I have a 5 yr. old male Lab whose barking while outside has gotten to be a problem. He lives indoors and while has has barked while out in the yard, it is becoming more and more frequent. He does not have a mean or dominant bone in his body. We live on a corner, kind of out in the country, and it is a real popular area for folks walking by. Our yard is fenced with welded wire fencing so he can see everything. There are even some in our regrettably growing Yuppie community that are egging him on, and I assume will report his barking at some point. When out in the yard I am not able to get to him to employ the standard hands-on training to prevent his barking.

It's at the point I think I had best get him a bark collar, but I have no experience with them. If anyone has any experience they can share, including brands, models, etc. I would appreciate hearing about them.

Thanks!

Moosetrot

I put one on our yellow lab. It was the saddest most pathetic thing. I felt like a complete a-------. It was on for about 15min., took it off and never put it back on. My son said it best, "you can't take away a dog's bark, it's what they do." He was right. Tell them yuppies to pound sand!

Dogtra makes a good variable intensity collar. start on a low setting and work up.

How about a training collar that you can use the the correction or tone button to teach him not to bark. Eric

Was thinking about that but when he is out toward the back half of our acre it is tough to hear him when we are in the house with windows closed. I have been thinking that a more consistent application of the bark collar would be better.

Thanks!

Moosetrot

I would go with the training collar myself. Two reasons.

First I have used the bark collars on larger dogs, mostly hounds. They get used to it I guess because they never worked to well. And sometimes a dog should be barking, if they are getting shocked then they may not let ya know something is up.

With the training collar you can stop the barking when it needs to be stopped. Not being able to hear the dog at times won't really matter once he gets the idea to shut up from the times you can hear him.

Over all the training collar is just a far better choice. IMHO

x2 from a yellow lab owner

I have two Sport Dog bark collars. One has a remote I use to let them know when I say be quiet I mean it. The other is battery operated and stimulates the dog when it barks. I have hounds and only use them in the yard. Still rig bear for me all day long. They know when they are allowed to bark and when they are not.

I've used a squeeze lemon bulb on every dog I've had.
You have to doo it every time they bark.
They learn quick!!

I got a garmin collar for my chocolate lab and it has a few different settings. You can set it to bark or remote control mode, and you can change it between tone, vibrate, or shock if you press the button. I normally leave it on vibrate and it works without shocking the dog. Ive had it a few years, and I honestly havent really used it for atleast 2 years. I still put it on him when we go out looking for antlers or hunting, but I havent had to correct him. I think the garmin delta is the one I have

I knew a guy that had both of his dogs barking apparatus surgically removed.It was really comical to see the dog trying to bark and no sound.

I run one on my Chessie, have to put it on her 1-2 times a year to remind her of the rules. I don’t care if she barks when strangers are around but don’t want her barking at every kid or dog that goes by. Used in conjunction with verbal warnings she understands when and what she’s allowed to bark at, just after a little time passes she forgets.
I struggled using one on my lab, she was older when I introduced the collar to her and she never could figure it out, was painful to watch so I had to quit.

If your looking for a bark collar. I've had many. Spend the money on a good one right away. The cheaper ones don't last long. The best I used was Tri Tronics. They were bought out by Garmin I'm sure. So I'd look at them.

Actually I probably have a few collars around. Could most likely help you out with one. I don't use them anymore.

Bark back at them. Confuses the crap out of them. Works on my Lab and Heeler. Also, makes the neighbors think you have lost your mind and they stay away as well. Sarge

PM sent.

Moosetrot

Bark collar didn't work for me, I hear a shock collar works better, you hear dog bark, then let it know, bark collar would go off when my dog wasn't barking

STG.C WOW

I also use a Garmin for training my labs (some of them, most of them never need it). I use the Garmin Sport Pro series. As possumcatcher said, they have a bark limiter mode and can be set to vibration instead of stimulation, fixed stimulation level or an automatic gradual increase in stimulation level.

I've only used that feature on one of my labs. He's a real hard head but my best hunter. He is one of the few that even needed the collar for training, mostly to keep him in range when he gets a noseful of bird scent and his crazy high prey drive kicks in.