First, you need to make sure the collar is snug.  Fitting this barking collar the right way is crucial if you want to have any success.  You do not want the collar to be too tight, obviously, because you do not want to choke your dog.  Even though you are trying to train your dog through a form of punishment you do love your pet and want him or her to be comfortable throughout the day.

Having said that if the bark collar is not tight enough its sensor will not be able to  detect your dog’s voice or vibrations and it will be useless.

Second, if you have a dog that has thick hair or a lot of hair you need to have him or her.  Hair is a another barrier to the sensor. Pugs have light hair so the anti bark collar worked great on mine.

I had a lasso dog (very boring breeds I might add, he got dumped on my by my last girlfriend/ fiance) who had a lot of hair and it almost never worked.  I had it on him for a whole week and the device never sensed his bark.

If you have a breed that has thick hair bring it to a groomer and get his or her hair cut as low as possible.

Third, you need to make sure the batteries are good.  I cannot tell you how many times people I have know, or myself, have used an anti bark collar and the batteries were dead.  The battery on the collar is small and the power runs out quick.  They usually have a light so you know if it is good or not.

On my Petsafe shock collar it would have two blinking lights as long as the battery worked.  When they were in fact dead a red light would come on.  Kind I handy I think.  Obviously, if there is no power going to the collar it is not going to work very well.  Its one of those items that should be really self explanatory but we all forget from time to time.

Follow these three items and your anti bark collar should work the way its designed.  To shut your dog up in the middle of the day!

Anti Bark Collar

I promise you anti bark collars really do work.  They work better than most people even realize.  If you have a dog that yaps and barks a lot then an anti bark collar is absolutely necessary.  And I am not talking about dogs that casually bark.  That is normal.  I am talking about dogs that bark at any and everything.  A person passes your house and they bark.  Kids get off the bus and they bark.  People come to your house and they bark.  It can become overwhelming.

I have read and seen many ways to stop dogs from excessively barking and the collar works best.  An anti bark collar will start having an effect on your dog immediately, if used correctly.  I did another test the other day.  My aunt has a small dog that yaps at everything.  Cutest dog in the world, without a doubt, but barks nonstop somethings.  I let her borrow my anti bark collar.  We put it on him last Sunday.

At first I thought that it wasn’t working because we rang the doorbell and he started to bark and the collar did not work.  I had forgot, which you should remember too, that those anti bark collar don’t immediately go into action as soon as you put them on your dog.  They scan the dog’s bark first.  It will take several barks for it to go into effect.  Once it did my aunt’s dog got zapped a few times.  He learned very quickly that barking at everything was not going to fly anymore.  Her dog, like most, was pretty depressed for a while.  He went and hid in his doghouse for a little while.  But they get over it quick and adjust.

There is nothing inhumane about anti bark collars.  The shock is not made to hurt your dog.  Its more of an uncomfortable feeling.  Just enough so that they know something is up.  It does not hurt them.  But dogs get the message quickly.  One thing that a lot of dogs do after wearing the anti bark collar is adjust their bark and tone.

Most anti bark collars are made to shock the dog after three barks and they have to be somewhat loud to trigger it.  So many dogs will bark two times and then stop.  This is fine.  I have no problem at all with dogs barking just not over and over again without let up.  Its not fun.  Ever tried to do work at your house and your dog starts barking out of control.  Its really annoying.

I also want to remind everyone who uses an anti bark collar to take the collar off at night before everyone goes to bed and when you are playing with your dog.  You do not want your dog to never bark just not at everything that moves.  And if you leave the collar on your dog at night he or she may get a rash.  Just remember to put the anti bark collar on your dog in the morning when you wake up.  You would not believe how many people forget this.  They never do it consistently as I stated in another post about forgeting to put the anti bark dog collar on. It will not work if you do it like that.  You are going to be wasting your time.  Everyday you need to put the collar on as soon as you wake up.  Do it for one to two weeks and you will not need the collar any longer.  Your dog will be quiet as a pindrop.

To make sure you have a proper fit for your anti bark collar , follow these steps as outlined:

1) You have to make sure that the battery is off.

2)Have your dog standing up.

3)Center the contact points underneath your dog’s neck, touching the skin.

4)With the Snap Buckle fastened, thread the collar through the metal buckle and retaining tabs

5)Slide the extra collar through the C loop on the top of the snap buckle.  This will hold the collar in place.

6)Once the collar fit is determined use the snap buckle to remove or replace the collar

7)The Anti Bark Collar has to fit snugly, tight enough for the sensor to detect vibrations but loose enough to allow one finger to fit between a contact point and your dog’s neck.  Check the fit after you put it on and the dog walks around for a little bit.

Okay, this is extremely important.  Listen up because I have heard complaints about this time and time again.  It will be necessary on a lot of dogs who have thicker hair to sometimes trim the hair around the Contact Points or neck to make sure that contact is consistent.  If you do not do this then the collar either will not function or it will work sometimes and other times it won’t.