Shock collar for excessive barking on a GSD?

Question

I adopted a large German Shepherd from the pound a few months ago. I have another GSD and they get along great. The new dog barks excessively when I am not home and is driving the neighbors crazy. I tried the Citronella collar - which sprays citronella at him when he barks instead of shocking him. This is not working at all.
He is driving hte neighbors nuts and I feel terrible for that. I need to fix this asap because they are at their wit's end. He is a big strong, sweet dog.
I have been to many training classes with the other dog and have NOT come across any effective method of training for barking. I am not there when he barks - how do you train a dog not to bark when he never barks in front of you?
IN any event, if you have experience with the collar could you please share it with me.

Answer 1

Hi there I can sure identify with this problem. I have a dog I adopted from the humane society he is awesome the only problem he has is excessive barking. This goes beyond normal barking.

I believe in shock collars under the right usage and direction only otherwise you can ruin a dog really fast under ignorant use.

I use an Innotek Bark Control for my dog. What it does is it has a warning sound and then if the dog keeps barking it will zap her or him, and if the barking does not stop it will go on to the next level and so on.

If he doesn't bark when your home I would try this collar while you "step out" for a little bit to judge his reaction to it. He might freak out at first until he gets used to it and yes he may yelp it is generally sounds a lot worse that what it is. (I test the collar on me as well to see how it works)

This collar will not go off if other dogs bark it senses by the vibrations of the dogs vocal cords.

Good place to get great advice is from hunters who train there dogs with this kind of technology or other dog trainers. It sounds like this may be a good option for you because he sounds exactly like my dog.

Used humanely and wisely they are a tool used ignorantly and wrong it is cruel. You just need to be informed :o)

I got mine at a local Tractor Supply store, Walmart, Scheels, Cabelas will have them in the hunting or pet department but I highly suggest talking to trainers. It works wonders for my pet and he is happy and healthy.

Just make sure to take the collar off when you are home all day use is not recommended. Sometimes you can get a "dummy" collar that feels like the shock collar but doesn't shock at all It just keeps your dog in check (however my dog figured this out right away LOL)

I hope you find something that works for you. Take care and thankyou for adopting :o)

Answer 2

I have similar problems, but my dog is a small Papillon. She barks hysterically at the animals that climb and fly into the trees. The thing about a collar with my dog was that she would always bark unless she had it on. It baffled me that she was so smart to tell the difference between whether she had the shock collar on or a normal one. But I'm glad that my dog is smart. It means she can learn.

In my own opinion, shock collars work better than Citronella ones. I not considered any of the ethics, but this is just what I think. It shocks them and scares them, but it doesn't hurt them. I suggest using one of them instead.

My dog is a small dog and when we tried using a shock collar for her size and weight, it didn't work at all and she went around like she felt nothing. So we had to get a bigger one, which made me feel bad, but it had great results, she stopped barking whenever she had the collar on. That is the problem though. She would only not bark WHEN SHE HAD THE COLLAR ON. But I don't think there is any other way to stop it.

Answer 3

I really sympathise.. I had a GSD he was a lovely dog, but barked excessively (only when I went out of the house) until the Dog Warden knocked at my door warning me that if it didn't stop she would take him away from me. I live in a council house and I was also warned I could get evicted cos of noise pollution.. I couldn't bring myself to use a shock collar but i tried everything else including the spray one.. in the end I rehomed him with a friend where there is always someone home (she has a big family) so he is never alone and now he doesn't bark and I think he is a happier dog.

Answer 4

There have been some bad things happen with the shock collars. One lady after leaving her pet at a vets. They put the shock collar on her dog without her permission and left it on him for the week they were bording him. This burnt him badly and he had severe burns all around his neck. So.. long term use of this can be harmful! Some pets have been shocked and had heart failure because of it too. There is a collar that emits sound wave that the dog does not care for and this could possibly what you may be able to get to stop his barking. I think it comes on the some of the shock collars. My kids use it when they want to stop their dog from running into the street. But... you have to be there to use it! So.. guess this would not help you out either. Guess you could give it to your neighbors and ask them to push it when he continues to bark for a while and maybe this will stop him.

Answer 5

The issue is that dogs are poor generalizers - it's not that the dog is "sneaky, greedy" etc, but that they have no intrinsic sense of morality or "rightness" and so only think something is "bad" if it has bad consequences. If it has never had bad consequences except with a human in the room, then how on earth are they to know that the rules still apply with the human out of the room? You need to train in such a way that corrections and rewards occur when the dog does not think you are present - i.e. hiding around the corner. Read here https://tr.im/05juU

I personally owned a Labrador Retriever (read: chow hound) that could be left 6" from a hot dog in a sit-stay for half an hour and not touch it - the word was "mine" and it meant that you don't touch that, even if I am not in the room, even if whatever, you DO NOT touch that. You could leave a plate of food on the floor for hours and not only would she not touch it, she would also keep the other animals (dogs and cats) from touching it.

In all probability, these dogs studied were just not properly trained/proofed before the experiment. With "proofing" to set them up and catch them in the act to give

Answer 6

I had a GSD that barked excessively when he was outside by himself as a last resort i tired a shock collar it worked great better than i thought it would but the only thing is you can only wear it a couple of hours at a time more than that would be to much. good luck.

Answer 7

I had a friend who used one of these, she discussed it with her vet, he recommended it. Its a short term deal, it worked rather quickly. Some will say this is cruel, but it really doesn't hurt the dog, just scares it, we tried to collar on us and its like licking a 9V battery. It is better than having to return the dog to the shelter. Barking dogs are extremely annoying. Get a good one, like at Petsmart, no run off brands. Good Luck

Answer 8

depends on why ur dog is barking.
if its from stress, then most likely, ANY bark collar (shock, spray, audio) will just stress him more and possibly escalate the barking.
i would videotape him while ur gone to see why/where/how he is barking to THEN find a solution.

if its stess/anxiety...i would try a DAP diffuser or spray (pheremone diffuser, sold at pet stores)

if it looks like boredom/alert, then i would try the shock or the audio (ultrasonic) collar

though, by the fact the spray one didnt work (which i find highly more effective than the shock one), it sounds like it may be the stress/anxiety barking

Answer 9

Don't do anything your just going to make the dog go crazy if you keep doing stuff like that!! No surprise the dog is still barking!!

Answer 10

I hate shock collars, but with that said, sometimes that is the only thing that will work, but before you put it on your dog, place it snug around your neck and activate it, if you can accept the results, then use it on your dog, short term only.
Best of luck.