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Jenny Coffey from Seaforth Veterinary Hospital tries anti-barking device on her dog Elle.

Local councils receive numerous complaints daily about barking dogs but up to now most had not been able to deal with the problem successfully. Councils Australia wide is trying out a new anti-barking collar which the Sydney RSPCA shelter has tested and found to be very effective. The collar deters a dog from barking by spraying citronella. The spray is triggered by a sensor on the inside of the collar which reacts to bark. The RSPCA's Deputy chief executive Raeleen Redford said that the collar worked best in controlling nuisance barking (where dogs barked because they were bored or excited.

At last a remedy for barking dogs by Matt Deighton in Progress press (Camberwell)

Sleepless nights spent buried under the pillow in a vain attempt to muffle the high pitched harks of next door's terrier may be a thing of the past. You now have the option to politely ask your neighbor to hire a barking collar for $30 a week, from Boroondara council. Boroondara ranger Jeff Besswick said the collars had been introduced to curb a flood of complaints of particularly vocal pooches.

The barking collar is battery operated and triggered by sound. When the dog harks, a small canister of citronella (a harmless substance) is sprayed in front of its nose. Boroondara has bought 18 of he collars. Mr. Beswick said while the collars were a strong solution. Dogs would often continue barking once they were removed. People have to persist with them. By hiring them out, we hope people will then go and boy their own, he said. Tools of the trade: Council ranger Jeff Beswick uses a range of contraptions to keep the city's animals in control.

Collar puts bite on barkers

Fitzroy Shire Mary Selerup, with Boofy, shows-off the shire's new anti-barking collar. The collar is designed to activate a spray of citronella whenever the dog barks. The barking is meant to stop because the dog establishes a connection between the scent and barking. The barking dog package was also launched yesterday. Community services director Warren Bolton said the kit included instructions for people to give to owners of barking dogs and directions for registering a complaint.

Business and engineering students tackle cases together by Tim Hornyak

Some engineering and business students have gone to the dogs to sniff out new products for a local per firm. In a joint course that is part mechanical engineering and part entrepreneurship, students are inventing new applications for a spray technology found in Aboistop, an anti-barking device for dogs sold internationally by Multivet of Saint-Hyacinthe. About 20 students in three groups are competing for a 500$ prize offered by the firm for the best new product design and marketing plan for the sprayer. The prize is to be awarded at the end of term.

"This is a completely different way of thinking for us,' said Pino Panzuto, a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student whose group is designing an automated, customized scent sprayer. "There's more of a creative side to the engineering process instead of just plugging in a formula."

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Putting the bite on barking canines by Whitehourse post

LYING awake in bed at night listening to a neighbour's dog bark could be a thing of the past thanks to a new initiative being promoted by whitehorse Council. Council's local laws department has produced an informative brochure titled 'When the bark is worse than the bite', offering advice and solutions to combat the problem of barking dogs. Currently owners of barking dogs can be issued with fines of up to $500 but council hopes that the brochure will offer insight into why the dog barks in the first place, and solve the problem before it reaches the stage of fines and court appearances. The brochure explains that dogs bark for a number of reasons and suggests that continual barking is usually associated with movement outside the dog's yard, suspicious of disturbing noises, illness, loneliness and boredom. Solutions offered to prevent incessant barking include giving the dog enough exercise, building a comfortable kennel and using the silencer collar. The collar, which council hires out for two weeks, is fitted with a sensor which releases a spray of citronella each time the dog barks, causing the dog to cough and sneeze. According to council ranger Geoff Kringle, the dog learns to associate the pungent smell of citronella with barking and begins to modify its behavior within the first week, and is usually cured in the second week.

Mr. Kringle points out that the citronella is not harmful to the dogs and is also recommended by the RSPCA. He said that the collar is successful in about 95 per cent of cases, but suggests owners may need to re-hire the collar within six months of the initial trial to reinforce the lesson.

It doesn't take a shock to shut the dogs up ABS Anti-Barking System Collar by Becki Reynolds

Since adopting Jaz, a two-year-old Miniature Schnauzer, I've come to realize that somewhere in the transitioñ from three dogs to four, your group of dogs turns into a pack. If the pack leader is a barker, all the others bark, too. For your sanity the lead barker must be stopped! Jaz was barking at anything that came near the front door of our urban house. I was stressed. What a perfect opportunity for testing the ABS' Anti-Barking System collar from Animal Behavior Systems. Inc I'm not real crazy about shock therapy for solving behavior problems. But the new ABS collar is different - it trains your dog without electric shocks. The concept is simple: When your dog barks, the vibrations cause the collar to release a spray of diluted, water-based citronella. The spray distracts your dog from barking by monopolizing four of the five senses. The dog hears the mist, feels it, smells it, sees it, and stops barking. I couldn't wait to try it

Once I saw the collar assembled, its bulkiness concerned me, as Jaz is just over 20 lbs. But it didn't bother her at all. And it wasn't long before we had our first test. The doorbell rang, Jaz barked, the collar sprayed its citronella, and Jaz immediately quieted and ran upstairs. It worked. In fact, it only took two of these episodes before Jaz made the connection and quit barking. But she quickly figured out that the spray only happens when she's wearing the collar.

The second test was with our dog Max. He may be a Mini-Schnauzer, but he tries to go after the big dogs. A neighbor's Boykin Spaniel always gets arise out of Max as we walk by. So that's where we headed for our test. One bark, one spray, and Max was startled. But he was much more determined than Jaz had been. Second bark, second spray, and Max was startled again. His third bark was more of a quiet "ruff" almost a test to see if what he thought had happened would really happen again. After the third spray from the collar Max was back in line and we finished our walk without another sound.

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