Why I Use E-Collars on Every Dog
#1 THE MOST RELIABLE RECALL
Even if you have a dog that listens 100% with food training and will recall away from everything, that dog can still decide to run at a distraction and get killed. It's happened. Even the most perfect dogs need an e-collar phase. And it's just simple. Attach your dog to a long line and hold down the e-collar button on your dog's working level. Say your recall cue, and release the button when your dog turns toward you, then mark and reward.
Once you practice that for several sessions, hold down the button without saying your verbal recall cue. If the dog turns around toward you and comes, mark and reward. If the dog understands the stim, you can use it and the dog will come without a verbal cue being spoken. That's how you know that he knows what it means. This makes it so that even if the dog refuses one day, you can just hold down the button (usually higher than the working level in the face of distraction, my dog is a 4 at home, a 17 around town, and a 25 around high distractions). A good way to figure out your dog's working-level around distractions is to have your dog on a long line and e-collar, and have him in a distracting environment. Hold down the button on the working level. Zero response? Increase one by one until your dog turns around toward you, then mark and reward. The level that you're at now is your dog's working-level around distractions.
#2 IT MAKES FEARFUL DOGS MORE CONFIDENT
A lot of people say that the worst thing to use on a fearful dog is an e-collar. But it's actually a wonderful tool that has increased my dog's confidence tremendously. It increases confidence and security in several ways.
Even if you have a dog that listens 100% with food training and will recall away from everything, that dog can still decide to run at a distraction and get killed. It's happened. Even the most perfect dogs need an e-collar phase. And it's just simple. Attach your dog to a long line and hold down the e-collar button on your dog's working level. Say your recall cue, and release the button when your dog turns toward you, then mark and reward.
Once you practice that for several sessions, hold down the button without saying your verbal recall cue. If the dog turns around toward you and comes, mark and reward. If the dog understands the stim, you can use it and the dog will come without a verbal cue being spoken. That's how you know that he knows what it means. This makes it so that even if the dog refuses one day, you can just hold down the button (usually higher than the working level in the face of distraction, my dog is a 4 at home, a 17 around town, and a 25 around high distractions). A good way to figure out your dog's working-level around distractions is to have your dog on a long line and e-collar, and have him in a distracting environment. Hold down the button on the working level. Zero response? Increase one by one until your dog turns around toward you, then mark and reward. The level that you're at now is your dog's working-level around distractions.
#2 IT MAKES FEARFUL DOGS MORE CONFIDENT
A lot of people say that the worst thing to use on a fearful dog is an e-collar. But it's actually a wonderful tool that has increased my dog's confidence tremendously. It increases confidence and security in several ways.
- It gives the fearful dog something they can control, even if they can't control anything else in their environment (such as bikes, men with hats, cars, or whatever their fear is). These dogs are used to having no control, an e-collar gives them control.
- It teaches the dog how to effectively deal with pressure. The dog learns that there is a way to turn pressure off, and that is to follow direction from the human. I used the e-collar for recall, but my dog stopped acting as fearful in all kinds of situations and instead looks to me because he figured out through e-collar recall training that I am the key to turning off pressure.
#3 USEFUL FOR DEAF AND BLIND DOGS
You can train the dog to associate the stimulation with recall and the vibration for focusing (and you can use a thumbs up or a flashlight for a marker signal). This makes training the deaf dog so much easier and even enables you to recall your dog without even using a spoken cue such as "come" or "here."
I'm sure these can be used on blind dogs too. You can use the stimulation for come, vibration for sit, and the tone as a pre-cue that you're about to tell the dog to do a command.
#4 GREAT FOR EXCITED DOGS
Some dogs that are excited feel more independent and this makes them harder to control. Instead of reacting fearfully toward new things, they want to approach them. After you teach recall with the e-collar at home, you can take your dog to a distracting environment and recall each time they try to run up to a distraction. If they refuse, use the stimulation. Remember to use high-value rewards at this point. Eventually, the dog will stop attempting to run up to distractions because he doesn't find them rewarding. He'll look to you in expectation each time he sees a distraction, then you can intermittently reward him with a treat or tug.
It's also important that you tell people not to pet your dog and don't allow other dogs near your dog (bring a stick or cattle prod with you) because you don't want to build the expectation of getting pet by another person or playing with a dog when he's on a long line or leash. As long as your dog is leashed in some way, his attention is on you only.
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