After 3 weeks of use, I can say that for my situation this is a really great product. However, I don't think it's a good cure-all for every barking situation.

My problem was a nuisance barker. One of my dogs (I have 3) would yip for literally hours on end when he was bored, wanted to come in, or just wanted attention. The other dogs don't do this. I crate my dogs at night (in the basement), and he would sometimes start yipping in the middle of the night and go on for hours. I've mounted the Bark-Free near the crates, and it took about 3 yips to cure him. It was like magic.

I would really hesitate to use this device on other kinds of barking however. My dogs (Schipperkes) are bred as watchdogs, so giving alarm barks when something in their surroundings says "warn your humans about this!" is hard-wired into them from years of selective breeding. It's their job, and somewhere in their little doggy minds they get some real satisfaction from doing their job and having it recognized and appreciated.

So I wouldn't mount the Bark-Free by the front door, for instance, to deter barking when someone rings the bell. I think it's better to let them give the alarm bark, tell them they're good dogs, and then tell them that everything's OK and they can be quiet. I also suspect that for this kind of purposeful barking, the Bark-Free would likely not be very effective. The desire of the dog to do its job would overcome its aversion to the ear-splitting sound from the Bark-Free.

But...for the nuisance "I'm bored, wake up, give me some attention, etc." bark, the Bark-Free is the best solution I've found. I bought it at Sharper Image, and they have a 60-day no-questions-asked return policy. But I'm keeping it...it works great for me.

ADDENDUM: Thanks "Savanna Smiling" for your comments! Here's the extra info you wanted:

How it works: The device has a little microphone that detects noise in the surroundings. When it picks up noise (like barking) that's above a certain volume level, it emits a 3-4 second pulse of obnoxious, ear-splitting, painful sound. Kind of like a loud smoke alarm, but more painful. You can set it to audible (where you can hear the sound) or ultrasonic (where only the dog can hear it...it's above the range of human hearing). You can also set the sensitivity of the microphone "trigger" to low or high. You'll need to do this to make sure that barking will set it off, but background noise won't. I used the audible setting to set the thing up and adjust the sensitivity to where a bark would set it off, but not the furnace going on. I'm using the low sensitivity setting. Then I switched over to ultrasonic. I can't hear it when it goes off, but my dog clearly does!

How is it powered: It's powered through an AC adapter that plugs into the wall. The unit comes with a 50-foot extension cord.

Where to find one: I got mine at Sharper Image. You can buy in the brick-and-mortar store, or order online from their website. Cost is $39.95


Recommended: Yes