On this thought.....I used to get confronted on walks by a man with a great dane his dog was aggressive as was the man and he found great delight in letting his dane run up snarling and barking at women and their dogs ..

One night he tried his normal trick and I used a rape alarm ..His dog shot off like a rocket and he started swearing...Everytime he swore I pressed the rape alarm.. In the end so many people were looking out of windows that he gave up and went after his dog..

His dog never barked at us again!

Nice one

The good thing is they are easy to buy and small enough to fit inside a 'handbag'

I also thought of... Pepper spray

I'm not against trying new things my only concern is if it will actually work in a serious fight, which is when you want it to work! Breaking stick is a reliable method and without one I've been successful relying on common sense. I'd be interested in testing one out sure, but then I'd hope I'd not need to test one either. If it came down to it, I feel more comfortable using a tried & true method. I can't see mere vibration being effective.

They make vibrating collars, I own one. You can actually use them for positive reinforcement. They associate the vibration with doing good / the right thing kind of like clicker training.

I too wonder if it's actually been used to stop fights or is just a claim.

See, it might be hard to use in an erratic fight like you said, but I also don't see it successfully releasing dogs from holds either. So not sure what the market would be, if it can't be used for either type of fight.

I don't want fights staged, but given to people who have problem dogs to test would make sense. The same way on the behavior & training shows they have cameras and fights eventually might spark off, sooner or later dogs that don't get along will get into it and the owners would be able to test and give feedback.

I think you are absolutely right. I'm not trying to down the product, but this would not work for all dogs.

I watched the videos but I only saw them playing tug or doing bitework. This is a lot different than an actual fight. There is not high levels of adrenaline or serotonin in such situations. I'm sure levels are higher with dogs anticipating bite work, but they are still not in the heat of it (they also have pro training).
While I know this was for demonstration purposes it's easy to train a dog to let go of a toy, but even a reliable trained dog might not release their grip on command in a serious fight. The same is probably true of the vibration. I'm also sure it would work for some dogs in a fight too, just like throwing water on them, making loud noises, ect works for many dogs. With some though, this or anything else isn't going to cut it.

Lol I knew exactly what you meant.

ETA: I think a dog could easily get habituated to the vibration also, there are dogs which are desensitized to shock collars, so I'm sure vibration would be more likely.

I have a dog who will *not* play nicely with other dogs - hence he is always muzzled, on a lead, and under control, but unfortunately this does not stop other dogs attacking him. We've had a couple of instances of trying to separate him from dogs who've attacked him and have locked on and won't release the bite, and frankly the thought of trying to grab their attention with a glorified vibrator is somewhere between hilarious and horrifying.

Things I, personally, have seen a dog ignore when locked on to another dog: yelling/loud noise, being picked up, being shaken, being poked in the eyes/nose/bottom, having ears pulled, being punched in the face repeatedly, being physically pulled away, having paws stepped on ... vibration is not going to top physical pain or the dog's regard for it's own safety.

When dogs have locked on, the last thing you want to do is encourage them to shake as well if they aren't already doing so - to the best of my knowledge, it's the shaking and the accompanying tearing of soft tissue that does the most damage. What does a dog do when something buzzes around his face and head? Shakes to get it off.

I'm also confused as to whether this is or isn't for use as a break stick - and am mindful that there are good reasons the average pet dog owner shouldn't be using one; it's too easy to get wrong.

Also, anyone coming near my dog trying to hit him with a stick is going to find it forcibly inserted where the sun shineth not, with alacrity.

Finally, "off lead, untrained dogs running lose" are not the major cause of dog bites, especially of dogs biting humans. The major cause of dogs biting humans is that humans are morons. If you got bit on the face, maybe it's because you put your face near a strange dog's teeth? If your pet bites you, maybe you should have done more socialisation and training instead of going "awww" when the puppy gnawed your toes.

There's a lot of reports of dog bites happening "without warning" and "coming out of nowhere". This generally means the human(s) have been treating the dog like a stuffed toy, expecting it to put up with - and even like - whatever the humans do to it, and the humans either don't know or didn't pay attention to the warnings the dog gave them.

In the UK particularly, there are not a lot of dogs running loose compared to those accompanied by their owners/keepers, and in my experience, loose dogs will shy away from anyone trying to get close to them, unless they're cornered, in which case what did you expect?

I would love a foolproof, non-violent way of breaking up a dog fight. This isn't it and I think you should be testing in actual, high-stress, high-adrenaline, non-bitework-trained dogs who are, given the opportunity (by stupid humans) trying to rip holes in each other. I would think your results in the situation you are marketing this product for would be markedly different.