Barking is a completely natural canine behavior, and is one of the primary ways in which dogs communicate. Your dog barks for a variety of reasons - normally good ones. But sometimes dogs bark simply because they are bored or lonely. This type of barking tends to reward itself, and can easily become a habit.
Habitual or chronic barking presents many challenges for dog owners. Most communities have no-barking ordinances that can result in violations and fines. Additionally, a barking dog can quickly create tension and hostility between neighbors.
What can you do if you find your dog's barking has become a serious problem and you need to stop this behavior immediately?
You may wish to consider using a Bark Control Aid to help you eliminate excessive barking and keep the peace in your neighborhood. Bark control aids are training tools designed specifically to address habitual chronic barking. There are several different kinds of bark control aids available to dog owners today.
Electronic Bark Control Collars: These battery-operated collars, such as the
Train-Well® No-Bark Collar, use vibration probes to sense when your dog barks. When vibration is detected, the collar probes deliver a harmless electrical correction to your dog's neck. The
PetSafe Deluxe Bark Control Collar uses both sound and vibration to determine when the dog is barking. These collars vary by the number of adjustable levels of correction intensity, battery type, and ease of use. These collars are effective because your dog associates his own behavior (barking) with the unpleasant correction, and will stop the behavior to avoid the correction.
Spray Collars: The
Anti-Bark Spray Collar Deluxe is a newer type of battery-operated collar. Rather than using electrical stimulation, this collar delivers a spritz of lemon or citronella spray as the unpleasant correction in response to your dog's bark. Like the electronic bark control collars, these collars are effective because your dog associates his behavior with the unpleasant correction, and will stop his barking in order to avoid the correction. PetSafe has a patented feature to utilize vibration to activate the correction. This helps avoid false correction.
Other Bark Control Aids: Sound-correction units use loud, high-pitched pulsating tones to distract and startle your dog when he barks. The sound is audible to people, but 3-5 times more bothersome to a dog's sensitive ears. Automatic units such as the
PetSafe Ultrasonic Bark Control System emit a 2-second ultrasonic tone when the dog barks that only your dog can hear, then re-set themselves when the barking stops. 
For added versatility, the
PetSafe Ultrasonic Bark Control System is a sleek, compact unit that can be placed most anywhere; correction is effective up to 20 feet in Automatic mode and 10 feet when used Manually.
Any of these bark control aids can help you control your dog's problematic behavior. But be aware that they are meant as tools to augment an on-going training program based on consistency, praise, and other rewards. There are no substitutes for adequate exercise, plenty of playtime, proper socialization, and lots of love and patience.
To help you decide which bark control aids are right for your dog and your lifestyle, refer to the
comparison chart to view the features of each, and identify the tools that contain the features you need to remedy your particular situation.
