ultra sonic tool for stopping barking

[josie1918]

Does anyone have any information or experience with a product allegedly not a punishment device, that uses ultra sonic sound waves to stop barking in a dog? I am not familiar with these devices. Thanks
Josie

[emmabeth]

Dogs hear things at a much higher frequency than us... so I would think this IS an aversive based method to stop dogs barking - if a painful sound is heard each time they bark....

How do the makers claim it works?

[Mattie]

I have seen them but if we can't hear them we don't know what the sound is like so wouldn't put it on my dogs. Very high pitched noises do hurt hearing, so I suspect this will hurt a dog as well. To say that it doesn't hurt is very misleading because we can't know if it hurts or not if we can't hear it.

[josie1918]

Ok, based on what I was told, There is a small reciever type device that you can take with you or set on your furniture that releases the ultra sonic noise when your dog barks. I cannot for the life of me figure out if this is a line of bovine waste, or if is just more punishment dressed up as non pain causing or if the flippin thing works. I can't seem to find any studies done on these things, so I am VERY reluctant to tell anyone that it might be worth a try.

[emmabeth]

We know it is uncomfortable and unpleasant for teenagers to listen to similar sorts of sounds..

Can you hear this http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/audio/mosquito_sound.mp3 I can (ha, despite not being a teenager!). It is quite unpleasant and would trigger a headache for me if i listened to that for more than a few minutes and teenagers are supposedly able to hear it far more clearly than I (under 25s can hear it better apparently... im over that!).

Playing that woke my dog up... hes gone upstairs to bed!

If it stops the behaviour, then it is punishment as per the definition of positive punishment... if dogs didnt find it unpleasant and link it to their own behaviour.. why would they stop?

[josie1918]

Emmabeth and Mattie, the more I ponder this the more I am thinking both of you are right. Despite what the manufacturer says..........We cannot hear what a dog hears and therefore how do they know it is NOT unpleasent. Thanks for your input!!!!

[emmabeth]

Ive just read some reviews of a product designed to be stuck on a fence post or tree in the garden that emits an ultrasonic noise when dogs bark. scarily many people are buying this to inflict not on their own dogs but their NEIGHBOURS dogs...

If ever there was a good reason to not let your dogs outside un-attended, this kind of thing is it!

People report a variety of reactions where it is used on other peoples dogs or their own - from totally ignoring it, cocking an ear at it and carrying on, ceasing to bark so frequently... getting used to it and carrying on barking, and... acting terrified and not wanting to go out in the yard at all!

Not effective... not kind... Most of the reviews in support of it were made by people who had used the unit for somewhere between an hour and a fortnight, suggesting that even where it does 'work'.. they havent really tested it fully. (Not that they should, jeez if i found a neighbour was using this rather than come speak to me I would stick the device somewhere extremely painful!).

[Sarah83]

jeez if i found a neighbour was using this rather than come speak to me I would stick the device somewhere extremely painful!

You're not the only one! Not only would it be punishing the dog that's nuisance barking but it would punish any dog in range!