If you’ve got a dog and they are proving to be a handful, this is normal sometimes. Some dogs like to bark and while it might seem cute when they are little, it isn’t so cute to your neighbors when the dog barks at them all day, or when he barks inside your apartment all day when you are gone and the guy in 5C next door has to listen to it all day as he attempts to work from home.
Eventually, there will be complaints that get you into hot water with the landlord or rental community where you live. You may find it frustrating as much as your neighbors do. What do you do for barking though? It isn’t like you can put something over their mouth to shut them up, and it wouldn’t be kind at all if you did.
Many people resort to an anti-bark training gadget to help them curb the non stop barking that Fido is doing. There are many types. Some have good reviews while others … well, not so much. Let’s take a look.
Do ultrasonic bark deterrents work?
Some of these can work, but it depends on the brand and the type of deterrent they are. For example, shock collars that zap the dog when they bark, can be purely awful and make the dog’s behavior change too. This is because of the constant shocking that happens from any noise they make at all. It’s not normal to be unable to make any noise.
Then there are the ultrasonic devices that emit a noise for dogs who bark. This often works well for some dogs while other dogs have zero reaction to it at all. The worst part is that if you have a multi-dog home, ALL the dogs are punished, not just the one that is barking. This hardly seems fair.
Then there are the citronella collars that shoot a blast of citronella towards the dog’s nose when he barks. This seems logically a good deterrent unless you’ve got an incredibly smart dog, as I once did, who turned his head to the side to bark and it didn’t even slow him down.
I felt that I wasted a lot of money on something that he figured out how to work-around in less than ten minutes.
Are Anti-Barking Devices Cruel?
They aren’t meant to be, but some of them might be cruel given the dog really needs training, and the collars don’t really do that. They are based on the premise that you’ll be punished for bad behavior, rather than being rewarded for good behavior. Training is based on positive rewards — at least it should be. Not all training is good either.
As stated above, it can be difficult to target the problem dog when you have a multi-pet household. It can also be hard to determine how punishing the ultrasonic devices are because some dogs are more sensitive to it than others. I once had a pit bull that was over-reactive to every noise. If someone outside, in another yard sneezed, he’d go on a barking rampage at the windows.
I used an ultrasonic birdhouse for him. It inadvertently made my terrier cower and shake. It didn’t slow the pit bull down at all. I took the batteries out and send it back. So you see, it wasn’t cruel to him, but it was to my terrier who had done nothing wrong and was getting punished nonstop while the other dog barked.
What Is Considered Excessive Dog Barking?
Whenever a dog barks uncontrollably at something and pays no attention to your commands to stop, it is excessive.
When a dog barks more than a couple of times to alert to something, it becomes excessive. When it bothers the neighbors it is excessive and you must do all you can to stop the problem before it becomes a possibility of getting evicted or rehoming your dog.
Do Dogs Get Tired of Barking-
Actually, dogs who bark at everything are on a hair-trigger and it is tiring for them, but they don’t know how else to act. This behavior is a form of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and can leave them emotionally exhausted and stressed. For this reason alone, you should want to curb the problem.
Why Is My Dog Barking All Day?
The main reason that dogs bark nonstop all day long is because they have too much pent-up energy and no way to get it out. Barking becomes their outlet and it may stem from anxiety that you are gone, or simply from being bored.
The number one way to reduce barking at everything is to increase the activity level for your dog so that they are exhausted more of the time when indoors. This helps lower their anxiety and stress, allowing them to snooze more while you are not there — or when you are home and have to work.
In fact, a lack of exercise is often the root cause of about 99% of dog behavior problems. The rest is training. Working with them to interrupt the barking and rewarding them when they are silent is a good way to teach them when they are a puppy.
Start working with a dog trainer, instead of using an anti-barking training gadget. If you still need one of those as a backup, at least your dog has some training to fall back on and should have learned what the faulty behavior is that is being corrected.
When you teach a dog what you do want, instead of punishing what you don’t want, you’re setting him up to be successful. This feeds his self-esteem and builds his confidence, helping him to grow up without behavior issues and anxiety in the first place.
Lead him and he will follow. Teach him and he will learn. Dogs are incredibly trusting and loving. Most dog trainers agree with positive reinforcement being used first and only in worst-case scenarios should the electronic anti-barking gadget be used.
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