Saving Barking Dogs

Popular Science article, circa 1936.

There is barking .... and then there is barking.

Unending barking is a behavior phenomenon that has probably resulted in the death of more dogs than any other.

It's all well and good to say that "only bored dogs" bark and that the cure is more exercise, but that is not always true. Generally true, but not always true.

It's also not true that it's as simple as "train the dog to bark when given a signal, and then never give that signal." This is the kind of stuff copied from one book to another, but which crashes on the rocks of reality pretty quickly.

The simple story is that barking is a self-reinforcing behavior, which is a nice way of saying that, for some dogs, barking is its own reward.

Sometimes a long spate of barking can be set off by a squirrel scampering across a tree in the backyard or a bird flying overhead. You can try removing all the bird feeders, but there are limits.

Yes, by all means give your dog a job -- a hard chew toy filled with peanut butter, a place in the corner of its yard where it can dig out the toys you bury there, etc. Walk it in the morning and in the evening. Throw the ball. Take it biking or skating. All of this will help and, in fact, it may be a perfect cure for your problem.

But not everyone has the time for such 24-7-365 efforts. What do you do about a dog that is exercised, has a big backyard with access to food and water and even other dogs to play with, a sand pit, and lots of toys and simply likes to bark for hours on end?

For a long time, the answer was "get rid of the dog," and as a consequence a lot of dogs ended up in pounds, and most ended up dead just five days later.

Then, in the 1930s, a veterinary surgeon found that a very loud and piercing bark could by muted by going down the throat and punching a few holes in the vocal cord membrane.

The operation was simpler than a tonsillectomy, and it was 100 percent successful. A "debarked" dog could still bark, but now it was simply "toned down" quite a bit. Now the dog could "talk," but it could not roar and yell as before. Result: a lot of dogs were spared a dog pound death.

About 10 years ago, a new invention came along which has largely replace surgical debarking (which was never common) -- the e-collar.

Now, instead of giving a dog an operation, owners can simply put on an electronic debarking collar. These collars give the dog a mild aversive shock that is about as painful as a rubber band snap if the dog barks continuously for more than a set period of time -- say 30 seconds or so. Collars can be adjusted to give the dog more or less time to bark, and corrective shocks can also be dialed up or down as needed (generally the lowest setting is enough). Some collars do not shock -- they spray citronella, which the dogs are not supposed to like, but I have never heard anyone say these collars actually worked.

Most of the folks who protest e-collars have never tried them. I have (though not for barking).

Do e-collars work? Like new money.

In fact my three game-bred working terriers are held in the yard at the driveway by an e-collar -- an "Invisible Fence." Not only has it worked well now for 15 years, but it is also a product endorsed by both veterinarians and humane societies.

So is an anti-barking e-collar any different? I would not see how.

Modern collars only give a warning tone and then a mild shock if the dog wearing the collar is actually barking for more than 30 seconds (which is a pretty long time) and they are only triggered by the combination of sound and throat vibrations. Another dog barking in your yard or a noise next door cannot set them off.

Have you tried an anti-barking collar on your dog, and has it worked? What brand and model was it (note that newer collars are much better than those that existed a few years ago)? Let us know in the comments. . . .
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