AKC puts out great PSA based on "Marley and Me"

There are a couple of types of bark collars. I have never tried the one that sprays citronella, don't know if it would work or not.

The others are shock collars. The cheap ones you buy at the PetSmart and such places are not really good. They tend to "go off" at the sound of a tag on a collar (be sure to remove any other collar) or other metallic sounds. I've had some "false alarms" with them and it doesn't really seem fair to the dog.

Tri-tronics (the people who make the high end retriever training collars) make a very good bark collar that not only doesn't go off when it shouldn't, it counts the number of times your dog barked and was corrected while you were gone. It also has an adjustable level of stimulation, so if you come home and find your dog barked and was corrected 50 times, you can raise the level a little, where if on the other hand he only barked once, you can lower the level, and so forth.

There are also some less expensive adjustable bark collars made by other training collar manufacturers, like DogTra, SportDog, and Innotek. I have TriTronics training collars myself, have had bad luck with Innotek, but know plenty of folks who use the Dogtra. That and TriTronics seem to be the brands favored by the pro trainers.

If you want a link to a good dealer, let me know. I have a couple of folks I've dealt with in the past.

The following links illustrate just what a truly bonded dog and trainer can accomplish (this dog, if left untrained, would be a hyper, nervous basketcase):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kKnNyJvRAY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRhp8IOXpFU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLMdA_PrhH8&feature=related

I get the biggest kick out of watching Kate, the shy teenage trainer, blossom as these videos progress.

And then, another dog and handler team show just how much fun a dog can have with his owner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu7R4NtpgyM&NR=1

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