German Shepherd dog

try training your dog instead of using collars they don't work nearly as well as good old time and effort 

that is my recomendation i have dealt with alot of people who have used them and they dont sound all that good.

I've used the electronic bark collars in the past to help teach the dog when it's not acceptable to bark.  I only had to resort to using them for a short time maybe a few weeks and only putting it on the dog when this unwanted behavior was happening.  I've seen the collars that have the spray mist and asked people about them but I was told they don't work on a lot of dogs.  The one I had to use a bark collar on was my young male when he was about 7 mo old and I don't think the spray kind would have worked on him as nothing really phases this boy.  The electronic collar was much more effective and now we don't need it at all anymore.

If the collars are used as a training tool and not a constant crutch I see no problem using them.  I know trainers who have had to resort to them as a training aid. 

I recently purchased a Dogtra bark collar and was not impressed at all. The new collars( both Dogtra and Tritronics)have the vibration sensor directly behind the unit. Thats nice because the size of the collar is smaller. But you can not really move it around on the dog's neck. So you can get skin irritation from the contact points with prolonged use.

My old Tri-tronics one had the vibration sensor on the side of the collar. This way, you could move the collar up and down on the dogs neck or reverse sides. You can't do that with the new collars. My malinios was a bad barker and I had a bitchy neighbor so she had to wear it for long periods of time. The ability to change the contact point location made it alot more comfortable for her.

The other thing I did not like about the Dogtra was the length of the contact points. They were too long. They are also pretty large in diameter. My dog has a very thick undercoat so the contact points often wouldn't make complete contact. That is not good. Even when I sheared her coat a bit. What ended up happening was the collar was ether on too tight and really uncomfortable for the dog or it wasn't tight enough to make contact leaving the collar inconsistant and/or ineffective. With that said, you can buy shorter contact points. Additionally, the charger seems like a good idea, but for me was a pain in the ass. The dial to change intensity was not the easiest thing to work either.

I have not seen the newest Tri-Tronics. I guess they have a push button to change the intensity and a bark odometer. The odometer would come in really handy if you have a difficult neighbor. I still don't like the sensor being directly behind the unit allowing for no changing of position.  I would get the Tri-tronics if I had to do it again.

What ever collar you choose just make sure you are consistant with it's application and ensure it is on the dog correctly.

Tri Tronics all the way............They are great............They will stop the dog from Barking.

Rodd

I know you didn't ask about this but I wanted to throw it out there. There is a small unit that looks like the old transistor radios (did that date me or what?) and when the dog barks it lets out an ear piercing shriek.  I was going to get a bark collar for when my one year old is in the kennel which is when he does the nuisance barking. It has worked really well. 

I can fake him out by putting in the same place when it's on or off. I started out with it on all the time and then sometimes off sometimes on. Now he rarely barks at all in the kennel. The drawbacks are that they are geographically specific as I doubt they'd work for more than a couple hundred feet away and they have to be kept dry.

I have a friend who has had luck with the citronella collars for the most part. And I've talked to people who use the Tri Tronics collars and they say Tri Tronics are the most durable.

Why are these dogs barking so much are they bored or not enough excercise or something or some one bothering them or what?.these things do not work on every dog.

There is always a reason why a dog would bark some might be mentally not all there but always areason.

update^^^

i finally decided on tri tronics rechargeable.  i bought 2 of them, thinking i would try them on my 2 worst barkers and if i needed more i would get them.  i will be buying more of them.  they work.  they are a god-send.  not only do they keep the dogs quiet, but they also help to cut down on the aggression caused by passing in front of each other's crates and kennels.

no, the dogs won't be wearing them all the time.  no, i won't allow them to burrow into the skin.  no, i won't abuse the dogs with overuse.  i was beginning to worry that my neighbors my do something awful to my dogs if we didn't establish some quiet around here.  yelling doesn't work - besides that we can't be here 24/7 to yell at them. 

also, it seems that just reducing the number of barking dogs keeps all of them quieter.  they tend to keep each other barking.  so far, i'm pretty impressed.  i'm not wild about using electronics on dogs, but i don't want to come home to find they have been poisoned either.

pjp