The Citronella Bark Collar Experiment

Suffice it to say, in 9 years of doggie daycare the only real PIA barker was none other than my ALEXIS. Sure there's been a few yip yaps here and there but nothing too terribly out of control. Barking is not allowed at D2D and I've done pretty well to hold all the doggies to that rule for 9 years...that is, until Max the Great Dane came along! "Big Mack" I call him! A sweet, goofy, love of a dog but he's a bit on the insecure side and never gets used to the every day noises in his environment so he's always on guard plus he gets so darn excited at the prospect of meeting someone new; at home and at D2D. And it's a big bark too...140 lbs of bark to be precise. He just goes coo-coo-crazy-nuts-for-you when every dog gets dropped off and picked up. As soon as someone pulls in the driveway he starts up. I can usually get him to calm down but the minute I go out the door to greet someone he starts back up and obviously I can't be in two places at once so for the most part there's not a whole heck-of-alot I can do about the barking. Some days I have 10 dogs here so that's 20 barking fits plus when the neighbors go by walking their dogs and the kids on bikes go by. With Max's owners permission I got a citronella bark collar and put it on him today.

He didn't mind the collar being on at all. I ignored the package directions that said to let him get used to the collar for a few days--Who has time for that in this hurry-up-and-wait-I-want-instant-gratification society? Besides, I'm a rebel! Of course my first attempts to psyche him out by knocking on the door and pretending I was talking to someone outside failed to produce a bark. (Alexis ALWAYS fell for that one!) That's always the way isn't it though...you take your car to the mechanic but they can't reproduce that funny sound it's making! So I waited like a hunter in the brush for the the neighbors and their dogs to go for their daily walk; I left the front door open so Max had a clear view. Once he saw them he let out a low bark and the thing sprayed him in the face like a skunk. I half expected him to jump up and hit the ceiling but he just jumped back a bit and I'm preeeetty sure I heard him say "good gawd what in the name of all things four legged was that??" But it shut him right up! So then I led him out into the front yard so he could get a better view as they walked up the street and he let out a little huff bark and SWISH he got another blast. About 10 minutes later they came walking back and by now I think he's picking up on the fact that he shouldn't bark and he lets out a low guttural growl instead and SHHPURT again, the growling immediately stopped. (spell check is gonna hafta work overtime on this post!) So far so good! Let's see what later today brings during doggie pick-up time! Can't wait! Hopefully Max remembers this mornings lesson.

OOH WAIT! unexpected mid-day lesson; the unpredictable sometimes-at-10:00, sometimes-at-noon, sometimes-at-2:00 mailman happened to drive by as we were outside so I let Max have at it. He ran up on the porch, gave a low bark and PHHSSST! Then he ran up to the front gate, gave another low bark and SSHPPPRITZ! So far so good, he never does more than one bark with this collar. Normally he'd go into a bit of a barking frenzy. The true test will still be later on when people start pulling in the driveway for pick up time. So far I'm liking this collar. Very effective. I better refill the citronella to be ready for later.

Oh such disappointment at pick up time! I had such high hopes but Max couldn't contain his excitement when all his doggie friends' parents pulled in the driveway. He barked so much he emptied the citronella reserve at pick up time. I tried again 2 days later when he returned for daycare that week only to repeat the emptying of the citronella reserve at a.m. drop off time. Alas, the citronella bark collar will be hung up on a shelf right there with the pet rock and the dog snuggie.