PetSafe Pawz Away Indoor Wireless Pet Barrier, Electric Training System for Dogs & Cats with Receiver Collar

TL;DR: It works. Make sure the collar is tight enough to get proper skin contact and the barrier is set to a good distance. The shock feels at worst like a tiny rubber band lightly snapping the skin, and at the lightest like a finger giving you a tap.UPDATE TL;DR: About 6 months later, it's a great product when you take the time to work with it. It was my last ditch effort to save my cat from being rehomed after over two years of trying hormone diffusers, sprays, collars, extra food dishes, extra litter boxes, and it's the only thing that's ultimately been successful in protecting the furniture.The details:I'd about given up trying to keep my male cat off our kid's bed and a giant lounging pillow that he can't seem to help spraying on despite being fixed. I decided to set up the barrier in the doorway of the room with said furniture to just keep him out of it entirely while still allowing our other two cats who don't pee on anything to come in as they pleased.At first, I tried the collar on myself. As others have said, it's no worse than being snapped by a small rubber band at the strongest setting, and that's proven to be plenty for our guy (He's 2, not super fluffy or thick-coated).I did at first think it didn't work at all. I watched him literally walk over the barrier on max distance while it beeped at him incessantly (the beeping is pretty quiet) but he ignored it entirely. I looked at the directions in the kit for troubleshooting why it wasn't working, and one of the primary things was "make sure it's tight enough/getting proper skin contact."So I tightened the collar a bit, making sure it was more snug, still thinking it wasn't going to help, and waited to see if he'd cross the barrier into the room he's been banned from. Eventually, I heard the beeping once more and watched him attempt to walk past the disc.He suddenly stopped, jumping back and running away from the door. Success! I gave him treats and love for returning to the space he needs to stay in. He attempted it a second time that day with the same result, and now, the beep is enough to deter him from even trying.I love him very much, and as a result, I've spent so much money and time trying hormone sprays, collars, diffusers of all different brands to try and stop this happening without success. Waterproof cat blankets on things helped, but we needed a way to stop him entirely, as the blankets only provide so much protection, and I didn't want him to think he could keep spraying on things when we moved into our new house.I also hated keeping every door closed, as it restricts the other two well-behaved cats from being able to roam the space as they please, and three cats confined to one area because all the doors have to constantly be closed really sucks, and probably doesn't make the issue for him any better.I will definitely be buying more barriers to keep him out of bedrooms and any other rooms I don't want him peeing in. I will also give putting it on top of furniture a try to allow him to come into some rooms, but stay off the furniture.It's been a week since I got this, and I'm so relieved to see that it works. My furniture is finally safe, my other two cats can have the run of the whole place again, and the best part is that now I don't have to consider rehoming him, as this was literally the last thing to try before deciding that he needed to find a new home.I haven't seen how long the batteries last, but others in the question section reported roughly 3 months depending on how often your critter tests the barrier, so I'll keep an eye out for that when the time comes.UPDATE: It's been about half a year now, the system is still working great. I purchased two additional barriers to refine the space my cat can access so I can block objects he pees on rather than entire rooms being blocked off for him. It's worked insanely well. I routinely replace all of the batteries every 3-5 months to ensure they stay on.I now have a barrier that lives on the couch when we're not sitting on it, one to block him from the lounging pillow, and one for our son's bed. The bed was miraculous in how well it works; I put it underneath, close to the center, set it on level 4, and it's strong enough to go through the bed, frame and all, and trigger the collar when he gets on top of it. He can now come in the room and hang out again, just can't get up on the furniture he pees on.These really work well when you take the time to adjust them and find out how best to set them up for your situation.One thing I will say is make sure you're frequently checking (and you should always be checking pet equipment anyways), as after 3 months, one of the barriers had shut off and just wouldn't turn on anymore. Thanks to the training it gave my cat, however, nothing bad happened. He learned not to get on the couch, and he stays off even without the barrier.Customer service is amazing, too. All I needed was a screenshot of my Amazon order info, and I followed the support link Amazon provided, chatted with a PetSafe representative, and they immediately sent out a new device under the 1-year warranty.

Update: I had the device set at its highest (12 foot) setting and placed in a 2.5 foot doorway at the end of a long, narrow hall. After 2 successful weeks, my cat walked right past this device, went through the dog door, and got torn up my another cat. This unreliable POS cost me an ER visit, a huge vet bill, and almost cost my cat an eye! At the vet, I was further horrified to find that the heavy collar had rubbed the hair off my cat's neck, and it was starting to weep and bleed at the top. The collar had been removed every evening, except for the roughly 24 hours he snuck out, and was tight enough to zap him a few times when I watched him "test it" earlier in the week. The batteries are still good, so either my cat ignored the zap long enough to stroll 12 feet past the transmitter, or it is NOT functioning consistently and reliably.The fact is, my cat is a 100% indoor cat and has been his whole life. When he HAS snuck out of the house in the past, he has never stayed out for more than a few minutes, and he doesn't go very far. This time, he was gone for about 24 hours, which makes me think that the collar might have actually kept him from COMING BACK INSIDE. He got past the transmitter once, then wasn't able to come back in! And he's not really the type of cat to stand outside and howl for help, he would just sulk and hide, unless he's in pain, which is why I wasn't able to find him for 24 hours, until he finally heard my voice and crawled out from underneath the house all torn up, eye swollen shut and oozing, covered head-to-tail in blood."PetSafe" my ###.I should also add that I have experience with other electronic collars. I had never needed to use one before, until we adopted our recent pound puppy, a slightly-insane husky who streaked 1/2 a mile out of a fenced-in schoolyard AND across the four lane highway, because he thought the person calling him (ME) was one of the people standing over there. Since then, that shock collar has <literally> saved his life. That being said, this pathetic device would not work for most dogs. It is NOTHING like the device (in size, quality, or power) I trained our dog with. Maybe a small, timid dog, but I still doubt it.The collar is bulky and heavy for small animals. The shock is minimal. The beep it makes is pathetic and useless, almost inaudible, and there's no loud warning tone well in advance of a shock... which I've found to be VITAL when using these types of products. The beep should do all the work. They can get used to the shock or find a way around it, but the warning beep and anticipation of shock is worse, and ultimately what discourages them.This device might keep a timid dog out of a garbage can. Maybe. But DON'T COUNT ON IT KEEPING YOUR PET SAFE.