it to level 7 and zap herself unconscious!! (I know this would be highly unlikely given that it is a little battery in the thing...) she caught onto the concept really quickly and seems to know now that she can have her two barks and then it needs to stop.

admittedly she's not at the end of the spectrum that would need medication to calm her down - she is just very excitable gets a bit loony at times about certain things and interrupting her behaviours works really well for her to prevent her winding herself up completely. this way she can have her natural self-expression without it going overboard.

and as mentioned earlier, in NSW you need to talk to your vet first anyway before you get the collar, so if they know your dog well they will be able to advise if they would be traumatised by it or if they require medication instead.

[paddles]

Ok, I can shed some light on this! If it was a citronella collar, it could be something simple, such as duties not being paid, however the electric shock collars are actually illeagal in Parts of Aust, NSW for one, with heavy fines etc if caught using them, and yes I know they advertise them etc, but, they are illeagal.

[ninaandted]

I thought they were only illegal without a vet's prescription in NSW (unless my vet has been misinformed?)

Edited March 30, 2005 by ninaandted

[SpikesPuppy]

It's really getting to the point where we have to stop the barking or rehome her or maybe even have her PTS (not sure about the chances of her being rehomed due to the Sep. anxiety, etc). We were going to try the collar and it was a good chance it would work. But we cannot afford to spend the $160 that the Aus Innotek site is charging, not within the next few weeks at least, especially after losing the money on this one.

Is it fair to re-home her when she has this problem?..(just a thought)

That's why, if we can't at least control the barking, we are more likely to have her put to sleep rather than rehome her as I doubt there would be many people who are at home 24/7 to be with her.

Whenever we've both had to go out (dog shows, family occasions, etc) we've had to put Iko into the boarding kennels. She is well looked after, etc but it's getting to be quite expensive and as mum works and I don't drive; mum has to leave work a few hours early so she can drive Iko to the kennels before they close.

And MAJOR APOLOGIES for not replying earlier. I have just been so busy this weekend with Easter and all I haven't even been on the computer in 5 days

Thank you everyone for all your advice and suggestions- mum has emailed the seller and is waiting for their response. Hopefully we will get our money back but not holding my breath.

Our council only hires out Citronella collars, unfortunately.

And although I said before we MAY have to rehome or put her to sleep, believe me, this is the last thing we want to happen! She is a gorgeous dog and already a much-loved family member- and we were aware when we decided to keep her that she had issues and would possibly show more issues as her 'true nature' came out.

She and our 11 yr old Shih Tzu X don't get along at all (it's a mutual hatred lol) but we have been working with both of them and they are learning to ignore each other.

She's a chewer and mum's already lost her very expensive work shoes, and I've lost 3 rather expensive leather leashes.

But we're working on and dealing with these issues.

It's only the barking one that's proving so difficult- and it's not because she's a Kelpie in a small backyard- she gets lots of excercise and ifwe don't have the time to take her to the park, she gets lots of interaction and mental stimulation instead (I've found that doing 20 minutes of agility training in the backyard gets her more tired out than a 1 hour walk).

Overall, she's a very happy dog (or appears to be), but she's a stresshead if left alone.

She's not a nutty dog, she's not hyperactive or super-sensitive to movement, etc. She just gets upset when we leave her (not suprising since she was likely dumped out of a car and left on the road).

Admittedly, she's not the sharpest tool in the shed (so not a problem-solver lol and sometimes I wonder if she actually has a brain ), but she's not dumb either. I am pretty sure she would get the connection between barking and discomfort from the collar.

When she barked in her crate, we squirted her with water and she quickly learnt to stop that- but of course, she realised that if we weren't right there, we couldn't squirt her! So she wont make a peep when we are within a few metres of the crate but if we leave the room she will have a barking fit.

[paddles]

Nope, they are illeagal at all times, there are periodic notices in the papers stating that they are illeagal and warning of the fines/prosicution. (At the time I was looking into getting one to stop yappy fleabrain) we tried a citronella collar, but didn't have much luck with it, was informed after that there is a trick to it, and the dog should only wear the collar for a couple of weeks, putting it on and off at various times, substituting a wieght for when its not on so the dog doesn't know, thus doesn't associate the collar with the citronella. (Personally, I just try to distract gypsy with things like food reward balls, etc,)

[SpikesPuppy]

We've checked, they are not illegal in our area. Just illegal to import.

We've tried Citronella collars before on our other dog- useless.

Food rewards, toys, etc wont help as she barks when we are not there to distract or reward her. She's not bored- she has 4 other dogs to play with, a garden to dig up and a mountain of toys (including Kongs and automatic treat-balls.

[KathP]

You might also want to try a local pet supplies place, sometimes they rent them.

Our council do rent the electric ones (Ballarat).

It may be worth trying the citronella again, some dogs like it, some dogs hate it. Our kelpie hates the smell. We rented a citronella collar and it worked like a charm on her.

Maybe also try some rescue remedy, which is availble from chemists and health food shops - we found it helped with our kelpie, as well as a DAP diffuser - but they can go in and out through the doggy door, wouldn't be any use if they're only outside.

[Guest terrieres extraordinaires]

 

It's just as well you didn't receive a bark collar for your rescue dog if she suffers separation anxiety as it could have TRAUMATISED your dog!

Rubbish!

The collar is a useful tool in stopping the CYCLE of stress.

Yes, I totally agree that the collars are excellent in breaking the cycle of stress if correct procedures are followed or it CAN cause UNNECCESSARY TRAUMA for the dog.

To cut a long story short he was put on to 'Prozac' to calm his panic so that I could begin to communicate with him. 

This is an extreme case if the use of drugs is needed in order to get even basic control.

He was an extreme case with sep anxiety, ADD and hyperactivity. The collar was a last resort to having him PTS as no one else would have tolerated what I have in 8 months trying everything possible - at enormous expense! And apparently debarking is not only illegal but pretty much a waste of time on a dog with well developed larynx.

Most dogs DON'T freak out when they first feel a stimulation unless the people/person near them also carries on like a porkchop about it.

Sorry, but witnessed an incident where the dog went troppo when left unsupervised and wouldn't allow anyone come near it. Probably a good thing that NSW has strictconditions put on the use of these collars. I'm definitely not against these devices, just against the ignorant use of them.