We are having some issues with our little Rocci...he is sweet as pie when he is home alone with the family, but the minute we have guests or he sees another dog walk by our front windows, then he starts BARKING like crazy. Then he gets our Reeses all wound up and then it takes a few minutes to calm him down...it is sort of unsettling for our guests, but the fact he is so small probably keeps them from becoming truly nervous. We have heard about squirting water or shaking pennies in a metal can...personally not a big fan of having water sprayed around, nor am I a fan of adding more noise to our house with banging coins...plus I'm sure guests don't want to get wet nor be startled by clanging metal.
In any event I was sharing my woes with a friend of mine at work, who is a fellow dog lover and has 3 Siberian Huskies, he told me about a product called PetZoom Sonic Pet Trainer. He told me that his dogs didn't have a barking problem, but instead they would greet guests by jumping up on them or they would chew on shoes and other items lying around. Last Christmas his sister, who was a constant recipient of being bowled over by his 3 huskies, jokingly bought his family one of these AS SEEN ON TV products. For kicks they put batteries in to see if it worked, and to their amazement the dogs immediately responded by stopping whatever it was they were doing. Now a year later he says this product actually works as advertised and guests are no longer jumped on...the dogs do get rowdy and shoes do get chewed on, but now he says all he has to do is act like he is going to press the button. It has even gone so far as him not even having to have the actual unit in his hand, he can have TV remote in his hand and act like he is going to press it and they stop in their tracks.
I told my DW about this PetZoom Sonic Pet Trainer and when she was at Petco she saw it for sale and purchased it. You can also buy it on Amazon, there appears to be mixed reviews:
Amazon.com: PetZoom Sonic Pet Trainer: Kitchen &...
We tried it on our dogs and they also responded immediately, and appears to be working. So here are my concerns:
1. Will this cause any sort of hearing damage to my dogs? I imagine this is like one of those dog whistles, where it is silent to us but the dogs can hear it.
2. Will this cause any ill psychological effects to them? Sort of like some sort of slow torture, where it would be like hearing nails on a chalkboard.
We try to limit the times we use it, because we don't want to risk damage to their hearing in any way...also we don't want to make the dogs desensitized to the sound so that it becomes background noise for them and they no longer respond.
I am always weary about these AS SEEN ON TV type products, but this one appears to work...just not sure of the long term effects, or if these type products need to be approved by the FDA or some other regulatory agency, which I'm sure it's not.
Anyone else have any comments or experience with this or similiar type products?