cakana
Posted : 5/3/2006 1:26:11 PM
Tone collars - never tried, but my boss said he had one and it didn't work
Citronella collar - worked 100% with our lab. She was basically cured of barking after wearing it only a few times. However, she was never a chronic barker. Other dog, lab mix, did great (no barking) with it for several months and then it was ineffective.
Shock collar - like you, I didn't want to go this route. Someone pointed out that the citronella is pretty obnoxious to a dog's sense of smell and the shock collar is no worse (maybe more humane). I'm not sure of the validity of that, but we did have to resort to it for our chronic barker. We tested it first and the stimulation is very minimal (we bought the kind you can adjust). It also doesn't give off anything unless there are 3 or more barks. The citronella collar actually worked better (before she got used to it), so I would suggest starting with that.