"I desperately wanted to stop, but I couldn't."
Barking, like quite a lot of things in life, has its place, but it is also a self-reinforcing behavior, which means it may exhibit when and where it is not wanted.
In the human world, self-reinforcing bad behavior is sharply curtailed by law, social pressure, or even physical restraint. Steal money and you go to jail. Put your hands on a woman in an unwelcome way, and you may get a punch in the nose.
But, of course, with things like alcohol, corrective action may take a long time, and may not be very well-timed. As I wrote back in 2010:
Aversives, when strong enough and well-timed, make a powerful impression and can fix a lot of problems before they start.
Imagine if, when you were sixteen years old, you had been shocked just as you reached out to touch that first can of purloined beer.
Would you have reached for a second? A third? Would you have ever drunk a six pack?
And if you had not, would you have done better in school? Would you have married a different girl or gotten a different job?
Would three or four well-timed shocks have changed the entire trajectory of your life?
Probably.
But, of course, that's not what happened, is it?
Instead, you drank the first beer, and the first beer drank the second beer, and before you can say "Bob's your Uncle" you had downed a six pack and discovered the joys of being drunk with members of the opposite sex.
A lifetime of self-reinforcing bad behavior without well-timed corrective action, can lead to problems that are difficult to break. With alcohol, for example, a certain percentage of the population becomes physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually addicted.
What can we do about that?
All kinds of things have been tried, but many of them center on 12-Step Groups which can be thought of as a kind of "pack normalization" exercise for alcoholic humans. For whatever reason, twelve step programs work.
That said, not everyone with a very serious and long-term alcohol problem can do it with a 12-step program alone. Some need a little push from the back.
One tried and true tool to gain that initial foothold on sobriety is a drug called disulfiram, and which is popularly known as anabuse. A tablet is given once a day, and the drug stays in the system for one to two weeks. If, during this period of time, an alcoholic drinks booze, he or she will flush, get nauseous, vomit, experience shortness of breath, get a throbbing headache, and become sick as a dog.
Most serious alcoholics given anabuse drink again, but very few drink a second time -- the sickness is simply not worth the "benefit," especially since you cannot drink enough alcohol on anabuse to get intoxicated. It's all pain, no gain.
And the result? Anabuse dramatically increases the chance that an alcoholic will "buy enough time" for patterns of new behavior, such as going to 12-Step meetings, to take hold.
So is there an anabuse equivalent for chronic barkers? There is: a modern anti-bark collar set to a vibrate and light shock mode.
Modern collars allow a dog to bark, but do not allow it to sustain barking, and are triggered by throat vibration as well as noise, so that another dog barking nearby cannot set it off. Collars can be configured to initially vibrate, and only shock if the barking is sustained.
Do I favor anti-barking collars? No, but then I have terriers and made my peace with barking long ago. My suggestion for those who do not like barkers is to get a rescue greyhound -- these dogs need good homes, are great indoor couch potatoes, and most are dead-silent. Do not get a breed that barks a lot if you do no want barking!
Do I think people reach for electronics a little too quickly? Yes, I do. Is the dog getting walked twice a day? Why not? Are you playing catch with it using a ball, stick, or Frisbee? Have you tried freezing a really hard Kong toy with paste food inside to give the dog something to work on all day? How about freezing food inside a large ice block so the dog has something to check on a couple of times a day? Dogs need mental and physical stimulation. Give it to them, and most dogs will bark a lot less. Before you reach for a bark collar to correct your dog's undisciplined behavior, make sure you are really working on your own.
That said, if you have tried everything else and the next stop is the pound where the dog is likely to be put down, an electronic anti-barking collar may be just the thing to save the dog's life. Do I favor an anti-barking collar over death at the pound? Yep; every damn time, and without exception.
Death before discomfort? Not in my book, and that's as true with dogs as it is with chronic alcoholics.
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