Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Situation: Large boxer in neighbors yard that barks at just about anything. It's been a problem for years. Nice neighbors, but they won't socialize their dog or try any training devices. I don't want to be at odds with them, nor do I want to put up with their dog disturbing my peace. I decided to give this ultrasonic birdhouse a try. Order placed: After reading all the reviews that mentioned short battery life I decided to also order the EBL 2 bay smart charger that includes two 9 volt lithium rechargeable batteries (also sold on Amazon). I considered the 9 volt power adapter option but that would require running a power line across the backyard. My idea is to simply rotate the batteries from the birdhouse to the charger every week or as needed. Upon receiving everything I put the batteries on the charger. Neighbors dog was barking more than usual that night as the batteries were charging. Finally at 1 am they indicated full charge. I put one in the birdhouse and did the test mode. Seems to be working okay. Placement: I picked a tree eight feet back from the fence and hung the birdhouse 8 feet off the ground. That allows the birdhouse speaker/emitter to clear the fence by a foot. I decided to set the sensor to medium (30 foot detection range) and adjust it later as needed. I went to bed and decided not to wear my earplugs that help me from being awoken by the barking. If the birdhouse didn't work I wanted to know. The first day: I awoke to an undisturbed 8 hours of sleep and that was without earplugs. Hours passed and I still haven't heard any barking. What I did eventually hear was the neighbors kid playing basketball in the backyard. It occurred to me the sound of the ball bouncing on the concrete might set off the birdhouse so I went out to check it. The LED indicator is on the front where the emitter is so I had to get between the birdhouse and the fence to see it. I watched it and it didn't activate because of the basketball, but as I moved I stepped on some leaves which caught the attention of the neighbors dog. The dog got off three rapid barks from about 30 feet away. Suddenly the green LED on the birdhouse came on for a few seconds and that was it...no more barking! Normally this dog would keep at it for several more minutes. This time no followup barking whatsoever. Conclusion: I definitely think this is working. This dog has a deep bark, which according to other reviews is ideal for triggering the sensors. The real test will be how well this works over time. I just hope the dog doesn't become accustomed to it and learns to ignore the ultrasonic sound. I'll have post a follow up review in a month or so. EDIT: It's been about a month so here's my follow-up review. Still working great! It's even survived a few rain storms without any problem. I was concerned on the third and fourth day after setting it up as the dog seemed to be barking regardless. By day five he quieted down again. As this dog is no Jack Russell it may have taken a little more time to make the connection. I hear the occasional few round of barks at that's it. No continuous barking! There are occasionally times when someone is just too close to the fence and the barking may go on for about a minute. Those are the times that the dog is just too excited to stop barking for anything. I'm doing two things against what the instructions say. I'm using rechargeable batteries and I'm hanging the birdhouse above 6 feet. The rechargeable lithium batteries last more than four days but less than six. As a result I switch them twice a week and that seems to be a good system. I do have a few suggestions for the next generation of these ultrasonic birdhouses. The first would be solar recharging. Perhaps monocrystalline roof panels would be sufficient. If not perhaps a large plug-in panel would do the trick. I'd also like to see a rear LED activation indicator for those of us that point the birdhouse towards the neighbors yard. Maybe a front or rear LED selector switch is possible.