BarkingDogs.net

Remote, Sound-Emitting Anti-Barking Devices

Remote sound-emitting anti-barking devices are, essentially, noise-blasting gizmos, fueled either by batteries or by AC power. The devices contain built-in sensors that respond to a nearby barking dog by releasing a piercing, high-pitched sound that some canines find intolerable.

Of course, hitting a dog with noxious sound waves every time he vocalizes has the potential to reduce the animal's rate of barking precipitously. And if, instead of using the ultrasonic frequency, you blast out an overpowering, fully audible tone that penetrates his owner's home, that is more likely yet to have an effect.

Using a Remote, Free-Standing Sound-Emitter to Quiet Your Neighbor's Dog

The type of emitter used for quieting your neighbor's dog is called a "freestanding" sound-emitting device, although, why is not exactly clear, since they are not actually freestanding at all. Rather, you must attach the thing to a platform, in a position that creates an unobstructed line-of-sight running directly from the device to the ear of the dog.

Any buildings, foliage, fences or the like that come in between the device and the ear of the dog will make it less likely that the instrument will have the desired effect on the animal. For that reason you may need to mount the device up high, pointing down into your neighbor's yard. That way, the sound can be projected in a straight line over the top of any fences or other barriers that might otherwise block the sound waves from a direct line of travel.

Some freestanding S.E.D.s produce only a single tone, that is fully audible to both dogs and humans. There is a different type of free-standing, sound-emitting device that also contains a second setting, one that will cause the machine to emit a noxious, ultrasonic sound that can be detected only by dogs, and not by humans.

The Dog Owner's Reaction and the Police Response

You have to wonder how your neighbor is going to take it when you start blasting noxious sound waves over the fence at his dog. On the Barking Dogs Forum, you'll find a letter from a BD.N reader who was suffering at the hands of a heartless neighbor who was keeping several barking dogs in his backyard.

The neighbor denied that his dogs were barking. But the reader proved otherwise by mounting a sound-emitting device in his backyard that shot a burst of God-awful retaliatory noise into his neighbor's house and yard, using a tone that was audible to both man and beast. And with the device in place, it happened again every time the neighbor's dogs barked.

The dog owner called the police. I gather that he was of the opinion that noise - blasting into one's home from a neighboring yard - is an intolerable irritant.

The police officer who responded to the call, however, simply told the dog owner, "As long as your dogs are quiet, there won't be a problem." To the best of my knowledge, that was the end of both that particular barking ordeal and the end of the dog-owner's attempt to restore the previous paradigm of I'll- be-the-one-to-make-the-noise-while-you-suffer-in-silence.

Pretty much everywhere, when it comes to anything to do with barking dogs, it is the unofficial policy of the police to have minimal involvement and, therefore, to do as little as possible. As a result, there is an extremely strong tendency for law enforcement to accept the status quo, and simply drive away at the end of every barking dog-related call, leaving everything just exactly as they found it.

For that reason, if you handle it right, there is a good chance that the police will accept your decision to blast your neighbor and his barking dog with an audible tone. Although, undoubtedly, they would be more likely yet to accept your intervention if you were to activate the device using only the ultrasonic mode, which is inaudible to humans.

Nonetheless, you never know. If the cops fail to see your point of view, or they don't like your attitude and you refuse to take the thing down, they could probably find something to charge you with. So tread lightly.

You would do well, however, to remember that the police could prove to be the least of your worries. People who keep barking dogs tend to be belligerent, and the odds are very good that such a person will grow more truculent yet when you begin responding to his barking dog with a reciprocal blast of noise that agitates his family and/or distresses his dogs.

For that reason, among others, it is best to employ a sound-emitting device against your neighbor and his dog only after all your other options have run out, and all hope of resolving the problem through other means has been abandoned.

Do They Work?

You undoubtedly want to know if the sound-emitting devices linked to at the bottom of this page, will actually get the job done and stop your neighbor's dog from barking. Based on what I have read, as well as on feedback received from BD.N readers, the answer seems to be - maybe. That is to say that all indications are that the products do work with some dogs. However, they clearly do not work with a great many others. Therefore, we are extremely reluctant to recommend these products.

Some dogs are deaf, or close to it and, apparently, others are just not that sensitive to noise irritants, so I can offer you no blanket assurances. However, for some dogs, the tone does seem to be sufficiently aversive to cause them to quiet down. On the other hand, most readers who have tried remote sound emitters have reported back that the instruments actually seem to have a stronger effect on the dog owners than on the dogs themselves.

Also, remember that the conditions under which you use the device are an important variable in the degree of success that you achieve. As mentioned earlier, any bushes or other objects that prevent the sound from traveling in a straight line, from the mouth of the device to the ear of the dog, will reduce your chances for success.

In addition, you should keep in mind that no such device can be counted on to function at a distance of much over 50 feet (about 17 yards), and others will work at a range of only about half that distance. So before you spend the money, break out a tape measure, take a look at about how far that is, and then guesstimate whether your neighbor's dog is within the effective distance of the device you are considering.

If you look around long enough on the internet, you can probably find a company that will sell you a device with a money-back guarantee. So, while purchasing a sound-emitting device may well be a mistake, it need not be a costly one.

If your sound-emitting device is going to successfully reduce the rate of the neighbor dog's barking behavior, you should see clear results within two or three days. The dog may still be barking occasionally after that length of time, but if the thing is going to work, the rate should have been dramatically reduced by that point.

If the barking continues on undiminished, and remains at about the same rate at the end of the third day, it would be best to shut the device off. That is because other dogs in the area, as well as the neighborhood cats and who knows what other creatures, could be suffering from its effects. But if the targeted dog has not been effected after three days, there is little chance that he ever will be.

Barkingdogs.net has no affiliation with any of the companies mentioned on this site and is in no way compensated for providing information about their products.

The Bark Stop
The Bark Stop is made to be used with your neighbor's dog and is also intended for both indoor and outdoor use with your own dog. It is capable of emitting two very irritating sounds, one that is audible only to dogs and another that can be heard by both dogs and humans.

The Super Bark Stop
This device, which was designed for outdoor use only, can blast-out sound in ultrasonic mode, and also produces a tone that can be heard by both dogs and humans.

The Good Neighbor Barker Breaker
This device emits sound only in a single mode, one that is audible to both humans and dogs.

We would very much like to hear about your experiences with the devices listed above. Please email us at quiet@barkingdogs.net, and let us know how they did or did not work for you, so that we can pass that information along to our other readers.

This page is part of Section Two:
the Your Neighbor's Dog section of barkingdogs.net