SportDOG Brand NoBark 10 Collar - Rechargeable, Programmable Bark Collar - Waterproof & Submersible, Black

We use a lot of positive reinforcement in our house, but despite that our young, well-socialized, friendly Great Dane (who has a trick title and his CGC) had a talking problem. He was good overall but required constant management to prevent him from launching into a barking fit. Anytime the doorbell went off, I had to jump up and start redirecting. When the neighbors were petsitting a super barky dog? Redirect. A Squirrel taunting him from a tree? Redirect. Flea sneezing 3 miles away? Redirect. I spent a lot of time addressing this by encouraging him to turn away from triggers, to watch the world go by, and to stop barking when I said 'enough'. He gets more physical and mental enrichment than most pet dogs so no, not bored. Just...NOISY. He's always been a talker. He is a BIG dog with a BIG bark and at some point, with a dog like this, you literally just have to tell the dog NO. Sometimes, saying NO is more humane than continuing the frustrating and ongoing process of redirecting and constantly managing things. Barking fits cause dogs a lot of undue stress and anxiety. For a confident otherwise happy dog that knows what to do instead, and has been offered tons of training and enrichment, there is NOTHING wrong with eliminating nuisance barking with a tool like this. By telling him NO, the fits went away and he's much happier and calmer. He still runs to see what the 'fuss' is when the neighbor dog barks or his squirrel friend is in the tree, so he still gets to be a dog, he just has to be quiet about it. We chose the Sportdog because we wanted it to provide a different sensation than he receives from his E-Collar Tech e-collar (which we use at low levels for off-leash recall). I wanted to buy a reliable tool that would work, and not correct him for the wrong things at the wrong time. Cheap tools create superstitious, confused, and anxious dogs who may even ignore the correction because they aren't reliable! We didn't put all this training work into this dog to ruin him with unfair corrections. The timing has to be impeccable. The collar was so easy to set up. I used the default/factory settings. If I have one complaint it's that it was tricky to figure out how to seat the charger correctly onto the device. He wore the Sportdog bark collar for one day and was corrected twice. The first time he was REALLY surprised, yelped, and went to lay down immediately. I felt bad because we don't use a lot of sharp, deliberate corrections in our house. The second time he had a lightbulb moment. He's been quiet ever since, and I'm not even good about putting the collar on him. It was a one-and-done thing. I like that it ONLY corrected him for real barks and clearly issued the correction IMMEDIATELY. Not for oofing and boofing. Two corrections helped him get over this 'hump', connect the dots, and chill out. Worth every penny. He's SO much happier. I'm so much happier. The neighbors are so much happier! I call this a win-win.

A friend recommended this collar when I asked what she used. My poodle loves to sit out front on a long lead, which gives her lots of room to to enjoy our front yard. But she gets so excited when she sees her friends, and I didn't like that many of her outdoor times ended with me having to bring her in due to barking. Also, I like my neighbours! After I got this delivered I made sure to carefully review use and sizing. It took about 3 separate trips outside for her to figure it out, and I don't think it ever got past level 2 of the 10 levels. Now she is quiet outside but still happily greets her friends with a waving tail. I make sure she is always monitored so she doesn't feel she needs to bark - I come right to door if she's waiting there or if she winds her lead around anything. Amazingly when she wants to go out and sees me pick up the collar she comes over and waits with her tail wagging as I put it on. So I feel reassured that it isn't painful, and she's just happy to be going outside.

I tried a cheaper bark collar that worked once, then didn't work again. Don't waste your time. These are more expensive, but they're more expensive for a reason. I bought one and tried it on my 40lb basset and 5lb chi. I left it on progressive for my chi, and she never made it past level 1. Definitely re-directed her but didn't seem harsh. My basset, being the stubbord breed that he is, easily ignored level 1 and initiated the reset before his barking was deterred. For him, I programmed the user-selected level and started him at level 5 (of 10). A bark barely escaped his mouth before he was immediately re-directed by the collar. I love my dogs and wouldn't put anything on them that I felt was cruel. These work so well that I went ahead and ordered 3 collars for my 3 dogs--each programmed for his/her personality. Programming the user-selected levels instead of leaving it on progressive it's somewhat confusing, but I wound up figuring it out using the company's YouTube video tutorial. The company has both phone and online support. If you have a larger/heavier breed, I recommend getting the 10 series for the user-select level option as your dog will probably exceed the progressive settings before triggering a reset, rendering your collar ineffective. The 8 series should be fine for small-medium/lighter breeds, but you lose the user-select level option. For $30 more, I'd just go ahead and buy the 10 series to give you the additional flexibility. That's what I did. You never know if your dog will get used to the re-direction at some point in the future. These collars have finally brought us and our neighbors peace! ETA: 6 months later and these collars are still going strong. They hold a serious charge too (talking weeks)! A quality product that's absolutely worth the money.

This works well for a dog that is very smart and will do the bad thing they know they aren't supposed to do, unless there is some deterrent. I hate to put it on him, but my neighbours should be subjected to the incessant barking. He gets very anxious and will just not stop barking, but with this on, he is quiet because he knows.

I was at a point of desperation to stop my girl from howling when we left her alone. We tried everything and this was our last resort. But oh my god it goes off randomly. It causes her to cry in pain, piss herself and come running to us to save her (we were testing it to make sure it worked properly). I’m not sure what’s up with this collar, it’s malfunctioning or that’s just how it goes but my heart can’t use this product anymore. Please look for another option for your pet.