No Shocks. Just Stink. A Citronella-Based Solution to Barking
Written: Jul 07 '03 (Updated Jan 22 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Effective, doesn't shock your pet, easy to use.
Cons: Expensive, may not work for persistent barkers.
The Bottom Line: If barking is a problem in your household, this product may be a good "first step" towards trying to correct the problem.
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| mrs-j's Full Review: A Dog's Best Friend AntiBarking System |
Overview
We have a nearly perfect dog. Emphasis on "nearly". She's a Golden Retriever and while she's adorable and cute and all, she has some annoying habits when she's excited.
One of those habits is that when anyone comes to the door, she lets out a stream of loud barks to announce that... well, someone is at the door.
Thanks, Jess. We can get a doorbell for that.
I got fed up very quickly with having to restrain the dog, while apologizing for the dog at the same time, when answering the door. Visitors and anyone else who came to our door were terrified of our fifty pound Golden Retriever.
While it's great for scaring away the solicitors, it's no good to have your dog's first impression on your friends be one of a vicious, barking beast. (Let's be honest, even though in her mind she's "announcing" a guest eagerly, she looks like a vicious beast to those she's barking loudly at.)
My father is a veterinarian and he also owns a Golden Retriever. A few months ago he purchased A Dog's Best Friend Anti-Barking System for his own dog. They successfully trained their dog with this system, so we asked them if we could borrow it.
How It Works
Just to clear up any misconceptions based on misplaced reviews for this product (that seem to be for shock collars, not citronella collars), this product does not shock the dog in any way, shape or form.
What the product does do is spray a puff of citronella when the dog barks. There is a small box on the collar that holds the citronella. The dog's bark sets off the collar and out comes the aerosol spray of citronella.
Setting up the Collar
The Anti-Barking System comes with:
- The Anti-Bark device
- An adjustable collar
- One can of citronella
- One 6 volt alkaline battery
- Instructions
You first fill up the anti-bark device by turning the canister of citronella upside down and inserting it into the small hole on the box. You can't overfill the collar, as the pressurized citronella canister just stops once it's filled.
To test whether or not the collar is working, you hold it up and blow in the hole that is placed against the dog's neck. A puff of citronella lets you know that there's citronella in the collar and that the battery is functioning.
After setting up the collar, it is placed on the dog with the hole (or "microphone") facing their neck so that when they bark, they will set off the burst of citronella.
Our Experience With the ABS (Anti-Barking System)
We got the collar this weekend while visiting my parents. We came home and put it around our dog's neck on Sunday. In the past twenty-four hours, Jess has barked a total of two times.
No, I don't mean that she has had two barking episodes. I mean that she has barked a total of two times. The first time was yesterday afternoon when she spotted a dog walking by our house. She barked, fully intending to keep on barking, until she was interrupted by the puff of citronella.
She hates the smell of the citronella and backed up with her nose wrinkled. That stopped her barking instantly.
This morning our general contractor showed up to do some work on our house, as he's done nearly every morning for the past three weeks. But rather than being greeted by a torrent of loud barks, he was instead greeted by a single bark, and then Jess stopped as the citronella puff was emitted.
That was the last we heard out of her. She hasn't barked for the rest of the day, and we've had two other visitors to the house (a cleaning lady, and an inspector for the work that's being done in the house).
The silence is golden.
Drawbacks
There are two main drawbacks to the collar. Jess is a quick learner, and thankfully not very persistent in her bad habits, so I haven't had problems with either of these, but my mother warned me about them as she was giving us the collar, so I thought I would pass them along.
If your dog doesn't stop barking as soon as the collar goes off, you'll find that you run out of citronella very quickly. Refills can be bought at our local Petco, but they can get expensive.
If your dog is a persistent barker, you may also find that the battery drains very quickly and has to be replaced frequently.
Summary
We are very pleased with this collar. The change in our dog's behavior was immediate and it has almost completely eliminated her barking. We anticipate that we'll only need to use it for a few weeks before she's completely trained.
I can highly recommend this collar, but must also add the caveat that it may not be as effective for your dog as it was for ours. Persistent barkers may just run the collar out of citronella.
If barking is a problem in your household, this product may be a good "first step" towards trying to correct the problem.
Update
We've had this collar on Jess for 48 hours (and this review is about 24h old). We've discovered another new, good thing about the collar. When someone comes to the door, not only does she not bark loudly anymore, but she also associates the citronelle puff with rushing the door.
Used to be she'd rush to the door barking loudly and I'd have to hold her back as I let the visitor in. Now when the doorbell rings, she rushes towards it and barks. Once. Then the citronella hits and she seems to think that it's caused by both her barking and rushing to the door, so she instantly turns around and goes to lie down in her bed. (Her favorite place.)
So far, so good. We are really liking this collar. She still barks once, every so often, but it's so much nicer than the extended barking she used to do.
My husband remarked that now we'll have to get a doorbell for the house. Without the raucous barking to let us know someone is here, we run the risk of not hearing the knocks from upstairs or down on the ground floor. (Our door is on the middle floor.)
Day 5 Update
Jess still barks about once a day. That is, one single bark. She's taken to "muttering", growling in her throat instead of full-on barking and letting out quiet, muffled "woofs" when someone's coming to the door. Woofs so quiet that they don't set off the citronella.
She does sometimes still get too excited, and her low murmurs eventually grow to that one WOOF and then the citronella goes off and she stops.
I have a feeling we're going to have to keep this collar on for a month or two in order to keep her from barking at everyone who comes to the door. She keeps testing the collar, and we don't plan on taking it off until well after she's done with "testing" it.
1.5 Year Update
When I first reviewed this collar I noted that we borrowed it from my in-laws. Well, they needed theirs back so we purchased one ourselves a month or so after I wrote this review.
Our dog is still wearing the collar. I had hoped that she'd just give up on barking, but she hasn't. She still thinks that maybe this bark will be the one that doesn't cause citronella to spurt out. She still lets out a single bark maybe once every few days. She still does the muttering and low, quiet "whoof" when someone comes to the door, but it's not a loud bark anymore. Mostly she's quiet.
The collar has been very durable, lasting us for well over a year now. We know it's out of citronella when she barks more than once. We promptly refill it as soon as that happens. I still recommend this collar but be prepared to use it for a good long time.
Recommended:
Yes
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mrs-j
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"Man was made for something better than disturbing dirt." - Oscar Wilde
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