AFTER almost two decades of plugging weird and wonderful gadgets and gizmos, Innovations magazine is closing down in August.

I'll be sad to see the catalogue go. I love scanning it for the plethora of quirky products we can all live without.

For the first time last month I succumbed and actually bought an item. Much as I love dogs I can't stand noisy ones, and I've been driven to distraction by the never ending barking of a hound from hell next door.

I daren't open the door or walk in the garden without it setting off.

I spotted a device from America called "Bark Free", which claimed that when placed in the vicinity of the animal the machine emits a piercing noise, only audible to the dog, and shuts it up. And guess what -- it works. It's the best £50 I've spent.