We have not typically had a problem with "unnecessary" barking with Josephine. I do find your story interesting though. Josephine (after a few light puppy collars along the way) wears a fairly heavy thick leather collar with her tags, etc. I believe it weighs at least 6 oz. --- maybe more. It is a collar our much bigger dog (former dog Joe --- about 75 lbs.) used, but since we could cinch it in and make it fit her, has huge sentiment for us (and was stil very servicable) that's what our dainty Kai female wears. Could this be stopping her from the typical Kai barking, also? I do notice at a few times when she has become over-excited/agitated it really calms her fast to grab the loose skin at the nape of the neck and gently pull, massage it back and forth, etc. Maybe the heavy collar has a similar effect? (I think that's the mamma dog hold used with the puppies, but it seems to continue to work with her!)
Anyway, so glad you found a solution to the barking without having to do the shocking! That's wonderful news!
That is kind of bizarre that just having the collar on seems to deter his barking. I wonder how long it will last? If it works forever that will be nice, since you never hard to zap him.
My guess is that it isn't the weight of the collar, but more likely the grim determination of the owner with his finger on the trigger. It’s obvious that you don’t want to use any more force than is absolutely necessary; you’ve agonized over this enough to make that clear. Just holding an insidious looking device and adopting a “this is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you” mentality is probably enough to send a very clear message to the dog. I’m often amazed at how well dogs read people.
That, or he thinks you’ll blow his head up like they did to the Xtacles on “Frisky Dingo”. ;-)
I recall seeing an anti-bark collar that did not use electricity but rather sprayed out apple bitter which if you are concerned with the humanity it alot easier and I have heard that it stymies the barking quicker as it patterns an unconditioned stimulus to a conditioned response (I hope I got that right) I just went for a 50 mile ride and I am spent. Time to go and play with Michelangelo.
That's the thing, I never eve touched or showed him the remote - and when we put the collar on him we fed him treats. So I assure you he doesn't associate the collar with any painful or negative intentions. He probably sees it as just another random piece of equipment we strap on him.
As for bitter apple, we have tried citronelle and bitter apple on our dogs, including Kona, in the past - it just doesnt work. Thanx tho! )
I get emails from dogstardaily.com and todays was on working dogs/dog jobs/etc. If you want, I can forward the email to you for maybe some more ideas for Kona or other pack members?
How has this been going Brad? I ask because I just stumbled across this: http://www.hitecpet.com/superhushpuppy.html. It's a bark control collar, but it uses an increasing intensity ultrasonic sound. Seems like a nice compromise.
Oh, wow, that is a nice compromise - but wouldn't it effect the other dogs?
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Interesting you ask tho, we have some people working on removing a ton of tumble weed from our yard [outside the fence]. They showed up this AM at 5, so Kona woke up and all the dogs freaked out. We put Kona outside w/ the collar on but still turned off - he didn't make a peep. Didn't bark the whole day!
Tomorrow I am going to let him out just like today w/o the collar to see if it is in fact the collar or maybe he has just grown out of the barking thing.
Lani is the next in line for the collar, her barking is out of control but its 100% fear barking... so we have to work on it a bit differently. She came to us really under socialized - its really frustrating - but she has been doing a lot better!
I don't know what the range is, so its possible. I saw one table mounted unit that had a range of 10-20 feet. Of course even if it does affect the other dogs as well, it may not be a bad thing. They will learn that Kona barking means run away which will further strengthen the negative reinforcement he's getting.
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Sorry about Lani. That's tough to deal with. Keep with it!
So when we took the collar off Kona last night he barked a few times but nothing to bad. This morning when I let him out he didn't bark at all! So it sounds like maybe he is just growing up a bot.
It is looking like Fuji and Loa are going into heat, so that will make everyone a little hyper w/ the barking too.
Lani was in heat about 3 months ago. Loa was in heat 6 months ago. Fuji is now 6.5 months, about the same age Lani went into heat. We are hoping that Loa's heat will pull Fuji into heat too so we can get both out of the way at the same time. What would be REALLY great is if they pulled Lani into heat again early so they were on the same schedule and we would only have to deal with heat every 6 months. While that's highly unlikely to happen, Lani has been showing signs of starting a heat, but she could just be reacting to the other girls heat.
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Kona is super smart, he's a pretty good dog... just kinda has a wild nature [not overly active, just feral-like].
*As I write this he is barking (and rushing the fence) at the neighbors off leash dog.
hmmm, that's a tough question - at first - then I think about it and, with out a doubt, it's Ahi. She is creepy smart.
Our Akita are smarter in an obedience and reading human emotions way.
Kona is smarter in a thinking way - he is always *trying* to figure things out.
The Shiba are super smart in a manipulative way.
Loa is smart in all of these ways...
Ahi, tho, is smart in all these ways plus some ways the others are not. She has amazing intuition and social skills. She also is an incredible judge of character and situations.
I know this sounds silly but, honestly, if Ahi ever spoke to me I wouldn't be surprised at all, it would be a natural evolution.
Having said all that, with each of our dogs, I commonly have the moment where I look at them and think "you are smarter than that, what are you doing?"...
Comments
Anyway, so glad you found a solution to the barking without having to do the shocking! That's wonderful news!
That, or he thinks you’ll blow his head up like they did to the Xtacles on “Frisky Dingo”. ;-)
~A
As for bitter apple, we have tried citronelle and bitter apple on our dogs, including Kona, in the past - it just doesnt work. Thanx tho!
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If you want, I can forward the email to you for maybe some more ideas for Kona or other pack members?
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Interesting you ask tho, we have some people working on removing a ton of tumble weed from our yard [outside the fence]. They showed up this AM at 5, so Kona woke up and all the dogs freaked out. We put Kona outside w/ the collar on but still turned off - he didn't make a peep. Didn't bark the whole day!
Tomorrow I am going to let him out just like today w/o the collar to see if it is in fact the collar or maybe he has just grown out of the barking thing.
Lani is the next in line for the collar, her barking is out of control but its 100% fear barking... so we have to work on it a bit differently. She came to us really under socialized - its really frustrating - but she has been doing a lot better!
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Sorry about Lani. That's tough to deal with. Keep with it!
So when we took the collar off Kona last night he barked a few times but nothing to bad. This morning when I let him out he didn't bark at all! So it sounds like maybe he is just growing up a bot.
It is looking like Fuji and Loa are going into heat, so that will make everyone a little hyper w/ the barking too.
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Kona is super smart, he's a pretty good dog... just kinda has a wild nature [not overly active, just feral-like].
*As I write this he is barking (and rushing the fence) at the neighbors off leash dog.
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Our Akita are smarter in an obedience and reading human emotions way.
Kona is smarter in a thinking way - he is always *trying* to figure things out.
The Shiba are super smart in a manipulative way.
Loa is smart in all of these ways...
Ahi, tho, is smart in all these ways plus some ways the others are not. She has amazing intuition and social skills. She also is an incredible judge of character and situations.
I know this sounds silly but, honestly, if Ahi ever spoke to me I wouldn't be surprised at all, it would be a natural evolution.
Having said all that, with each of our dogs, I commonly have the moment where I look at them and think "you are smarter than that, what are you doing?"...
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