<<Are all pyrs like this? >> Mybe not all Pyrs, but about 99% of them are. Bark collars do work. I had one with both long and short prongs to use depending on the coat length. It also had 5 different levels of shock. It was made by Innotek, it was not cheap, but I never had a problem with it in the 7 years that I used it. Elaine and Pico