I recently presided over a major clean-up effort here at my house. The end of the year seemed like a good time to get a fresh start by getting rid of all the useless junk that has been accumulating around here for the last few years. It would have been easier to believe “decades” if one were to make a judgement based on the amount of junk we disposed of.
During our clean-up efforts I ran across more than a few items that had been purchased for one purpose or another and ended up being useless. One of those items was a citronella bark control collar we purchased a few years back for our dog. As I was tossing it into the dumpster, it occurred to me that I should write up my experience with this useless device in my blog. Maybe it will save someone a few bucks.
It’s important to understand that our dog is a pretty serious contender when it comes to barking. As she advances into her “golden years,” she seems to be quieting down a bit, but a few years back when we decided to get the citronella collar, she occupied much of her time with barking, which, as you might imagine, drove me crazy.
You also need to understand that our dog is also a major league wimp. I don’t think I have ever seen a more cowardly dog. If the saying about a dog’s bark being worse than its bite had not already been thought of by someone, it surely would have been thought of when our dog was born.
To say that our dog is easily intimidated would be a major understatement. Instead of chasing squirrels like a normal dog would do, I would not be at all surprised to see our dog being chased by a squirrel some day!
You would think that a dog as wimpy as our dog would be a perfect candidate for a citronella bark control color. If you could expect any dog to be deterred by a device like this, our dog would surely be the one. Or so we imagined.
The collar seemed to function properly. When the dog barked a quick spray of citronella was released by the collar. While this seemed to distract and baffle our dog a bit at first, she adjusted to it in no time and happily continued her excessive barking and ignoring the refreshing spritz of citronella that would result.
It is hard to imagine this type of collar working on any of the world’s canines if it failed to intimidate what is surely one of the most easily intimidated dogs that ever walked the Earth.
If you have a dog that is giving you problems with excessive barking, my advice would be to avoid the citronella bark collar like the black plague. If our experience is any indication, they are pretty much completely useless.
These days our dog is pretty content to stay inside much of the time and that really cuts down on the barking, which helps me maintain what little bit of sanity I am still clinging to.
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