Bark Control 101

Shock collars, Tone collars, Spray collars? What really works?
How fast and how well?

With every imaginable type of bark control device that has become available in recent days, it seems as if the only bark left should be found on trees! Yet, Fido is still yapping away and your neighbors are still threatening to call out the Animal Control police on your poor howling hound. It’s finally time to for you to take serious action and your question is “WHICH ONE??!!” Shock collars, tone collars, citronella spray collars… We took a look (or a listen) to each one to help you decide what works and what offers the best value for your money.

BARK CONTROL 101

SHOCK COLLARS: For decades, electronic shock collars have been available. These devices deliver a high voltage, low current jolt to literally shock your dog into submission. This of course, is deemed to be less than humane to many of the kinder-hearted dog owners but, when faced with the sometimes Court ordered alternatives of vocal cord surgery or even euthanasia, it was for years the only alternative. The very best shock collar we found uses progressively increasing shock that becomes more intense with each bark. We spoke to numerous animal behaviorists and vets that feel this type of collar is by far the most effective and human of the shock type collars. See Bark Terminator and Terminator 2 below.

TONE COLLARS: These units represent a good alternative to shock collars. They emit a short sonic beep in direct response to the dog’s bark. This at first may seem a bit too good to be true. Indeed when we first tested the Hush Puppy collar by High Tech Pet Products, Inc. we couldn’t believe that such a quiet little beep would do a thing. (Yes, the beep is audible, not ultrasonic as most people assume.) Surprisingly, within about 3 days our nuisance test barker showed a dramatic decrease in barking. Apparently, the mild stimulus becomes quite effective with its persistent application over time. The Super Hush Puppy is an even more advanced unit that uses the principle of progressively increasing the sound level as the dog persists in barking. This tends to be quicker at teaching the dog the cause an effect relationship between barking and tone correction and results in shorter training time. The Down side to these collars: Not much, they may take a little longer to work than a shock collar but, cause zero pain and trauma to your pup.

COMBINATION COLLARS: Combination collars use both sound and shock to end barking. The most common are simply shock collars with a warning tone that sounds at the first bark. The most unique and advanced combination collar we found is the Teriminator 2. This advanced bark control collar uses progressively increasing shock along with progressively increasing sound to quickly and humanely end nuisance barking.

CITRONELLA SPRAY COLLARS: This type of device has become popular in recent years in spite of the rather high cost. A citronella collar typically contains a small canister of citronella liquid which is sprayed in the dog’s face after each bark. It is certainly not hard to believe that your average dog would find this annoying enough to re-think his barking habits. We like the idea of another painless bark control alternative but, we didn’t find a product we would recommend due, again, to the high initial cost of the device and the relatively high cost of replacing the citronella canisters. We also are not quite convinced that spraying your dog in the nose with lemon juice is really all that humane.

Below are the bark control products we have developed and tested and proven to be among the best bark control products you can buy.