Chatty Cathy on your hands? Relentless Roscoe? Some dog breeds are more vocal than others, and maybe you know this firsthand. While you encourage your dog to express himself freely, constant barking can be a nuisance to owners and neighbors alike. So, how do you train your dog to stop nuisance barking without being harsh or inhumane?
How do I get my dog to stop barking without a shock collar?
One thing’s for sure—this is not your granddad’s dog. Gone are the rolled up newspapers and spankings, but you may have encountered shock collars as a more “evolved” replacement. Studies have shown, however, that training using negative feedback methods can damage the trust between you and your dog. The use of shock collars can cause dogs physical pain, injury such as burns or cardiac arrest, and emotional distress like anxiety. Rather than shocking your pet, you’ll find that humane corrections—as they are for any kind of training—are the most mutually rewarding way to redirect your dog and keep barking to a minimum.
Dogs aim to please, so when they see you happy, they’ll continue doing whatever is garnering them praise. But it’s hard to praise your pup for not barking, because he may think that you’re praising him for, well, just being him. Any behavior that you want to deter needs corrections. But the type of corrections you provide your dog is up to you.
Using a 100% humane, no-shock training collar like the Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar will teach your pup how to comply in safe and mutually beneficial ways. Because sound and vibration training have proven to be extremely effective ways to communicate with and train dogs, the Wagz Freedom Collar uses shock-free corrections in the form of sounds and vibrations to get your dog’s attention and distract him from any negative behaviors he might be engaging in.
How does a no-shock training collar work?
Bark training is just like any other type of dog training. Verbal commands (wait, come, heal, sit, stay) are associated with positive feedback cues, like dog treats, to show your dog that a behavior is “good.” But to deter undesirable behaviors, you must associate commands (leave it, stop, etc.) with feedback cues that dogs will understand.
The Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar uses no-shock, 100% humane corrections to train your dog. Its ultrasonic correction emits sound waves with a frequency above the upper limit of human hearing, similar to a dog whistle. While it won’t force a dog to inhibit a specific behavior, it will capture the dog's attention long enough to allow you to use verbal cues to shape the behavior and possibly eliminate it altogether. The audible tone, a brief ringing sound heard by both you and the dog, provides a similar result, as does the vibration correction option.
To correct nuisance barking, for example, you can use a button in the Wagz App to easily issue a manual correction to your dog’s Freedom Collar to associate with a verbal cue that your dog already may know (leave it, stop, hush). With enough training, your dog will associate the verbal cue with the collar feedback and will eventually get the same “message” from the collar cues alone and may not require the verbal feedback at all to exhibit optimal behavior.
Timing is important, meaning you’ll want to reward behavior right after it occurs, and keeping your verbiage concise will also serve to get the message across a lot better than a long speech might. Consistency is also key, and you’ll want to make sure—especially at first—that every household member uses the same kind of encouragement (treats and upbeat tones) to let her know she’s done well. Using the Wagz Freedom Collar and continuous reinforcement work in partnership to serve as your humane training plan.
Though training is required to teach your dog how to react when he receives physical or audible corrections, the use of a shock-free collar will ensure that he understands how to contribute to household and neighborhood harmony. Individual animals vary, especially when it comes to temperament and pain threshold, and a mild shock for one dog could feel severe to another. Teaching and training your dog to respond to the corrections issued by the Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar is the caring alternative to inflicting pain. Wagz is proud to be the sole containment and training collar that offers only humane corrections. As you begin to witness Roscoe changing his approach, you will be too.
Additional positive reinforcement and geofence training tips can be found on the support section of the Wagz site.
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