Bark Off Vs. Pet Zoom
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Fran Naselli has three dogs, Chase, Brownie, and Penny. He says, they're great except for one thing -- their barking. Especially when someone comes to the door. Fran says, "the dogs go crazy." He says he's tried everything, nothing seems to work.
"When you're laying in bed at 8 o'clock at night and they start barking that's a little annoying."
West Chester dog trainer John Ford says, there could be a number of reasons why pesky penny and her pals are so vocal.
Ford says, "boredom, anxiety, to acknowledge that something is going on."
Before Fran's anxiety level gets any higher, we decide to help and in an unscientific test, we tested some products that claim -- they can calm your canine.
Watch the video...
Bark Off costs $10 bucks, it claims to use an ultrasonic sound that only dogs can hear and gets them to stop barking. Our dog trainer is skeptical. He says, "I would have to see it in action to become a believer I guess."
In the commercial Bark Off says, "Bark Off is the pet friendly way to get your dog to instantly stop the nuisance barking."
She said 'instantly,' so although the directions say it may take a week or more to be effective, we should be able to see some kind of change in behavior right away.
We turn on "bark-off" and set the sensitivity level to high, John then goes to the front door to ring the bell. The result? Lots of barking.
Our dog trainer says, "it doesn't seem to work."
The next product we try also uses high frequency. The $10 Pet Zoom, which you use along with a command. Their commercial says, "just aim the sonic pet trainer at your pet, give the verbal command, drop it, and press the button."
Once again john goes to the door and they start up. But this time, a lot less barking, which fran likes, "absolutely, yes."
Our trainer says there was less barking, but the dogs were still agitated. He says, "it seemed to have an effect. It stopped the barking, which is what we positively wanted them to do, but it did not stop their intensity."
But fran feels it would help, "I would pick the pet zoom over the bark off."
RELATED LINKS:
Bark Off: www.buybarkoff.com
Pet Zoom: www.petzoomtrainer.com
Reported by Dave Huddleston, CBS 3
