sentiment on ultrasonic bark deterrent

RebelButtMunch

Hi

Background.. Neighbours have two yappy dogs.. constantly barking when they are out. I've already had a word with the neighbours. TBH they are nice people but just either rubbish or lazy at training the dogs. I'm quite confidant they are not going to be able to train the dogs, and that isn't down to the dogs!

Previously I had a dog that I trained. I've given them some advice but when I see her next door chasing the dogs around the garden with a twig, asking politely to stop barking, I despair.

So, what's the sentiment here on ultrasonic dog barking deterrents?
e.g http://www.ultimatebarkcontrol.com/dog-silencer.htm

Do they actually work? I could easily mount it facing the garden next door.

Nody

I'd guess they would work about as well as the idea of cat deterrent on the same principle.

DBB

I had a pretty much identical situation in the housing estate I used to live in OP... the neighbours two doors down had two dogs that were left alone in the garden for very long hours, and the barking... oh god the barking
They had a bit of a duet going on. One dog would do a big WOOF, then the smaller dog would do a little high-pitched "woowoowoowoo". Then the WOOF again, then "woowoowoowoo".
All.
Day.
Long.
:eek:

Somebody must have complained, because they got one of those devices you've linked to... I could just hear it activating, 2 houses away. So, with my behavioural brain on me, I waited to see what'd happen.
The barking would start. The device would activate. The dogs would shut up.
This continued for maybe a week?
Once the first week was over, not only was I back listening to the constant WOOF, and the "Woowoowoowoo"... now we had the accompaniment of the very high-pitched, mildly ear-jamming bloody anti-bark device too!
So no. It sure didn't work in this case

volchitsa

No advice to give, sorry, but the "two dogs" anecdote just made me wonder why they bark, I had always assumed that if it was due to loneliness then the fact that there were two of them together would mean barking would be far less of a problem.

If that isn't the case, then are they barking to call their owners despite not actually being "alone", maybe because they just want out of the garden?

Or maybe it's actually fun for them, a game they play?

Cos I imagine any technique would have to be targeted to why the dog is barking if it's going to work. And anti-barking device might work for the "fun" part, but probably won't work if they're desperate to get out of a tiny garden.

DBB

It's usually loneliness and/or boredom that causes this sort of barking. Providing a 2nd dog as company for a lonely first dog (that's why my neighbours had ended up with 2), only tends to work in a surprisingly small number of cases... All too often you end up with 2 dogs with the same problem.
It's a good question, asking how they could be lonely if there are 2 of them... But many dogs who exhibit separation behaviours are doing so because it's their owner they're lonely for... You could give them 20 other dogs for "company", but it's not other dogs they're lonely for, and so the problem continues.
I do think in my case above that there was a huge dollop of mind-numbing boredom going on too. Plus the added complication that despite getting the smaller dog as "company" for the bigger one, the two dogs didn't actually like each other all that much... At best, they tolerated each other and existed together.
Both boredom and loneliness can only really be addressed when getting a 2nd dog, if the 2 dogs bond with one another, and play, mess, and rest together.