So she is outside alone, mostly, when the barking is happening?

Yes, she is never outside when I am not at home.

Sorry if the above wasn't clear, she is outside alone, but I am always inside the house if she is in the backyard, I rarely leave her out there when I am away from home.

 Quote: Jeffrey Hill

She squeals even on the vibrate mode of the collar, and then will bark straight through it, I haven't raised the level past 5 and haven't considered it unless you all think it is worth a try.

My dogtra no-bark collar does not have a vibrate???? Just stim levels 1-7. 3 is what my crazy DS needs. (and occ will yelp at that level!) To me, it sounds like she's setting it off again. I'd try going back to '1'. She needs to understand the stim is a correction, and she's not supposed to bark. IMO, of course.

If she's outside alone, and barking.... why don't you bring her in? Maybe I misunderstood, and she really is just barking in a crate, but from your last post I got the idea she's barking while outside. Most dogs would bark in that scenario.

Yes she barks outside, her outside/exploration time is literally more fun to her than steak.

She does not bark in her crate, like I said if say quiet she is quiet. The problem is that when she is outside that is when I am usually running around the house taking care of things and she will bark at the slightest noise, and while I am proud of her incredibly large bark, my neighbors are less than enthusiastic. I have lowered the collar back down to 1, 1-2 are supposed to be the vibrate levels, 3 and up are the stim I thought.

I've never heard that, and I've done some pretty extensive research. I think it's just a lower stim level. If you test the collar on 1-2, it does not make a diff vibration then 3+.

If she's barking outside, through a bark collar I think you need to go a diff route. Sounds like she may need to be desensitized to these stimuli that she's reacting to. Or, maybe you need to sit outside with her, or watch her through a door (out of her site?) and verbally correct her, or leave her on a long line and give her a leash correction. Either way, somehow you've got to get to to associate barking at the wind with a correction.

As I'm thinking about this- you may eventually have a dog that won't bark outside, at all. I don't know if thats what you want, or not? I like my dogs to alert bark, personally. (I know it can be overdone though!)

How old is your dog again? How much training have you put into teaching her what is barkable and what is not? Jethro is over a year now, he has been living with us for almost a year. He is a guardian and is just now starting to figure out that not everything single thing outside needs an alert bark or an all out frontal attack. It has been a long hard slog helping him through this, because we just want him to not bark unless there is a good reason (which there very rarely is) but how can he know that?

Also, he has been learning to hang out on the front porch, with the door open and we are inside, and not make a fuss at every passerby. Whenever he makes a noise we go and check it out with him and let him know that we thank him for his attention to this matter but it is Okay and then he relaxes and goes back to watching life on the corner.

Are you sure you are setting up a reasonable situation for your dog? I wonder how many young dogs would have the ability to discern what is worthy of attention and what is not? You say she is barking at everything (wind, shadows, etc.) I would question whether she has become superstitious of things moving, she barks and then she gets shocked. She barks again at being shocked and gets shocked again. She might be associating things moving with getting shocked and trying to prevent things from moving by barking.

If I had Jethro outside and was shocking him for barking he would be a complete basket-case and probably fearful aggressive to boot.

Forgive me, I might be misunderstanding the situation and I am not highly experienced in these matters. I do have a sharp dog and for him distractions and interaction work waaaaay better than punishment.

She barks if she hears and can't see something, or at the birds, I'm pretty sure of this.

This is getting off topic though, the question was is it normal for a dog to be able to bark through these things, or to never really associate not to bark after wearing one. Should I try the longer contact points? Do the the longer points for the basic remote collars work on the bark collar.

If I am outside she hardly barks.

 Quote: Jeffrey Hill

Is it normal for a dog to be able to bark through these things, or to never really associate not to bark after wearing one. Should I try the longer contact points? Do the the longer points for the basic remote collars work on the bark collar.

No, IMO, and experience it's not normal at all for a dog to bark through the highest stim level of a bark collar, wether dogtra or tritonics. My dog associated a bark with a stim within 5 minutes, and has never needed his collar turned above 3. (and he is tough SOB!)

Yes, the longer contact points sold for a remote collar will fit the bark collar.





Is it possible the collar is not making contact with her neck correctly, and she's getting intermittent stims? You're sure it's tight/high enough?

No, it is not normal in my experience for a dog to blow it off unless:
a. too loose
b. points not making contact
c. unit is faulty, batteries going, etc
I personally like the tritronics better, but the dogtra should also work just fine as well.
THe longer contacts are probably needed if it's for the dog in your sig pic. I'd suggest making sure its tight as well - same rules as the prong more or less, not wearing it like "jewelery"
I'd also try turning it down since the dog may not be ready for an actual correction if it's not made consistent contact yet.