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Thu 26 Aug, 2004 05:45 pm
This past Spring we had a couple of weird things going on in the neighborhood. (trucks parked in driveways, things tken from garages, but no break ins to living quarters) At that time several of the neighborhood dogs took to barking all night.
Although our beagle is an inside dog, she would hear all of this and start barking, want outside and then stay out barking for the rest of the night. DROVE US CRAZY!!! It went on for about a month!
When I as gone to Oklahoma this summer, Bear bought a bark collar. It is the kind that puts out a high pitched sound when the dog barks, not one that shocks or anything. She learned pretty quickly not to bark, and she only wears it when she goes outside. When she barked, we could only hear it a little bit, but it was enough to make her stop. It scared her the first few times, until she figured it out.
Anyways, a couple of weeks ago I realized she hasn't had a single flea or tick since. That's like three months of summer without a single flea or tick when others are fighting them bad.
I was wondering if maybe the collar was working like the Pest-Away things they sell on tv that you plug into an outlet like an air freshner, and that puts out a sound humans can't hear but drives bugs and critters crazy. Has anyone else had this type of bark collar and noticed no fleas or ticks? It was only about $50, so much cheaper and safer than all the chemicals if that is what it is doing.
Studies on the pest-away things have indicated that they usually don't work as advertised--I'll try to find an online source for the research and post it. I know Reader's Digest tested some different mosquito repellent technologies and found the sound-wave approach to be ineffective.
The other issue is that the collar supposedly only emits the noise when the dog is barking. So, as soon as the dog stops barking, what could be keeping the fleas and ticks away?
Not sure. Maybe the batteries / magnetic field? I have no idea. I just know we haven't used a single chemical / flea collar or flea & tick shampoo and she's not had a single pest on her. (I would know, since I happen to be the only family member they seem to like better than the dog)
This is the first year I haven't been eaten up by the little buggers.
I've noticed (and I haven't been alone) that there were very tics this year on cape cod. Tics and flea populations spike in cycles and this is a slow year from them. But, that would only cut them back a bit. How long since anyone has put chemicals on the dog? Are you sure Bear didn't reapply the stuff without you knowing it?
Yeah, I'm sure. Bear wouldn't be the one taking the initiative to care for the dog in any way. He bought the collar because HE was losing sleep. All baths, feeding, chemicals, etc. are done by me or our daughter. We haven't put any chemicals on her since pre-June.
While in Oklahoma, the fleas and ticks were thriving in June, but that may be regional. As you said, this may be a slower year, but I would have expected some.
I just thought it an interesting thing to look into in case it works, and really is the reason. Would be wonderful to put the chemicals away for good.
I don't know about the other products (though it would be easy to find out), but Frontline is supposed to work against fleas for 3 months and against ticks for 1 -- so it could be that the pooch is still protected against fleas. It might still be protected against ticks, too, for that matter -- or it may be that it just hasn't been in contact with any.
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