[maddiesdad]

Maddie is a barker. A bad one.

She will bark when there is a real issue. For example, there was a bird in our chimney last week and she bark relentlessly at the fireplace. I'm okay with that because its normal for a dog to bark at a situation like that.

She will also bark at windows, lamps, dust particles, and any other non threatening, innanimate object that she sees. The barking is loud, shrill, and incessant. It has become a serious problem because my wife, who is pregnant, sleeps during the day to work at night. Maddie will bark through the day keeping her awake. Her bark is loud and shrill enough to actually hurt our ears.

We have tried ignoring her barking, rewarding her silence, distracting her when she's barking, loud noises, cans of pennies, spray bottles of water, spray bottles with vinegar and water, and the last resort was an ultrasonic collar.

The collar worked for about 15 minutes. She has gotten used to the sound however and could care less about it. our problem with it was two fold. First, it was horribly inconsistent. It would sometimes not go off when she was barking and other times go off when she was just playing. Second, Julie our pug is not a barker so we do not want to punish her with the noise of the collar.

I am now faced with getting a static collar. It was not where I wanted to go but we have exhausted all options. I have not consisdered the citronella collar because of the lack of reaction on Maddies part to being sprayed with water and vinegar. I want a collar that will be sensitive enough to go off with her barks but smart enough to know its her bark and not just a loud noise.

I realize that many of you dislike these collars and they are not my favorites either but we have exhausted the avenues available to us and need to solve this problem. Maddie is nearly 10 pounds and should be able to wear a collar made for a smaller dog. The collar will be used in supervised settings for training only. If anyone has any recommendations I would appreciate it.