Bark Stop might work for you depending on several factors. I’ve done some digging and hope this review will help you decide! Is your dog’s barking annoying you? Is the neighbor’s dog keeping you up at night or ruining your quiet time? Well I saw this Bark Stop advertised on TV a few months back. First thing that came to mind was if it worked and also safe and humane to use. I loved the idea that you can aim it at your neighbors dog…hee hee how sneaky! My neighbor has five Jack Russel Terriers that love to bark non-stop and drive me crazy!

Bark Stop - Real Consumer Reviews and Tips for You to Consider

There are so many Bark Control methods around today and I was shocked that many of them are actually inhumane. If you’re interested I’ll write another blog post about that later. But right now I know there are a lot of other pet owners in the same dilemma and I know this is important info.

This Super Bark Stop is the As Seen on TV product I’ll be reviewing…(Not to confuse you but their is also the Bark Stop Pro, which is a less expensive and less powerful device.)

Super Bark Stop Claims

1. You can use it on any size or breed of dog or puppy.
2. It wont hurt your dog because it deters barking through an ultrasonic tone only dogs can hear.
3. Dogs don’t like it and quickly learn that their barking triggers this negative response.
4. Responds to barking up to 35 feet away.
5. Uses an old age principle of “Negative Reinforcement” using sound to help train dogs to stop annoying barking.
6. Can use it if you have more than one dog in the home.
7. Will automatically turn on when dog barks.

Features:

• The ASOTV site has a note at the bottom that it’s for outdoor use only!
• Super high power speaker
• Built-in directional cone to target barking dog
• Audible and ultrasonic frequency settings
• Audible test button
• Multi Bark Setting: 1-3-5 barks
• Volume control
• Wall-mount bracket
• Weather and water proof (no it actually isn’t - see below for details)
• Wireless Battery operation
• Please note that it doesn’t come with an adapter but you can use your own 120V AC to 6V DC adapter

How Bark Stop Works
You place the Super Bark Stop unit outdoors as close to the source of problem barking as possible. It should be in direct line of sight of the dog because grass or plants can absorb the ultrasonic sound. Once in direct line of sight, the annoying dog will get a 120dB blast of ultrasonic sound.

You can choose how loud the barking must be to activate the Super Bark Stop. There is an adjustable bark number switch, which lets you determine how many barks in a 10 second period it takes to activate the unit.  It has two different tone settings: ultrasonic (only dogs can hear it) or audible (humans can hear it too).

Sensitivity levels you can adjust.

Pros

The majority of consumers report success with the product.

Make sure you are able to put the product over top of your fence. It MUST face the dog and not be obstructed by anything in order for it to work.

Some dogs stop barking right away while others take a couple weeks.

Issues with the Unit

• Its quite expensive with an $80 price tag
• Some consumers say that it’s actually not really waterproof like it claims to be and it stopped working or shorted out after it got wet.
  
• There was no manual on how to make the device work seamlessly. They should include info on how to tweak the device, even though it seemed simple (Keep sound all the way up, sensitivity level should be adjusted according to other noises in the area, etc.)
  
• Bark Stop will go off with any little noise if not set properly. It’s so sensitive that it goes off even when the dog is not barking. It goes off for the kids talking, the radio, etc. Then when the dog does bark and it’s on, it’s not going to make a difference.
• Some owners noticed that it did not have any effect at all on their dog.

Consider These Tips from a Pet Expert

I asked a pet expert at Petland to explain why it might not work. There are two different settings you can use on this product. A sound sensor and a ultrasonic frequency.

1. If you are using the sound sensor - A low quality sound sensor can falsely read external noises or another dog barking and constantly trigger it. This means the device corrects your dog at random times or when he’s not barking- derailing previous teachings and confusing your dog from making any sort of connection.
2. If you are using the frequency sensor - which uses one type of frequency to deter a dog from barking. This mistake limits which type of dog will react to the corrective sound based on size and personality. For instance, smaller dogs react better to ultrasonic noise, as medium to large sized dogs are more responsive to audible blasts of sound.

Here is a personal experience from a consumer who actually got the product to work on his own dog.

The most important thing to remember when buying a product like this is that there aren’t many things that are both great and easy. When you buy treats for dog to train him, do you simply leave the treats out all the time. No. Because he would never figure out that the treats were a reward for doing what you wanted him to. It’s the same thing with the bark stop.

The first thing you should do with this device is put it to the audible setting and then test and see what makes the bark stop actually go off. I found that doors shutting hard, clanging dishes, etc all set it off. So, if the device goes off every 5 seconds, the dog isn’t going to think for a second that it’s going off because he’s barking. He’s going to assume that it’s a uncontrollable sound that he has to live with.

So after putting the device back into the ultrasonic sound setting, I decided that I would only plug the device in when the dog was barking or when he was in his cage. Also, I never leave the device plugged in when I’m doing dishes slamming doors, or doing loud things. So the dog only hears the device when he barks. I realize that this might be a slight annoyance to walk on egg shells in order to make sure the device works, but I would rather do that than have a barking dog. The way I look at it, is I wouldn’t just randomly throw my dog treats in the middle of his training, so why leave it plugged in all the time.

In the end, the first time I plugged in the bark stop, I let the dog bark it out. He barked for about 5 minutes (normally 10-15) and then stopped. The second time I plugged it in, he didn’t bark more than twice. The bark stop puts out a ultrasonic beep when you plug it in, so I think that now he knows when he’s going to hear more than he wants to. I think that the dog has now gotten more used to it, and will try to out bark it, but for the most part, he doesn’t bark much at all while it’s on, if he barks at all. The one thing that the manual does say is that if the dog is trying to protect the house, usually this device won’t help, which I think is a good thing.

Cons:
When I was testing the microphone (used for taking in the bark loudness) on the device, it didn’t seem to matter if the microphone was on high or low. Also, this device would be so much more useful if it came with a remote to turn on or off, not to manage each bark, but to simply be able to sit at the couch and click it on, or to click it off.

Bark Stop seems to be used mostly by people wanting to aim it at their neighbours dog. They seem to be fairly satisfied with it although it doesn’t work the same on every dog. Some dogs respond to it better and faster than others.  Overall the consumer reviews were around a 3 out of 5. It’s not a quick fix product and you will have to work with it and adjust the settings on it as you see fit. Have you tried any  As Seen on TV pet product? I would love to hear from you! If you like please leave a comment below and share your experience!

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