I've been reading Cesar Millan's book, Cesar's Way, and have already learned so much. I can see where I haven't been training my dogs the right way so that they are content and happy.

I've been treating them as if they were people, like my babies. That's not what dogs want or need. They need to know that I am their pack leader and that they are safe and secure as the followers.

One thing I read last night explained the importance of letting the dog come to me instead of walking up to a dog and giving it a pat or a hug. As puppies the mother trained them to come to her for food. She was, perhaps unknowingly, teaching them that she was the boss.

Fast forward a few weeks and they are in their new homes. Their new families run to them, pick them up, hold them, all of which is basically telling the puppies "you are the boss, I am the submissive one." All wrong.

What we need to do when we meet a new dog is let him come to us. Wait for him to nudge us or rub up against us. That is the signal that he is the submissive one. Now we are free to pet him and still maintain the position of leader.

That's just one thing I have learned. I recommend Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems to anyone who has a dog or who is around dogs.

Dogs bark, it’s a fact of a dogs life. But sometimes the dog’s barking can become excessive and disruptive to others. For this reason an anti bark collar is a good thing to purchase for your canine friend.

A dog barks for different reasons whether it is for attention, at someone, or if they feel threatened or feel that the owner is threatened. In any of these instances a bark collar can be used to keep the dog from barking excessively.

If there are neighbors close by or if your dog’s barking is scaring children, seriously considering purchasing a bark collar. A bark collar can make people feel safer when walking by the dog as some people are nervous around animals and can feel very hesitant when a dog is barking at them.

The Citronella collar and the shock collar are the two main types to choose from each with their own advantages and disadvantages. The Citronella version is a safe and humane way to keep a dog from barking. A light spray of Citronella in front of the dog’s nose is put out when the dog barks.

Dogs generally do not like Citronella or the hissing noise that is let out by the bark collar when the dog barks. The dog figures out quite quickly what is happening and the result is less barking. There are many types of the Citronella collars on the market.

The Citronella bark collar is seen as a more humane way to get a dog to stop barking. It has also shown to be twice as effective as a shock bark collar in making the canine stop barking.

The other type is thought to involve a more aggressive approach in quieting the animal down. This type of collar works much like a Citronella collar except that instead of a spray of Citronella the dog receives a little shock. The dog learns from their actions and stops barking as they do not like to get shocked.

Many see this type of bark collar as inhumane considering that it inflicts pain on the animal. Add to this the fact that they do not work as well as the Citronella type of bark collar.

The type you purchase will directly effect how your dog feels. Some give little shocks that are all the same while others increase the shock the more the dog barks.

If this approach does not work there are surgeries for debarking but they are seen as even more inhumane to the animal than the collars and most veterinarians will not suggest the operation. It’s much better to purchase an anti bark collar that is designed to help silence your four-legged rather loud friend.

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My dog used to keep me up all night. His first family had to move from a 2-acre spread into a home with a backyard that was all pool and he was going crazy with no space to run. Neighbors were complaining about his barking and the family decided they had to give him away.

He is a beautiful dog, and I had always wanted a Collie, so my mom said we could take him home with us. We were very surprised when he spent all his time running and barking.

He barks not only at mail men, visitors, kids walking by down the street, and cars which drive by, but at squirrels, butterflies, birds flying over and apparently at the wind going through the grass. Anything that makes the slightest bit of movement at all will attract his attention and cause him to bark and bark.

My mom tried locking him out for the night, but that only made the matter worse. Now he would not only disturb us, but also all of the neighbors as well with his constant and insistent noises.

We had been against anti bark collars for awhile, but eventually we decided that enough was enough. The thing about anti bark collars that bothered us most was that they were so inhumane. If you do not like dog habits, be they panting, drooling, or barking, we reasoned, you should not get a dog.

Getting an anti bark collar which would shock him every single time he barked just seemed like a cruel fix for your own oversight in getting an animal which you were not prepared to adequately take care of in the first place. But still, the temptation of anti bark collars was getting pretty compelling after, one single night, he awoke me no less than six times.

My mom did some research on anti bark collars and found out that they do not all just use electricity. There are anti bark collars that, instead of using an electric shock, emit a high pitched noise which bothers a dogs sensitive hearing, and stops it from barking by the unpleasant sensation.

Unfortunately, these forms of anti bark collars also seemed pretty cruel, and we felt like we just had to find another solution to the problem.

We discovered citronella anti barking collars, which seemed just perfect. Rather than shocking a dog or hurting its ears, these anti bark collars just emit a burst of citronella, which is overwhelmingly powerful and strange for a dog. It confuses him, and makes him temporarily stop his barking.

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