Note: if you are firmly opposed to shock collars, please don't bother to answer this.
We have a newly adopted Great Pyr who won't stop barking. The neighbors are upset and have already called the police twice. She starts obedience training in two weeks but we need to try to address the problem sooner. A citronella collar failed miserably. We have other pets, so an ultrasonic collar is out of the question. That leaves a shock collar. My question is, she doesn't just bark... she whines incessantly. Will an anti-bark shock collar work for that as well? If not, is there a hybrid shock collar (for training AND anti-bark) than includes a remote that we can use when she whines too much?
2010-11-02T10:39:41Z
Thanks to everyone except Aduial for good advice!
She's just as likely to bark inside as outside, and mostly during the day. She gets plenty of exercise & stimulation. Two triggers seem to be 1) anytime my roomie and/or I leave, she freaks. And 2) she's only partly crate trained -- she barks and whines for a while when she's crated, then relaxes. (Note that she's rarely alone -- somebody is home with her app. 20 hours a day.)
Aduial2010-11-02T10:16:45Z
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I will answer it anyway. Shock collars are the lazy way out for clueless owners. If your dog is barking you need to up her exercise. Double it at least and make sure she has enough mental stimulation so she's not bored. Give her stuffed and frozen kongs. Also, training doesn't have to wait for your obedience class. It should start now. When she is not barking praise and reward. When she is barking, give her a no and leave the room.
She's a working breed and her job is to bark. She views it as her duty to her family. She is deterring a threat (as she sees it). It is your job to reward her for doing what you -do- want. I have a Great Pyrenees, and this is what worked for me. Work on her crate training. As someone else said, feed her in her crate. Have her sleep in her crate. When you take her out of her crate, praise, play and exercise. When she barks at something -- do not punish her! Tell her that you acknowledge the threat and distract her after about 10 seconds of barking. Her barking episodes will get shorter and shorter. Teach her the quiet command by saying quiet before doing this. Make sure the distraction is 10x the joy she gets from barking (a nice bone, a play/training session, etc) because remember she was BRED to bark. I would recommend AGAINST punishing a Pyr for barking (or ever using a shock collar on a Pyr for this reason), because then they are experiencing pain while they are barking at an "intruder" so that will increase the drive to remove the intruder from their property, and can EASILY tip into full on aggression. They don't understand that the shock is for barking. They just think that they should bark harder to make the threat go away since it has proven itself to be dangerous. If someone is home almost all the time, consistent training should minimize this problem in no time.
i agree that in order to save your dog from having to be returned to the shelter, you may have to resort to an electronic collar to stop her barking.
i have not personally seen a bark collar which is also a remote e-collar, but the whining may well subside with the barking as she settles in a bit more.
i agree that you should up the exercise, even if you exercise her a lot, make it more- so she's tired once you crate her, and always feed her in her crate so that she feels it is a good place to be. leave her with a large raw knuckle bone or flavored nylabones when you go away, so she'll have something interesting to do, instead of just waiting for you.
also, practice coming and going. pretend you are leaving. don't say bye. don't look at her. just put her in her crate with a cookie and walk out. as soon as she's quiet, come back in. ignore her for a few minutes. if she's still quiet, give her a cookie. ignore her some more. leave again. repeat, repeat, repeat!!
a VERY important thing with dogs that whine when you leave- when you leave and come home, never make a big deal of it. never greet her until you've been home for a few minutes and she's been quiet. she will learn that the quieter she is, the quicker you will take her out and play with her.
combining all these techniques with an electronic collar should help you out.
We have a Pyrenees as well and yes he does bark. They are notorious night barkers. Barking is unfortunately a breed characteristic as it's done in the field to keep predators away from the flock. Does she bark just at night?
Ours has problems with night barking. We keep him indoors at night which solves most of the problem. Occasionally he becomes hyper sensitive to the house creaking noises and will bark even indoors. We usually put a fan downstairs to cover the creaking noises.
The shock collars from what I've heard of other Pyr owners and breeders aren't effective. The excessive hair or "mane" on the Pyr's throat protects it from bear and wolf bites so it might not be as effective. Although I've never tried them myself. You could give it a shot if she doesn't have as much coat.
Ashley. Say NO to breeding mutts2010-11-02T10:28:20Z
Umm.. it's a Great Pyrenees, it's what they do. They are a guardian breed bred to protect livestock, they bark to keep predators away. If you live in town/city and the neighbours are that mad about the barking you should either keep her in the house or re-home her.
There are barking collars that work on sound and vibration together, the other kinds can get falsely set off.