Barking dog deterrent

[jimandy]

In my new digs everything has been fine until a new neighbor moved in with a yappy dog. She leaves him in an enclosed area when she goes shopping or whatever, and the dog, being a dog, believes his continued barking will bring her back. Of course when she returns, his mindless theory is confirmed, he stops barking and she has no clue that he is driving us crazy.

I need a machine that I can set up a few yards away (on my property) that responds to his barks with an ear piercing ultrasonic noise that will drive him nuts. Needs to be battery powered and the sensor needs to be triggered only when he barks for maximum emotional effect. Anyone built or know of such a device?
BTW, I like dogs, I really do.

[Robert Reed]

Scratch - don't know whats going on here lately, as my replys are unkowingly being posted before I am thru typing them.

[Robert Reed]

These devices are available commercially exactly as you described. Google up 'pest control' or give me a couple of days and I will locate the site I saw it on.


PS
I am currently right in the middle of designing a circuit for that very same problem. Also - that nasty dog wouldn't happen to be a cocker would it?

[jimandy]

I'm not sure of the breed, looks sort of "poodleish", but in my lifetime I have found that cockers, small poodles, and especially shelties have the most ear piercing yap. However, it seems that only certain dogs are inflicted with paranoia when their master leaves the house, in this case the mutt stands at the gate and barks at the empty parking spot as if the owner will miraculously appear if he barks long enough, And of course the owner eventually does. And his little dog brain he thinks "this barking works every time".

[Bob Scott]

I had a neighbour whose son used to leave his big dog in his back yard when the whole family spent weekends away from home. The dog used to bark endlessly while they were away. I recorded the dog on cassette tape but it didn't phase my neighbour. Neither did requests to keep the dog quiet. Fines from the city bylaw enforcement didn't help.

It really was BAD. The barking would not stop at night. The neighbors were not home. My wife, who had to get up for work at 5AM couldn't sleep because the dog was still barking at 2AM.

I finally found a solution. It involved the use of some mild doses of human-grade Lorazepam (Ativan) all stuffed inside a leftover sausage. The dog was never again left to bark outside at night.

[jimandy]

In my past conflicts with neighbors who had barking dogs I thought of poison tipped arrows tethered with string to retract them after the kill, or, better yet, sausage patties laced with herbal laxatives tossed over the fence so the dog would defecate himself to death. Then I imagined the headlines if I was caught...

[CeaSaR]

1 link says it all: Amazing1.com.

CeaSaR

[Robert Reed]

Jimandy
Ceasars site is an excellent one. The site I was referring to is www.williamson-labs.com.
It has the bark detector trigger to activate. Scroll down on the left column to PROJECTS and the further down to "Hush Puppy". Both sites contain a wealth of information, and the items/kits are rather pricey. From my research thus far, I am a bit skeptical about their SPL ratings. I believe that most aren't conducted under the standard test distance of one meter and/or the duty cycle is very low to attain those whopping SPL ratings. I think that just as important as peak power is the constant power as far as deterrents go. The piezos speakers will fracture their Xtal element with too high a peak voltage across them and they will burn out with too much sustained voltage. One other thing I have found is that above a certain voltage applied to them , the acoustic output will actually halve at certain points across the spectrum. This is not detrimental to the intended operation, but those sub harmonics can be heard by the human ear, a property we want to avoid. I had a post on this several years which became quite lengthy. If you scroll down thru my postings you can probably get some info from it that may be helpful. After some experimentation ,I threw the towel in on the project considering that what I wanted was unattainable. Then about 6 mos ago, one of the forum members fired up my interest again and here I am right in the thick of things again. This time around the project is looking much more promising with renewed knowledge on the subject. One item of interest that I have learned from web searches - we barking dog 'haters' are not alone. Studies have shown that it is one of the worst sources of noise pollution and has the potential to mentally unbalance people. There are articles from every city and psychiatrists in the USA.

[CeaSaR]

The thing is that that dog needs to be trained. My latest canine had to go through training to learn how
to tame the Jack Russell in her mix. She isn't 100% calm, but the restraint is VERY evident in her modified
behavior. And training is not just for the dog, but also for the owner so that they will know how to recognize
and remedy unwanted behavior. It also teaches the owner about their own responsibilities toward the animal
so that they, themselves, become more considerate of the populace at large. My belief is that people should
not own pets if they do not want to be educated enough to be responsible in ALL respects for that pet.

Unfortunately, we, those who see the animals civil transgressions, really cannot do anything legally to them
without going through the proper channels. So if there is a barking law in your locale, that should be your
first course of action. Inform the owner that there is a fine associated with that annoyance, and that they
may rack up quite a bit if the dog is left to it's own devices. Eventually, that should get the message across.

CeaSaR

[haklesup]

In cases I have found that tossing a few dog treats over the fence and talking calmly to the dog will allow you to make friends with it. Later you can just go out and ask the dog to shut up (as if you were the invisible master behind the fence). It may take a few weeks of this kind of training to be successful. A well timed walk and chance meeting with the neighbor could also give you a chance to politely alert this person of the problem they may be unaware of.

Bottom line, that dog has a right to bark during daytime hours with some exceptions (like condo rules or neighborhood covanants or city ordenance).

Ultrasound is very easily blocked and generally directional, You would likely need a direct line of sight between the horn and dog. Its also very likely the dog will learn to ignore it or may even get more excited and agitated. Its my belief that such systems don't work without direct human reinforcement so the dog learns that the sound mean to shut up (STFU) and not a cue for more unruly behavior.

[CeaSaR]

Exactly Hacklesup, train the dog. Of course it would be prudent that the owner be the one to take the initiative
to discipline the pooch, but whatever gets the job done...

Dog treats... don't forget peanut butter. That keeps 'em quiet for a while.

CeaSaR

[haklesup]

Just be aware that some people might object to giving their dog treats. Stay away from sugary or non dog approved foods. That pooch might have diabeetes or some other illness you don't know about. Sure hope it aint alergic to peanuts. Best to politely confront the owner first.

At least it's not trying to tunnel into your yard. I had to bury broken concrete chunks along my fence line to keep the tunnels closed. I just filled the holes as they appeared until the whole line was reinforced. My rear neighbor has gone through several sets of dogs since I moved in. The worst was the pack of 3 pit bull mixes. Damn near attacked the fence every time I went into the yard until I befriended them with treats through the knotholes. Let them have a good sniff too. I heard one or two of them ultimately met an untimely end chasing cars. Now they have 3 miniature something or others but they bark only when they hear me or my dogs out back and not all that much, these dogs I don't mind. My dogs have a couple knotholes they can socialize through (peek and sniff but not touch).

Then I imagined the headlines if I was caught...

Like that cop who thought it was OK to euthanize his unwanted dogs at home in the cellar with his service revolver because he was moving to a place that didn't allow dogs. (can't find a link right now, too many cop kills dog hits)

[jimandy]

This is not a problem of training the dog. It is a problem of training the owner. Unfortunately, the owner is not around as, by definition, the dog only barks when the owner is away and not aware that the dog is barking. But if the owner comes home to find the dog cowering behind the fence, afraid to even whimper, let alone bark, maybe the owner will get the idea that the dog is better off *inside*, not outside when they are absent from the premises.

[Externet]

Hi.
I would make a high fidelity recording of the barking episode and play back endlessly and loudly very aimed to the neighbor when am not home and she is.
Miguel

[CeaSaR]

This is not a problem of training the dog. It is a problem of training the owner.

And training is not just for the dog, but also for the owner...

CeaSaR