Anyone use a Bark Collar?

11 weeks is MUCH too young, that's for sure.  Good on you for setting the guy straight (even if he is POed about it).
 
IMO, bark collars, the majority of the time, are for the lazy.  They don't want to train their dog when it is appropriate to vocalize and when it is not.  They'd rather just slap and device on their dog and let it zap zap zap.
 
However, there ARE times, just like with any other tool, when the BC is appropriate, and is generally the last step before a dog is removed from a home, or debarked.  Personally, I feel if you're going to do any bark "control" training at all, it should be on a remote trainer where you can vary the intensity of the correction, rather than on an "auto" correction, which zaps the dog intermittently (and many dogs either just bark through the pain, or bark so often the correction isn't effective, and they wear out the battery).

The difference between using a Bark collar and debarking a dog is like the difference between taking an aspirin and having brain surgery. I have seen several dogs in the shelter that were debarked and one dog had to be put down, because it developed severe breathing problems and couldn't live in heat of above 75 degrees.  It lived a miserable life after the debarking. Two other dogs that were debarked by the same lady that was hoarding these dogs, are not the happiest dogs in the shelter, and I think alot of it is due to the debarking.  

I do agree that using a bark collar on a younger dog is probably not a good idea, but for people facing real problems because their dog is barking and neighbors and the law are ready act and training doesn't work, a good collar can save the day.  Get the best one you can afford, since the better ones have manuy more safeguards in the way they operate. 

I've know many shelties that have been debarked and it is no big deal and they live perfectly normal lives.  In fact mine have had their barks softened also and they are having no problems what so ever.  The real trick to a good debark is to do it young and have a very knowledgeable vet do it.  In fact I would rather have the debark than a shock collar any day.  Would you rather have the dog endure a 1 minute surgery or a lifetime of shocking.
 

A friend of mine uses a bark collar. I don't agree with it, I think that there are other alternatives out there. But their dog's bark is really annoying and he does bark at *everything*. It has helped a little but not that much really.

ORIGINAL: timsdat

I've know many shelties that have been debarked and it is no big deal and they live perfectly normal lives.  In fact mine have had their barks softened also and they are having no problems what so ever.  The real trick to a good debark is to do it young and have a very knowledgeable vet do it.  In fact I would rather have the debark than a shock collar any day.  Would you rather have the dog endure a 1 minute surgery or a lifetime of shocking.

Why on earth would you debark a dog. A dog needs that ability to signal danger, defend itself, etc.. It is like someone removing your vocal chords because they think you talk too much...

Years ago we used a bark collar on one of our dogs. Every time she was in the yard she would just bark bark bark, she was a big dog so her bark was big., We only had to use the collar for 2 days and it stopped her constant barking.
 
 
I realize now that she was bored, we really weren't keeping her occupied enough. She had her daily walks, but it just wasn't enough for her. If I had to do it over again, the bark collar would have been our absolute last resort. I wouldn't rule it out, but I definitely would have done much  more training with her and exercised her a lot more often. Truthfully if I had to do it over again I wouldn't  have gotten her, at the time we really had no business getting a dog, we were too busy of a family.

Why on earth would you debark a dog. A dog needs that ability to signal danger, defend itself, etc.. It is like someone removing your vocal chords because they think you talk too much...

 
The debark operation is sorely misnamed.  It doesn't remove their ability to bark or are the vocal cords removed.  All a debark operation does is lower the volume and usually the pitch of the dog barking.  Trust me mine can bark just fine just not as loud.
 
 

I don't see anything wrong with using a no-bark collar as a last resort for some dogs in some situations. Modern no-bark collars usually allow you to set them to only engage if the dog keeps barking, so you get a dog who quickly learns he can bark twice and that's it, he stops. They don't "endure a lifetime of shocking".
 
I do think de-bark surgery is barbaric. Some of the high-pitched squeaky noises de-barked dogs make are much more irritating than barking IMHO.

I do think de-bark surgery is barbaric.

 
 
I totally agree........IMO new owners should take into consideration what the bark and behavior of a dog will be when thinking about getting a dog.........not the other way around of  getting the dog, then tweaking the dog to the owners environment........people, I swear.....[8|]

Well you all can think that debarking a dog is barbaric that you your opinion.  I can think of many other things that are done to dogs that are much more barbaric.
 

ORIGINAL: timsdat

Why on earth would you debark a dog. A dog needs that ability to signal danger, defend itself, etc.. It is like someone removing your vocal chords because they think you talk too much...

The debark operation is sorely misnamed.  It doesn't remove their ability to bark or are the vocal cords removed.  All a debark operation does is lower the volume and usually the pitch of the dog barking.  Trust me mine can bark just fine just not as loud.

I am current;y working with 2 debarked dogs at the shelter ( the third one was put down, because of problems that developed from the debarking)  and all they can is make a loud wheeze. I think it is sad, that someone did that to a dog. 

I use a no-bark in my kennels to teach the dogs that it is possible to be quiet while THEY are not being worked, and a hole will not open in the space/time continuum and swallow them up. We are talking about Border Collies remember. I freely admit to anyone that it is a crutch and that it is because I am not willing to "go there" to make them be quiet. If they never learn to bark, it doesn't become a problem, and then they move on to where they will be worked constantly and they'll be too tired to bark! []

If the guy is changing the battery every day it's either the wrong kind of collar, or it's malfunctioning, or it's not adjusted right (ie, it's going off but not making contact so not correcting). The collars I use have a warning, then a quick series of corrections which scale up - I think there's seven - then it re-sets. It is rare that I get a dog that needs more than a couple of corrections.

Now, I had one dog once figure out that if she barked seven times, distinctly, taking the seven corrections, that the collar would switch off, then reset, and that she could wear out the battery in about fifteen minutes. That was a dog of my own, thank you very much. [8|] By the way, never, ever, ever leave a collar on unless you can check it frequently through the day - that day I was gone and came back to find it had irritated her neck quite severely in addition to the battery being dead.

They don't work to teach a dog not to bark, though. You have to do that yourself. I've never had a dog that couldn't figure out in mere seconds if the battery was even low. Or the collar was mis-adjusted. They know it's the collar. Maybe it's because I put it on and off so much. But I doubt it - dogs are pretty smart.[]

We had a debarked Akita that came to us that way when I was still living at home. She could bark just fine...just quieter. She lived to 12 and was put down due to dementia.
 
I've used a remote collar for anti bark and never needed it beyond a few days. The timing is essential...remote is better for that.
 
I think that the pup in question, is much too young.

I am current;y working with 2 debarked dogs at the shelter ( the third one was put down, because of problems that developed from the debarking) and all they can is make a loud wheeze. I think it is sad, that someone did that to a dog.

 
Ok you have seen 1 with a proplem.  I probably have seen over 100 without a problem.  I also have seen dogs die due to the results of a spay/neuter so do we not do that operation since dogs have died.