Citronella Anti-bark Collar

[deltoid]

What are people's experiences with citronella collars?

Basically one of our dogs barks around the back corner of our yard at the neighbour's dog, possums and cats. I've tried correcting the behaviour by distracting him or putting him inside when he does it but unfortunately I can't watch him all the time he is in the yard so I don't think I'm having much success.

I've asked around and a few people have said they have had success with citronella collars and I assume considering they'd deliver an instant correction everytime he barks it will help with the problem.

So do they work and is it a permanent thing or can I remove them off the dog in a month or so time and only start using it again if the problem returns?

[BC Crazy]

I tried a citronella collar on Stella my 22 month old BC as she barks at the birds & pretty much anything in the backyard & found that it was successful at first. Citronella collars aren't

very reliable at all IMHO. At times it would go off & other times it wouldn't. I brought a good quality one as well. Not a cheapie. Anyway it ended up in the bin because one day it went off when Stella barked

but didn't stop & scared her half to death as she was trying to run away from the continuing Cit. spraying out all over the place. Lucky I was at home at the time & ran out & took it of her.

Sorry I am not much other help as my girl still carries on a treat in the yard but she is a very reactive, high drive girl so we are very much a work in progress. She has improved though but through training

more that anything else.

Edited September 3, 2012 by BC Crazy

[megan_]

The issue with them is as BC crazy has said, the dog can bark out of distress and it will keep on getting sprayed. Also, the smell lingers so they are punished even if they have stopped barking. Smart dogs can also become collar aware and only stop barking if it is on. It isn't something I'd leave on unsupervised either.

[BC Crazy]

Yes megan, that is what happened with Stella. She was as quiet as a church mouse when she was wearing the collar & the moment I took it off, it was "game on" again :laugh:

Edited September 3, 2012 by BC Crazy

[smooch]

We had no luck with the citronella collar, our dog loved the smell, tried the lemon one but once the spray was used up she would bark again. So it only worked while there was lemon spray in it. The zapp collar worked on this dog but we did have to use it on another and it worked until she worked out that if she only barked once the collar would give a warning beep, once it didn't beep she would be full blown barking but this dog is a chronic barker, bark's from daylight to dark.

[Burkes]

One of our carers was saying the other day that there are air based collars as well that just give a blast of air. That might work?

I used the citronella collar on my first dog and it worked within a few days, I never had to put it back on. But I also blocked off the corner of the fence that she was barking at. Just that 1m square meant she couldn't get to the fence and gave up.

[Simply Grand]

I have one that I use on Riley because he barks all the time, including at nothing really, just because he's excited. Agree with all the points everyone has raised, it does leave the smell in his fur, it does go off sometimes when one of the other dogs barks (poor Riley ) and it only stops him barking when he's wearing it, as soon as it's off or if he realizes it's empty he's back to barking. When he's wearing it if wants to bark at something he does little noises and test barks so he must have figured out that if he can make a certain amount of noise and it doesn't spray then it's empty!!

I still think it's worth a shot as long as it doesn't freak your dog out, I know Riley's barking would drive the neighbours crazy and as I have quite a few neighbours and they change regularly (rental dual occupancies and townhouses) I don't want to risk some stranger getting angry and trying cause harm to the dogs.

[persephone]

deltoid..your dogs are tiny, aren't they ? I think an air puff one may be worth trying.....

[Guest lavendergirl]

I would never use any type of collar on a dog when left alone. I have heard too many horror stories about them malfunctioning. If anything I would try one of the ultrasonic ones first only under supervision or perhaps a stand alone unit?

[smisch]

We had one worked a treat until less then a month after we purchased it stopped working.. Annoying thing is if it runs out of spray it does bugger all! Ultra sonics do even less!

[dandybrush]

yep didnt work for me, my dogs barked through the spray to empty the canister so they could continue to bark :laugh: