Citronella collars
Citronella Collars
1. Bailey dog barks collar a lot during the day. She barks once about every 2-5 minutes, and more when called for. My vet lent me a citronella collars that emits a little citronella every time she barks. This works great but I have two concerns with it. Will this "punishment" type solution inhibit my positive efforts to keep her quiet? The other concern is that the bark collars is training her not to play with Moses, which is certainly not what I want so I want to get her off the citronella collars as soon as possible.
OK David bear with me, this may get a little "rambly". Using the scientific definition of punishment, a citronella collars is considered punishment, because it lessens the likelihood of the re occurrence of a targeted behavior. But you have to remember that "punishment" does not necessarily have to be an aversive, as evidenced by the citronella collars explained below. This is one of the big problems with the scientific definition of punishment, it is circular reasoning. But don't worry Melissa, I won't go there.
Now, having said that, the majority of behaviorists and veterinarians consider a citronella collar not a punisher, nor an aversive, but rather a "disruptive stimulus." In my use of it, I have found that in about 75% to 80% of the dogs I have used a citronella collars on, it is indeed a disruptive stimulus in that they don't find it aversive, but rather they get the spray and immediately forget what they were barking about and start to investigate the intricacies of the spray. The other 20% to 25% of dogs I have used it on have indeed found the citronella collars to be an aversive, as evidenced by their behavior and attitudes after the spray. Then every once in a while you get the odd dog that learns to bark in order to release the spray for a nice chase of the odor or a body spritz, but that doesn't count!! Anyway, the citronella anti bark collar affects the behavior in either a disruptive or an aversive circumstance, but the results are amazingly different.
What can I do to curb nuisance barking?
The first and most important step is to properly identify the cause. Barking is a perfectly normal behavior and dogs bark for many reasons. However, excessive or nuisance barking may be due to boredom or loneliness. For some dogs, it is a "learned" behavior, reinforced and rewarded with attention or treats that owners mistakenly think will pacify the dog bark collar. Determine the events that trigger nuisance barking and remedy the situation. If that is not feasible, a bark control device may be an option.
How do bark collars correct nuisance barking?
There are 3 correction methods: tone, stimulation, and citronella spray correction. They are all based on the same principle. The dog bark collar activate when your dog barks and introduce a corrective stimulus that disrupts barking. Your dog will then associate this correction with barking and learn to citronella anti bark collar.
How effective are citronella collars ?
The time it takes to curb nuisance barking will vary from pet to pet. A survey conducted by Pet Safe concluded electronic training devices, including bark collars, are effective. Over 2/3 of the 1,025 dog owners responded that their dogs' overall behavior had, in fact, improved since using the electronic equipment.
Which Citronella Collars control device is right for me?
There are two basic models: automatic units and handheld units. Both are equally effective but their applications differ. Remote citronella bark collar units, such as bark collars, are ideal when inappropriate barking occurs when the owner is absent or when barking takes place in random or unpredictable locations. Handheld citronella anti bark collar is effective when the owner is present to correct the barking.
