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| Brand: Premier
Category: Pet Products
List Price: $99.99
Buy New: $29.93
You Save: $70.06 (70%)
New (23) from $27.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  299 reviews
Sales Rank: 91
Media: Misc.
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 2 x 7 x 2
MPN: 729849100473
Model: SNSBKC
UPC: 759023035154
EAN: 0364180000435
Release Date: July 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Worked Perfect! May 30, 2006
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
Well here's the story of two occasional barkers and one terribly nasty neighbor.
About my dogs:
Ginger: Jack Russel/ Beagle mix, 30lbs, 3 years old, short hair, spayed, female.
Guppy: Sheltie/ Beagle mix, 28lbs, apox 6 years old, med-long hair, spayed, female.
Both are crate trained, however they are not generally crated on a regular basis and never more than 6-8 hours. They have never barked while crated. In fact the only time they do bark is at the rabbits in my yard, or when the doorbell rings, or maybe once when they need to be let outside. I am currently unemployed so my dogs have been able to play out in the yard since the spring. They have had more than adequate attention, exercise, and walks as a good chunk of my day is spent playing with them, or working in the yard supervising them. We even have central air, when they are alone even in summer, they are always comfortable. They have kongs and other toys to keep them busy. They travel with us on family vacations and they participate in camping, hiking, etc. They're alone about 50% of the time. We do not spend so much time with them that it would seem abnormal to them to be alone. Generally speaking they are very well behaved, well socialized, healthy, and well taken care of dogs. Previous to our townhouse, we lived in an apartment complex and received no barking complaints what so ever.
About my Housing:
I have lived in my townhouse for over three years, and got along with the neighbors just fine. Then one day our one neighbor started complaining about dog poop. Our yards are fenced off, so I have my own yard. I pick up poop twice a week, and none really gets near the fence. No one, including my landlord, understood the sudden BS from that neighbor. There wasn't much poop to speak of, and my yard is my yard. Period. And so, I suppose, the feud began.
About the Barking:
After the feud started, and in three years, we got two complaints about barking: One was when our beagle/jack russel mix was just adopted, and the other was a year and a half later when the neighbor called the police. The first time ~I~ was actually barking and making a racket while teaching my dog the "Speak" command. If you can teach them to speak, you can tell them not to speak. The other involved a police officer standing in my front bushes shinning a flashlight into my window. The first time was a human making noise, the second...well if someone shines a light into my house, while climbing in my landscaping....at night....it's my dogs JOB to bark. As far as I am concerned: Case Dismissed. No other complaints were ever made by any neighbor. So on a whim we decided to video tape our dogs and take a 15-20 minute walk. They howled. They howled non-stop. We were pretty surprised because we can't imagine any behavior this bad, since the feud started, and ~not~ having been cited by the police or evicted in three years. So it must be fairly new. The video tape also revealed my neighbor pounding on the wall and yelling non-stop. It's not clear if the wall pounding or the barking started first...but it was clear my neighbor had successfully reinforced my dogs barking behavior. Surprisingly both dogs howled, and one has a history of abuse prior to her adoption, and hardly makes noise of any kind, let alone howl. So this was a problem. A big problem. As they did not bark when we were home, and how could I control or punish this behavior if I was not home? That night the police showed up right after we made our video. They said if we actually got caught, we would have been fined. My neighbor has a long history of harassment, and even if my dogs were tempted to bark by my neighbor, I knew it wouldn't be good for my lease if I actually got cited. Although two complaints in three years seemed really minor. So if they barked this much on a regular basis I would have expected more than two complaints and I did not.
The Solution:
I am vehemently against electric shock collars and de-barking surgery, and consider them to be ~~exceptionally~~ cruel. (Electric shock collars are even illegal in some countries for this reason.) So those were not options for me. I would move first. After a long night on the internet I decided to try the citronella collar. Independent studies have shown they are much more effective than shock collars for barious reasons, and many many reviews here at Amazon and pet supply websites were positive. So we gave it a try.
You can not put the collar on the dog and have a quick fix! As with anything concerning dogs, you have to be there to further the training. If you want a quick fix...this is not necessarily it. It takes several days to work. Although....as far as barking goes......that is pretty quick. We decided to use it on Ginger, as Guppy seemed to howl with her but only after she started. Ginger is also the most persistent barker, while Guppy gives an occasional warning low bark at the doorbell etc. The manual states that you should be there to supervise the dog in the beginning. This is important because the collar holds about 25 barks/sprays. If your dog was persistent enough, and smart enough, they will quickly learn that after barking for 5 minutes, they are now scott free to bark all they want. I think if you reach this point, the collar no longer has any meaning and you can forget about it working if they learn to out smart it. So if you're going to spend the $100.....make sure you have a weekend to put into the training.
Also it is crucial that you adjust the collar so that it has just the right amount of space between the dogs throat and the spay-box. Too much space and the collar will go off at random noises, too tight and it might not go off at all. The manual suggest that gravity keeps the box at the dogs throat, so if they scratch and it gets kicked to the back of their neck, it should gently fall back to place at their neck when they sit up. That's been the best rule of thumb for me. It is not supposed to pick up the barking at the mouth, it is supposed to pick up the vocal cords at the throat.
Also it should be noted that this is not intended to control whimpering or crying. This is to control the full blown bark. Living in an apt attached to another apt all I really needed to do was to control full blown barking. They will learn quickly that they can fly under the radar with a whimper. I don't' particularly care about that myself. Dogs bark. You wouldn't want to spend the whole day totally silent, and neither do they.
I only use this collar about 20 hours a week. It should NEVER be used 24/7. In fact once it is used properly for a few weeks, you should not need it at all. The key to this collar is that it disrupts barking consistently. It does not necessarily punish the barking. The spray is fast, slightly loud, and lemony fresh. So they feel it, hear it, and smell it. It is designed to take away attention from what makes them bark. They even sell non-scented spray for anyone who finds the odor offensive. I hardly smell it at all myself, and it isn't sticky.
Personally I still felt bad in using it. My dogs did not understand where the spray was coming from, and they will run from it at the beginning. They don't run from the collar, but they do know now what it does. And they will not bark when it's on.
Actually Ginger does not have to wear it anymore at all. We got a new neighbor whose dog barks NON STOP. And Ginger would bark right back at her nonstop. We tried for days to socialize the dogs so they could be outside at the same time. Guppy would give up after a few minutes, but Ginger and the neighbors dogs would bark at one another until hey were raw. After we used the citronella collar, and Ginger learned barking was unacceptable, she didn't bark under most circumstances. The neighbors dog still barks non stop at her but she just stares or whimpers. We had 5 baby bunnies the in the backyard, and she did not bark. We visit a friends farm occasionally where Ginger's run into turkeys, cows, goats, and cats....things she generally only sees once a year or so. So she has been exposed to a number of things which would make her bark, and a few new things since. There has been very very little or no barking since the collar and without her having to wear it.
We've videotaped the dogs at home about 10-12 times now with FANTASTIC results while no one was home, and as I mentioned before she's been taken to a few get togethers at farms and places she's never been, with people she's never met, and there was no barking with or with out the collar.
In fact today Guppy cornered a rabbit just out of her reach, and she barked at it nonstop. I went out and put the collar on her, thought I thought her hair might be a little too long for it, and it worked great. After 3 sprays you could tell she wanted to bark very badly, but she did not.
A Few Tips:
* You really have to start out using it in a situation you know your dog will bark. Especially with occasional barkers. For me I got my other neighbor to bring out her dog. This gave me a chance for my dog to try to bark quite a few times under my supervision with out letting the spray running out and reassuring her she was a good dog. You should do this for a few days to make sure they don't outsmart it. It took me about 2 days with a fair amount of want-to-bark situations to make sure Ginger was properly trained.
* The battery is very odd, but you can find it at photo depts. in Target or Wal-Mart rather than paying the obscene prices at pet stores.
* Once your dog learns what the collar does and the barking is under control, I use it switched off a good part of the time. Maybe every other time I use it I turn it on. This way you don't run down the batteries, but the dogs get pretty consistent feedback. Other people have even bought one collar, trained a number of dogs, then made "Dummy" collars with fake boxes on them that don' spray. Hopefully you will not need the collar after you train, but if you do there are a number of cost effective ways to use it.
*If you must buy the collar in store....bargain with a manager about the price. They normally run $20-30 more expensive in store, and are almost ALWAYS on sale online. Petsmart will honor their own web prices. PetCo only seemed to honor Petsmarts prices, but not the web prices. So find out when they are on sale, or buy them online. Usually they come with free shipping.
* I'm told you can rent them in some states from vets and kennels. Call around. On the off chance it won't work for you, you won't have dropped the $90-100 on the collar. Or check eBay for a cheap one.
*Because they are about $100 I find pet stores don't move them in and out of stock very much. For this reason you may find you bought one that DOES NOT come with an on/off switch. It is an older model...and it is not worth $100. This model runs down the battery significantly. You will not be happy with this model. Return it.
So.....that's the story. I'm sure everyone's situation and dog is different. The collar worked WONDERS for me, and I recommend it to anyone with a barking problem. Most of the negative reviews I've read on Amazon, sorry to say, showed a lot of human error. Really if you follow the manual, and put the time in to train your dog, it works just like it says it does. I haven't had any clogging or operational problems what so ever.
EDIT: It is now November 20th....the dogs are not barking (even when the neighbor ponds on the wall when we're gone hoping to get them to bark). We have not had to buy any batteries or citronella. 7 months and it still works like a dream.
Wow - this product is fantastic! August 31, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I thought I'd give this a try for my yappy chihuahua mix. I did not want to try a shock collar, but I was concerned that this collar would be too large for her (she's only 8 lbs). Although it looks a little large, she doesn't appear uncomfortable at all. And WOW did this work! The spray stopped each barking episode on the first bark - immediately. After the first 2-3 days, she is barking less in general and doesn't have to wear the collar all that often. It's been 5 days, and I don't think she will need to wear it forever. This product has been a total lifesaver, and my dog is happy too.
Works best for large dogs - Call Premier for a small dog version March 23, 2007
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
The standard collar does not work well for small dogs with high pitched barks. I called Premier and spoke to them about my problem. (Their customer service is EXCELLENT) They exchanged the collar for a 'French' collar which is slightly different. It works very good and discourages our dog from barking.
happy ending September 1, 2007
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
If it doesn't work for you, this review may help.
well, first, wow did i ever get ripped off, i needed one in a hurry right before the 4th of July because i noticed my dog barked at fireworks. I live in an apartment with a no pets clause, where i lay low with the dog, so i went and got one of these at the local pet store, Centinela Fed and Pet Supply. It was $109!!!!! but if it worked.... They even allowed me to rent it, i forget how much per day, so that i could make sure it worked before paying the whole price because unlike most things in their store, there was a no return policy on that item. They usually will take anything back, with a friendly smile, so they told me upfront they don't take these things back so i should make sure it works before buying it. I was very excited because it worked right away, my cavalier king charles spaniel got sprayed right in the chin and it totally got his mind off whatever he was barking at. But then i found that sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, i tried a new battery and many refills but couldn't get it to work consistently, which made it not effective for training. I did pay for it in full because in the first week, i thought i could get it to work by getting more pointers from Premier over the phone (they were not available over the 4th of July holiday) and by getting my dog a haircut. With time, the thing worked less and less, very disapppointing. I thought it was defective and took it back to the store, but for them it worked. :-(
Finally i talked to Premier on the phone and they told me that sometimes this model i got doesn't work if the dog has a higher pitched bark, and they have ANOTHER MODEL which is no longer on the market, why i don't know, which they call "the French model," which does work better for dogs with higher pitched barks. It's all black unlike the one i got which has black and silver on it, they said. They said they would send me one and i could try it and if it worked, i could sent my other one to them and it would be an even trade. They took a credit card number but they never charged it.
I got the French model and right out of the box, it worked great, it sprays every time, and i have nicely quiet dog now. This breed is not known for being extremely trainable, and he does seem to forget sometimes, but it's been a couple of weeks, and there is a big difference, he is a quiet dog now. I have squirrels and things in the backyard which he previously barked his head off at while chasing them. now, he may or may not chase them but does not bark. It seems to get more and more solid with time. I have left it on him a lot after i found that when i took it off, he returned to his old ways, but now, it seems he doesn't bark when it's off either.
I'm very pleased with the Gentle Spray FRENCH model all black. It works just the way it's supposed to, consistently and effectively. I'm sorry that i paid $108 when i could've gotten it on Amazon for $40. If i remember right, the Premier company would've sold me one of these directly for $75. I did have to pay to ship the one that didn't work back to them, they sent me a UPS envelope and i had to pay like $5 or less, so my total was about $115, which i regret, but it totally works.
I didn't know whether my dog has a high pitched bark or not. I don't think of it has very high pitched. But he is a small dog, about 20 pounds, so i guess his bark could be considered high pitched.
Premier had good customer service, very friendly and oriented toward problem solving, i felt my happiness and the reputation of their product mattered to them. I also use a Premier gentle leader harness which cured my dog of pulling hard on the leash so i have a good impression of that company.
effective, reliable and humane June 26, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
update July 2008: Very unfortunate, this product is experiencing serious quality control issue. Individuals who have taken our recommendations report the units failing to discharge with-in days of receipt ... Very, very disappointing as our four year old unit still works just fine...
This collar is amazing. We occasionally foster/rehab dogs who have behavior "issues". The Premier version of this product is one of our "secrete weapons". It's truly a god send and Veeeerrry durable. In the past 18 months we have used one collar to extinguish unwanted behaviors in two 70+ lb rough and tumble out of control adult dogs, a yappy collie-? mix puppy, my home schooled standard poodle service dog (76 lb) and the neighbor's terrier. It has been chewed, stepped and drooled on, caked in mud, butted by a goat, kicked about and forgotten on the floor of the car in both scorching heat and freezing cold. With a little maintenance... fresh batteries... clearing the mud from the nozzles and microphone... It still works fine.
Unlike electric collars, willful and mellow dogs alike just get distracted and shut up instead of getting ticked and barking more. We showed it to the local animal control police (they dropped by to scan a stray for an id chip). They are delighted with its performance and are telling folks they serve barking dog complaint situations about it. I strongly encourage you to buy this effective, reliable and humane product if you need your dog to be quite or to redirect other unwanted behavior.
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