[Cheviot]

Hi,
Anyone on here have any experience of ultrasonic anti bark devices, not a collar, but a unit that goes on a wall and when a dog barks it emits an ultrasonic noise that only the dogs can hear, and hopefully they stop barking.
These units seem to have very poor reviews, but when reading through them it seems that people either think they are great or are rubbish, there dosen't seem to be much middle ground. I have a collar, that works very well, only problem is it eats batteries, I was having to change the batteries every day, even though the dog wasn't barking, so the collar shouldn't have been operating.
We have 6 young dogs here at the moment, and they are driving me nuts with their barking.
Regards
Sue

[doganjo]

Train them to bark on command, much more effective than any device.  I have never tried the wall fitted version but my dogs all barked through the collar version and got used to the noise it made - although I must admit mine didn't eat batteries - it only activated when they barked. 

Dogs bark for a reason - it's theri method of communication.  Do you have frequent visitors? Or are they play barking with each other?  Can they see outside and are barking at birds etc?

[Cheviot]

Hi Doganjo,
My situation is this, I train border collies to work sheep, the dogs are all usually fairly quiet, it happens when I take one of the young dogs out into the field to train, because I have to whistle, it starts the other youngsters off barking, if I then shout at them to be quiet, the dog I'm working thinks I am reprimanding it, sometimes it doesn't matter, but sometimes if the dog is of a sensitive nature it can really upset it. Plus the barking really winds me up, when I need to be calm to be able to train my dogs effectively. It has only become a problem because we have so many youngsters, when normally we would only have a couple to train at any one time.
I know what you mean about teaching them to bark on command, as I have a kelpie that I taught, but it is not something we would normally do with the collies.
Regards
Sue

[SallyintNorth]

Hi Sue 

Forgive me, but reading your last my reaction was "It's the handler needs the anti-bark device!"  To ignore the yapping, I mean.  Sorry.  Or could you do your training out of earshot of the other dogs?  (Either they out of earshot of the whistle, or you out of earshot of their barking!)

[doganjo]

I know there are a lot expert sheep dog trainers who take part in competitions - they must train  their individual dogs close to their others so how do they do it?  We visited a lady in the borders a few years back - she was excellent - Rosemary will know who she is because she arranged it. Perhaps she can help?

I train  my gundogs in  my front paddock within earshot of the others , using a whistle fro stop, turn, recall, hunt on etc    ,They don't bark.

[SallyintNorth]

Actually, my collies do have a 'shut up' command, as it can be counterproductive to have them barking in their kennels if we are moving sheep (or cattle) around / past them.

The command I use is, "Thank you <dog's name>."  It's kinda like a "That'll do", in that it implies 'job well done - but now finished'.  But of course "That'll do" also means "Come to me", so doesn't apply when the dog is in its kennel, so I've evolved "Thank you" to mean 'enough - but thanks'

[Cheviot]

Hi Sally,
I forgive you  , I only wish I could go somewhere out of earshot, believe me, I'm really a laid back person usually, but barking dogs is one thing that really gets to me, and at the moment instead of enjoying training the dogs I now almost dread it, five dogs barking at the same time is pretty hard to ignore.
Hi Doganjo,
The older dogs are no trouble regards barking, it's just the young ones, I know that the problem stems from the fact there are too many young dogs at the same stage of training, in an ideal world I would only usually have two young dogs on the go (bad planning on my part) it's not a problem to stop one dog from barking, unfortunately, the dogs need a few more weeks training before they are ready to sell on.     
Regards
Sue

[doganjo]

Hi Doganjo,
The older dogs are no trouble regards barking, it's just the young ones, I know that the problem stems from the fact there are too many young dogs at the same stage of training, in an ideal world I would only usually have two young dogs on the go (bad planning on my part) it's not a problem to stop one dog from barking, unfortunately, the dogs need a few more weeks training before they are ready to sell on.     
Regards
Sue

I've never trained dogs for selling on, i just need my own  dogs to respond for shoots etc.  So one of the basics as a puppy is the 'quiet' command as well as the 'stop' and 'turn' - all lifesavers - the second two in case they are heading for a road, the first one from me and a hand round the throat of they open up again  I'm jokig of course  - never a need to raise a hand to a dog - but they do understand 'quiet' and I never rarely have to shout.    My front paddock is less than a third of an acre and only separated from the house by a small gravel garden, with the other dogs running free in the back garden while I work with one of the others.  I do understand how you feel as I can't stand the noise of a dog barking - my old girl does it if she is left outside too long in  her eyes - she's 12 and a half; so i wish you luck but I doubt a gadget will make much difference as they do get used to the sound very quickly.

[Bramblecot]

After training and working in police dog kennels where there were over 100+ dogs, I do understand how barking can get to you . 
I think the only answer is to pop 2 dogs in a car and take them somewhere else to train until they realise when it is 'their' turn for fun.  Kennel barking just gets worse and worse and the anti-bark devices do not work IMHO.  An on/off command for barking makes life much more pleasant for everybody .  Good luck.

[Marches Farmer]

Neighbour of ours had a Basset Hound that wouldn't hsut up.  He got an anti-bark collar that sprayed water in its face every time it barked.  Took two days for the dog to work it out.  Don't know the name of the product, unfortunately.

[Old Shep]

would they still bark if you took them to the field and tied them to the gate so they could watch?

[funkyfish]

Anti bark devices don't work and are cruel. They use pure punishment and you wont be there to reinforce the behaviour you want so it won't work. Dogs brains work differenly the respond much better to reinforcing the behaviour you want rather than punishing what u don't want.


What you need to teach is that they are not being left out of something fun, but that it is their time to have something fun like a stuffed kong etc each.

Could you try having some one with them to play with them when you go. Or treat as if they have separation anxiety and desensitise them to you leaving with one dog by randomly taking a dog out for a very short time then returning and swapping the dog. Do this for just a couple of minutes each day gradually build up the time.

If this behaviour has been going on for a while it will take time to sort, quick fixes won't work.

Feel free to pm me if you would like me to try and come up with a plan of action.  I'm an experienced behaviour consultant just finishing a foundation degree.

[Cheviot]

Hi,

would they still bark if you took them to the field and tied them to the gate so they could watch?

Unfortunately they would, probably louder and more frenzied, I do sometimes do it with older dogs but they are fully trained and are so much more laid back about working sheep.

Funkyfish I have sent you pm

Regards
Sue