DogHushYour dog barks. Your phone answers, in your voice.
It hears the bark and plays your own “Quiet” back in about a second, and it keeps doing it while you’re out. An iPhone app. Nothing goes on the dog.
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On a computer? Point your iPhone camera here.★★★★★ “It worked way better than I thought.” App Store review
95.7% less barking in two weeks, in a study of 40 dogs that heard their owner’s recorded voice after each bark.*
About one second from the bark to your voice.
Nothing on the dog. No collar, no shock, no spray.
DogHush is an iPhone app that listens for your dog’s barking and answers it within about a second with your own recorded voice command, a whistle tone, or a short sound.
It does not train the dog for you. It repeats, every single time, the word you taught, and that consistency is the part a person can’t do from the office.
Everything runs on the phone. No account, no collar, no hardware to buy.
One afternoon, by the clock.
An example of what the app does while you’re out. The times are illustrative; the sequence is exactly how it works.
You leave. The phone stays.
It’s plugged in on a shelf by the front door, DogHush open, listening. Or it sends its sound to a Bluetooth speaker in the room where he waits.
Your voice: the word he knows.
The clip you recorded once plays back, loud and clear. You can use an adjustable whistle tone instead, or a short sound, or the tone followed by your voice.
Quiet.
It answers a bout of barking once, instead of talking over it.
You’re home. The day is on the screen.
How many times he barked, at what hours, and how the week compares. Barking that clusters at 6 pm is a different problem from barking spread through the day.
The iPhone has to stay on with DogHush open. Apple doesn’t allow microphone use in the background, so the app keeps the screen awake and dims it for you.
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Same dog. Same sofa. Different evening.
Nothing about the room changes. What changes is that every bark gets the same answer, in the voice he already listens to.
First, he has to know the word.
This is the part most bark gadgets skip. A dog doesn’t know what “Quiet” means until someone shows him, and an app repeating a word he never learned is just noise. So DogHush teaches you how to teach it: about three days, five minutes a day, with treats, in any language.
Read the three-day method, or find it inside the app under “How to teach the command”.
Not a collar. Not a box on the fence.
Bark collars and ultrasonic boxes also detect barking. The difference is what happens next: they punish, and DogHush says your word.
| DogHush | Bark collar | Ultrasonic box | Dog whistle app | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notices barking by itself | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, you tap it |
| What the dog gets | Your voice, a tone or a sound | Shock, spray or vibration at the neck | A loud fixed tone | A tone |
| Works while you’re out | Yes, phone stays home | Yes | Yes | No |
| Shows when and how often | Daily and weekly history | No | No | No |
| What you buy | Free to try, then a subscription | $30 to $150, plus charging | $25 to $80, plus batteries | Free to a few dollars |
Hardware prices are typical US retail ranges in 2026. Veterinary behaviour groups such as AVSAB advise against aversive methods; see bark collar alternatives.
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Where it works, and where it doesn’t.
An app that plays a sound is not a cure. Here is the honest split.
Good at
- Alert barkingThe door, the window, the delivery. A dog that knows a quiet word and needs to hear it every time.
- Barking when you’re outThe phone is there when you aren’t, and it never gets tired or late.
- Finding the patternThe history shows the hours. A trigger on a schedule is a trigger you can fix.
Not for
- Separation anxiety or panicA distressed dog needs a vet or a veterinary behaviourist, not a sound.
- Dogs that can’t hear itDeaf dogs, many seniors, or a phone three rooms away. A Bluetooth speaker near the dog helps with the last one.
- A dog that never learned the wordTeach it first. It takes about three days, and the app walks you through it.
- Your neighbour’s dogDogHush is for your own dog, in your own home.
Nothing leaves the phone.
The listening happens on the iPhone itself. No audio is uploaded, because there is nowhere to upload it: DogHush has no account and no server. The only recording kept is the few seconds of your own voice, and it stays in the app.
Subscriptions go through Apple and RevenueCat, which see that a purchase happened and nothing else. Read the privacy policy.
Start free. Keep it if it works.
Three days to see how your dog responds. If it isn’t for you, cancel in your Apple ID settings and pay nothing.
Starts with 3 days free. The shortest commitment, for a dog that’s barking right now.
About 58 cents a week. Charged when you subscribe.
US prices; other countries vary. Managed and cancelled in your Apple ID settings, not in the app.
* Independent before-and-after study of a similar method (a computer program playing the owner’s recorded voice after each vocalisation), Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2021, 40 dogs, no control group. It was not a study of DogHush, and results vary by dog.
The dogs it was built around.
No invented reviews and no stock photos. Meet Simba, Bartho and Bella. What other owners think is on the App Store, in their own words.
Questions people ask.
Is there an app that stops a dog from barking?
DogHush is built for exactly that. It runs on an iPhone, recognises barking on the device itself, and answers each bark within about a second with your recorded voice command, a whistle tone, or a short sound. It interrupts the barking; it works best with a dog that has been taught the word, and the app shows you how to teach it in about three days.
Is DogHush an anti-bark or bark control app?
In purpose, yes: people find it searching for an anti-bark app, a bark control app, a bark detector or a dog whistle app. In method, no: most anti-bark products punish the bark with a shock, a spray or a harsh tone. DogHush detects the bark and answers it with a cue your dog has learned, which is the reward-based approach veterinary behaviour groups recommend.
Does it work when I’m not home?
Yes, and that is the main use. Leave the iPhone plugged in with DogHush open, near where your dog barks, or send the sound to a Bluetooth speaker in that room. It keeps listening and keeps answering for as long as the app is on screen. Apple does not let apps use the microphone in the background, so the app has to stay open.
Is it a shock collar or an ultrasonic device?
No. Nothing goes on the dog and nothing is aversive. DogHush plays sound from the phone’s speaker: your own voice by default. The optional whistle tone is an audible high pitch that you can adjust, not ultrasound; a phone speaker cannot produce real ultrasound in any case.
How much does it cost?
DogHush is a subscription: $4.99 a week with a 3-day free trial, or $29.99 a year. There is no free tier after the trial. Prices are in US dollars and vary by country. You can cancel any time in your Apple ID settings.
What happens to the audio? Is anything recorded?
Nothing leaves the iPhone. Detection runs on the device, the only recording kept is the short voice command you make yourself, and there is no account and no server. Purchases are handled by Apple and RevenueCat, which see the purchase but no audio.
Will it work for every dog?
No. It does little for dogs that are deaf or hard of hearing, for a dog barking out of panic or separation anxiety, or for a dog that has never learned a quiet command. For the last case the app includes a short, reward-based training guide. For anxiety, talk to a vet or a veterinary behaviourist.
Which iPhones does it support?
Any iPhone running iOS 16.4 or later. It is an iPhone app; there is no Android version.
Guides, written to be useful without the app.
Reward-based, sourced, and honest about what sound can and can’t do.
Teaching a quiet dog
- How to teach your dog a quiet commandThe reward-based method trainers agree on: one word, one treat, a little more silence each time.
- How to stop your dog from barkingBarking is communication. Match the fix to the reason: alert, attention, boredom, fear, or being left alone.
- How to stop your dog barking at the doorbell or a knockTurn the bell into a cue for “go to your mat”. A day-by-day plan using a recording of your own doorbell.
- How to stop your dog barking at people passing the windowWindow barking rewards itself: he barks, they leave. Block the view first, then teach him what to do instead.
- How to stop your dog barking while you work from home or take callsWhy talking to a screen sets him off, a routine for before the call, and the settings that hide what’s left.
- How to stop two dogs setting each other offOne starts, the other joins. Find the instigator, train them apart, then together, and why collars misfire with two dogs.
- Why your dog barks at night, and how to stop itWildlife, a full bladder, spare energy, a lonely bed or an aging brain. How to tell which, and a plan for each.
- How to stop your dog barking at the mail carrier and delivery driversThe carrier leaves every time, so barking always works. Use the delivery schedule against it: manage the window, then train for the truck.
- Does yelling at your dog stop the barking?Why shouting usually pauses barking or makes it louder, and the calm one-word routine that works better.
While you’re out
- Why your dog barks when left alone, and what to doBoredom, alert barking or separation anxiety: how to tell them apart, and a plan for each.
- Does talking to your dog through a pet camera help, or make it worse?It depends on why he’s barking. What the research says, and a simple test to find out which kind of dog you have.
- Does your dog recognise your voice on a recording, phone or speaker?Yes: in one experiment dogs picked their owner’s recorded voice 82% of the time. Why phone calls and video chats still fall flat.
- How to find out whether your dog barks when you’re out, and how muchFive ways to check, from a voice memo to a bark-detecting app, and how to read what you find.
- Should you leave the TV, radio or white noise on for your dog?Calm music has modest evidence, and it wears off in days. What to play, what to avoid, and where to put the speaker.
- Five ways to talk to your dog when you’re not homePet camera, smart speaker, a call to a spare phone, a scheduled recording, or a bark-triggered cue. Cost, delay and catch for each.
- How to turn an old iPhone into a dog bark monitorPower, placement, a screen that stays on, no interruptions, then the two jobs the old phone can do while you’re out.
Neighbours, flats and complaints
- What to do about a neighbour’s barking dogTalk first, log the barking, know your local rules. Why ultrasonic gadgets aimed over the fence are a poor idea.
- What to do when you get a noise complaint about your dog’s barkingThe owner’s side: the first 48 hours, how to reply to a landlord or HOA, what the rules usually say, and how to show it’s improving.
- How to stop a dog barking at hallway and neighbour noises in an apartmentFootsteps, the lift, a door down the hall. Mask the sound, move the dog, then change what the noise means.
- How to record and log a dog’s barking as evidenceWhy a 20-second clip proves nothing, what councils and animal control actually ask for, and a log you can copy.
- How to keep your dog quiet while the baby sleepsA nap-window plan: stop the knocks, mask the door, settle the dog, and what to do about the barks that still happen.
- When do dogs bark the most? What New York’s 311 complaints showAn original count of New York City’s barking-dog complaints by year, hour, weekday, month and borough, with the method.
Tools, honestly
- Is there an app that detects dog barking?Yes. How on-device bark detection works, what it can and can’t tell you, and what happens to the audio.
- Do dog whistle apps actually work?A phone can’t make ultrasound, and dogs hear 8 kHz better than 25 kHz anyway. What a tone can do, and what it can’t.
- Bark collar alternatives that don’t punish the dogWhat the studies say about shock, spray and ultrasonic collars, and the humane options compared side by side.
- Do ultrasonic bark devices work, and are they safe?Birdhouse boxes, handheld zappers and “dog silencers”: what the trials found, why they fade, and what vets say.
- The best apps to stop dog barking, compared honestlyFour kinds of app do four different jobs. Which one fits your problem, written by people who make one of them.
- Is there an app that plays your voice when your dog barks?Yes. How DogHush answers each bark in your own recorded voice, how that differs from a pet camera or a smart speaker, and which dogs it helps.
- Play your voice on a speaker when your dog barks (Bluetooth or AirPlay)Why a small speaker in the dog’s room beats a phone in the hall, where to put it, how loud, and how to connect it.
Give him the same answer every time.
Two minutes to set up. Your voice does the rest.
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