For a bark collar to operate properly it must sit directly on the vocal cords. The dog in this incident had rub marks on the side of her neck. Once the collar worked its way to the side of the neck it was usless as the sensor would not pick up the vibrations of the vocal cords and would not have been activated.

In addition, bark collars do not burn the dogs, the “shock” is static electricity, it is meant to startle the dog and interrupt the barking, it does not cause pain anymore then you are caused pain when you walk across a carpted floor and touch a doorknob. ALL collars have a built in delay between shocks. Even if a dog were to bark constantly the bark collar will only deliver the shock every minute or so. NO bark collar will continously shock a dog.

I independently examined the dog in question. The spots on the dogs neck were similar to hot spots caused by the collar rubbing, much like a shoe might rub a raw spot on your foot. There was no animal cruelty involved. I feel it is irresponsible for people who don’t know the facts of the case to post on public forums. I have no affiliation with either the owner of the dog or the owner of the business. All I know is what I initially saw. I will also point out that once the dog was taken home the owners had trouble with her scratching at her neck making the hot spot worse. The photo shown on the Ch. 4 report does not represent what I saw when I examined the dog immediately after she was picked up from the kennel. The area on her neck appears worse in the photos, I attribute this to the excessive scratching.

I visit many kennels and boarding facilities in the course of my job. And it is a fact that many of them use bark collars.

I truly feel for both parties, but the dog healed quickly. Posts like what I have read here keep the gossip and half-truths circulating long after the incident should be forgotten.

Sutton the dog is so CUTE! Look at her smiling face — and her tail is a blur! I’m glad she wasn’t hurt too badly, and I hope she isn’t too terribly traumatized. She looks like a sweet, energetic girl…

Shame on the Marrs and their Park Cities Obedience School & Dog Daycare.

By the way, I have been a dog trainer for many years, and I am also a vet tech and we board dogs at our clinic. I have never, and will never use a shock collar on any dog. And I know many of my colleagues do not use them either. So, when someone says “everyone uses them” that is simply not true.

To HighNote, your vet probably meant no harm recommending a shock collar to you, but the fact is most vets don’t know a great deal about behavior. The majority of them are not trained in behavior (unless they select that specialty), and they are more focused on the physical aspect of their patients which is what they trained for in vet school. There are exceptions, of course. So when discussing behavior with your vet, it is probably a good idea to determine what their knowledge and experience base is in that regard. Just a suggestion….

Attempts at punishment, after a behavior has already happened, are the weakest way to deal with an animal. Using pain, especially from a shock collar, is lazy and often ineffective.

Excessive barking is not any easy problem to solve, but dogs are so easily motivated — there had to have been another solution.

And a quick note to HighNote — yes this is the same kind of collar. It is a very strange choice for a dog who runs from people — a solid recall on cue is best taught with reward and lots of practice, not pain.