| 
| Brand: Premier
List Price: $99.99
Buy New: $32.95
You Save: $67.04 (67%)
New (13) from $32.95
Rating:  246 reviews
Sales Rank: 38
Media: Misc.
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 2 x 7 x 2
MPN: 729849100473
Model: SNSBKC
UPC: 759023035154
EAN: 0364180000435
ASIN: B0002D31QU
Release Date: July 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent results with a dachshund June 1, 2006
R. M. Barge (Atlanta, GA USA)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
My doxie is a major league, Hank Aaron barker. This product is 100% effective for him. He is a little shy (although stubborn sometimes), which might make a difference. He weighs 19 lbs. I really am not sure I could bear to shock him, as I am a bit tender-hearted towards him, but I probably would if that was what it took to stop heavy barking.
There are a lot of nice extras about using this collar.
-- It doesn't seem to cause him any pain, it just startles him.
-- He seems to be comfortable with it, as large as it is (we keep it loose), and can run, jump, and sleep with it on.
-- It allows him to bark at a very subdued volume, which I think is nice. It's a pleasant deep soft sound, not at all bothersome, and it lets him satisfy his bark urge to a degree. It also lets him communicate when he needs something.
-- If he does bark, it keeps the mosquitoes away!!
-- The spray does not smell bad at all -- it's almost pleasant
-- It WORKS (for my doxie); after two or three single barks, he stopped completely.
-- Strangely, he doesn't seem to object when I put it on him. He really lets you know if he doesn't like something, and he doesn't mind wearing this collar hardly at all.
Here are the bad things:
-- If you leave it turned on, the battery will run out.
-- The collar itself is quite hard to size for a smaller dog; I had to use scissors and Scotch tape, which does not hold up well.
-- It IS quite large on a small dog.
We had him wear it for three weeks. Now, we just put it on him for a booster course if he barks twice in one day.
You have to remember to turn it off when you take it off, and turn it on when you put it on your dog. This becomes automatic quickly. The citronella lasts a long time; at least, it lasts a long time if it works. Some dogs apparently are not impressed by the spray and bark the reservoir empty.
There is a problem with recommending this collar, because it may or may not work for your dog. It is either the greatest thing since cut bread, or a total waste of money.
My personal experience has been great with this product. It stopped a major behavioral problem immediately, without any pain inflicted on our dog. It's a bit expensive for a product that may not work at all in an individual case. The upside though is a big one, it is a FABULOUS product if your dog responds to it.
 reasonable alternative to electronic collars December 3, 2005
B. Barrows (near Wash DC)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
I bought this collar because behavioral training was not working as well as I would have liked with my very vocal dog (a rescue that was formerly an outside-only dog)and I didn't want to resort to an electronic collar to train her. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the citronella collar did indeed work well at reducing the incidence of barking. My "chatty" girl caught on after getting sprayed only a few times, although she sometimes will still bark very quietly (below the trigger threshold) when she's really motivated (this is called getting collar smart). It's not a 100% cure and isn't supposed to be, but it definitely made a difference within a very short period of time. If you use this collar and have more than one dog in close quarters, be aware that another dog's bark can trigger the collar to spray, resulting in a false correction for the wearer.
I've had this collar for more than three months now and have yet to go through the original container of citronella, another indicator of how quickly it worked. My only complaint is that the collar did not come with the 6 volt battery that was advertised as part of the package. The end of the adjustable collar was also a challenge to thread through the piece that holds it in place, but it gets there with a bit of work and a whole lot of patience.
Overall I would say this is a very good training aid. It's considerably less expensive than a good quality electronic collar and completely humane. If you also like the lemony-fresh scent of citronella, this is the way to go.
We love it!!!! Our beagle doesn't.... November 4, 2004
Happy Customer (Maryland)
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
Being that my wife and I have tried all of the tricks and training techniques to keep our little beagle from barking so much. We had almost given up. While online one day I thought I would see if there were any products that were a safe and humane way to train your dog. After a couple of hours of searching, I found a couple of different collars, one being a shock collars which I was completely opposed to and the citronella collar. I was a little skeptical at first, but after some research and reading a couple of independent studies I found this collar was more effective than the other collars. So I bought it. After a short two day wait, I received it in the mail. I put it on our dog and after two sprays of citronella he understood that barking is what set it off. Since then it has been peace and quiet. I still put the collar on him, but I haven't had to turn it on it quite some time.
Priceless - A Must Have! December 20, 2004
clange
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
We live in an apartment complex that is old and has thin walls. Our dog barked for about 2 hours every morning (the rest of the day he was fine) and our neighbors were seriously losing their patience with our attempts to resolve the problem.
We tried ignoring him for 30 minutes prior to leaving and 10 min after coming back home; we tried treat-dispensing toys; we tried to desensitize him by doing short leaves (with gradual lengthening of absent time). Nothing worked.
Our management was pretty cool about it because they knew we were trying to solve the problem, but after 10 days, I knew our days were numbered. Either we would have to move (we have 6 months left on our lease) or give away our dog.
I had never heard of this type of collar before. A woman in our complex mentioned it in passing and I was so desperate, I immediately started doing some research and decided to give it try since it seemed to be our last hope.
It worked the first time our dog barked and activated the spray. He stopped barking immediately. We've only tried the collar now for 3 days and so far, our manager says no one is complaining and they themselves haven't heard a peep (they could hear him barking before).
This collar saved us alot of grief! I don't know how it will work with dogs with severe barking problems, but our's was a manageable problem and it worked immediately without any negative side effects.
If you have a problem barker, I strongly recommend trying this collar before resorting to electric shock collars or worse, de-barking.
Worked Perfect! May 30, 2006
E. Antic (Erie, PA)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
Well here's the story of two occasional barkers and one terribly nasty neighbor.
About my dogs:
Ginger: Jack Russel/ Beagle mix, 30lbs, 3 years old, short hair, spayed, female.
Guppy: Sheltie/ Beagle mix, 28lbs, apox 6 years old, med-long hair, spayed, female.
Both are crate trained, however they are not generally crated on a regular basis and never more than 6-8 hours. They have never barked while crated. In fact the only time they do bark is at the rabbits in my yard, or when the doorbell rings, or maybe once when they need to be let outside. I am currently unemployed so my dogs have been able to play out in the yard since the spring. They have had more than adequate attention, exercise, and walks as a good chunk of my day is spent playing with them, or working in the yard supervising them. We even have central air, when they are alone even in summer, they are always comfortable. They have kongs and other toys to keep them busy. They travel with us on family vacations and they participate in camping, hiking, etc. They're alone about 50% of the time. We do not spend so much time with them that it would seem abnormal to them to be alone. Generally speaking they are very well behaved, well socialized, healthy, and well taken care of dogs. Previous to our townhouse, we lived in an apartment complex and received no barking complaints what so ever.
About my Housing:
I have lived in my townhouse for over three years, and got along with the neighbors just fine. Then one day our one neighbor started complaining about dog poop. Our yards are fenced off, so I have my own yard. I pick up poop twice a week, and none really gets near the fence. No one, including my landlord, understood the sudden BS from that neighbor. There wasn't much poop to speak of, and my yard is my yard. Period. And so, I suppose, the feud began.
About the Barking:
After the feud started, and in three years, we got two complaints about barking: One was when our beagle/jack russel mix was just adopted, and the other was a year and a half later when the neighbor called the police. The first time ~I~ was actually barking and making a racket while teaching my dog the "Speak" command. If you can teach them to speak, you can tell them not to speak. The other involved a police officer standing in my front bushes shinning a flashlight into my window. The first time was a human making noise, the second...well if someone shines a light into my house, while climbing in my landscaping....at night....it's my dogs JOB to bark. As far as I am concerned: Case Dismissed. No other complaints were ever made by any neighbor. So on a whim we decided to video tape our dogs and take a 15-20 minute walk. They howled. They howled non-stop. We were pretty surprised because we can't imagine any behavior this bad, since the feud started, and ~not~ having been cited by the police or evicted in three years. So it must be fairly new. The video tape also revealed my neighbor pounding on the wall and yelling non-stop. It's not clear if the wall pounding or the barking started first...but it was clear my neighbor had successfully reinforced my dogs barking behavior. Surprisingly both dogs howled, and one has a history of abuse prior to her adoption, and hardly makes noise of any kind, let alone howl. So this was a problem. A big problem. As they did not bark when we were home, and how could I control or punish this behavior if I was not home? That night the police showed up right after we made our video. They said if we actually got caught, we would have been fined. My neighbor has a long history of harassment, and even if my dogs were tempted to bark by my neighbor, I knew it wouldn't be good for my lease if I actually got cited. Although two complaints in three years seemed really minor. So if they barked this much on a regular basis I would have expected more than two complaints and I did not.
The Solution:
I am vehemently against electric shock collars and de-barking surgery, and consider them to be ~~exceptionally~~ cruel. (Electric shock collars are even illegal in some countries for this reason.) So those were not options for me. I would move first. After a long night on the internet I decided to try the citronella collar. Independent studies have shown they are much more effective than shock collars for barious reasons, and many many reviews here at Amazon and pet supply websites were positive. So we gave it a try.
You can not put the collar on the dog and have a quick fix! As with anything concerning dogs, you have to be there to further the training. If you want a quick fix...this is not necessarily it. It takes several days to work. Although....as far as barking goes......that is pretty quick. We decided to use it on Ginger, as Guppy seemed to howl with her but only after she started. Ginger is also the most persistent barker, while Guppy gives an occasional warning low bark at the doorbell etc. The manual states that you should be there to supervise the dog in the beginning. This is important because the collar holds about 25 barks/sprays. If your dog was persistent enough, and smart enough, they will quickly learn that after barking for 5 minutes, they are now scott free to bark all they want. I think if you reach this point, the collar no longer has any meaning and you can forget about it working if they learn to out smart it. So if you're going to spend the $100.....make sure you have a weekend to put into the training.
Also it is crucial that you adjust the collar so that it has just the right amount of space between the dogs throat and the spay-box. Too much space and the collar will go off at random noises, too tight and it might not go off at all. The manual suggest that gravity keeps the box at the dogs throat, so if they scratch and it gets kicked to the back of their neck, it should gently fall back to place at their neck when they sit up. That's been the best rule of thumb for me. It is not supposed to pick up the barking at the mouth, it is supposed to pick up the vocal cords at the throat.
Also it should be noted that this is not intended to control whimpering or crying. This is to control the full blown bark. Living in an apt attached to another apt all I really needed to do was to control full blown barking. They will learn quickly that they can fly under the radar with a whimper. I don't' particularly care about that myself. Dogs bark. You wouldn't want to spend the whole day totally silent, and neither do they.
I only use this collar about 20 hours a week. It should NEVER be used 24/7. In fact once it is used properly for a few weeks, you should not need it at all. The key to this collar is that it disrupts barking consistently. It does not necessarily punish the barking. The spray is fast, slightly loud, and lemony fresh. So they feel it, hear it, and smell it. It is designed to take away attention from what makes them bark. They even sell non-scented spray for anyone who finds the odor offensive. I hardly smell it at all myself, and it isn't sticky.
Personally I still felt bad in using it. My dogs did not understand where the spray was coming from, and they will run from it at the beginning. They don't run from the collar, but they do know now what it does. And they will not bark when it's on.
Actually Ginger does not have to wear it anymore at all. We got a new neighbor whose dog barks NON STOP. And Ginger would bark right back at her nonstop. We tried for days to socialize the dogs so they could be outside at the same time. Guppy would give up after a few minutes, but Ginger and the neighbors dogs would bark at one another until hey were raw. After we used the citronella collar, and Ginger learned barking was unacceptable, she didn't bark under most circumstances. The neighbors dog still barks non stop at her but she just stares or whimpers. We had 5 baby bunnies the in the backyard, and she did not bark. We visit a friends farm occasionally where Ginger's run into turkeys, cows, goats, and cats....things she generally only sees once a year or so. So she has been exposed to a number of things which would make her bark, and a few new things since. There has been very very little or no barking since the collar and without her having to wear it.
We've videotaped the dogs at home about 10-12 times now with FANTASTIC results while no one was home, and as I mentioned before she's been taken to a few get togethers at farms and places she's never been, with people she's never met, and there was no barking with or with out the collar.
In fact today Guppy cornered a rabbit just out of her reach, and she barked at it nonstop. I went out and put the collar on her, thought I thought her hair might be a little too long for it, and it worked great. After 3 sprays you could tell she wanted to bark very badly, but she did not.
A Few Tips:
* You really have to start out using it in a situation you know your dog will bark. Especially with occasional barkers. For me I got my other neighbor to bring out her dog. This gave me a chance for my dog to try to bark quite a few times under my supervision with out letting the spray running out and reassuring her she was a good dog. You should do this for a few days to make sure they don't outsmart it. It took me about 2 days with a fair amount of want-to-bark situations to make sure Ginger was properly trained.
* The battery is very odd, but you can find it at photo depts. in Target or Wal-Mart rather than paying the obscene prices at pet stores.
* Once your dog learns what the collar does and the barking is under control, I use it switched off a good part of the time. Maybe every other time I use it I turn it on. This way you don't run down the batteries, but the dogs get pretty consistent feedback. Other people have even bought one collar, trained a number of dogs, then made "Dummy" collars with fake boxes on them that don' spray. Hopefully you will not need the collar after you train, but if you do there are a number of cost effective ways to use it.
*If you must buy the collar in store....bargain with a manager about the price. They normally run $20-30 more expensive in store, and are almost ALWAYS on sale online. Petsmart will honor their own web prices. PetCo only seemed to honor Petsmarts prices, but not the web prices. So find out when they are on sale, or buy them online. Usually they come with free shipping.
* I'm told you can rent them in some states from vets and kennels. Call around. On the off chance it won't work for you, you won't have dropped the $90-100 on the collar. Or check eBay for a cheap one.
*Because they are about $100 I find pet stores don't move them in and out of stock very much. For this reason you may find you bought one that DOES NOT come with an on/off switch. It is an older model...and it is not worth $100. This model runs down the battery significantly. You will not be happy with this model. Return it.
So.....that's the story. I'm sure everyone's situation and dog is different. The collar worked WONDERS for me, and I recommend it to anyone with a barking problem. Most of the negative reviews I've read on Amazon, sorry to say, showed a lot of human error. Really if you follow the manual, and put the time in to train your dog, it works just like it says it does. I haven't had any clogging or operational problems what so ever.
EDIT: It is now November 20th....the dogs are not barking (even when the neighbor ponds on the wall when we're gone hoping to get them to bark). We have not had to buy any batteries or citronella. 7 months and it still works like a dream.
|
|
|
