And I'll add that it appears that NO one on this thread is....which is a GOOD thing SmileWavy

My brother's lab behaved well with the shock collar, but would completely revert when it was off.

That's sort of how my cattle dog is. When wearing it, its like a uniform. Business time. Just wearing it makes a difference. The Lab mix hears the commands and wants to do everything "better" than his brother.

well lets start by calling them corrective collars..
have trained many dogs without them..
until SAM..
about as OCD as a Lab could be..
my Lady put in on..
zap & gave her okay..

SAM now wears a weighted collar..
his brother Finn (rescued alien something) is currently in training..

so if your gonna zap & ping your kids..
you wear it..
you try it first..

Rika

I would NEVER use a shock collar. You must train your dog, and if you use shock & pain instead of patience and understanding positive reinforcement methods, I feel sorry for you.

Would you do this to your kid to achieve needed results?
Shock Collar Test! - YouTube

feel sorry, thats fine. it gets results. now my dog is not running down the street after golf carts.
when th elab is outside, you just cant do ANYTHING with her because of the ball/stick obsession. inside, she is a differnt dog.

i would never over use it. she was very abused when we got her, by a man, so the last thing i want is any of that related to me. she is still very skiddish and avoids strange men still.
she is a great dog. with the excpetion of the golf cart/biker thing, which was started by the neighbors dog i think. she only ever went out of the yard if someone was out that she thought would throw the ball.
actually, she has changed since she was snake bit. a water moccasin nearly killed her. ever since, she has been a little different.
the other dog has been bit around 5 or 6 times by copper heads.

Thinking about one for my G/Fs 3 yr. old Basset Hound who simply refuses to stay off the furniture. The dog is untrained, obese, and a pain to have around.

like I mentioned..
we both have put it on..
no SHOCK...no PAIN...
Rou you love and show your dogs..

while mine (3) were running in the woods odark 30 this morning & then pool time..
they and I love of'leash runs..
but when I say 'halt' or ' watch'..
that is exactly what they will do..

Rika

That's not training. That's just to send them out in the yard unattended.

Part of the training I did, the training leader has you put it in your hand to see what its doing. Mine has 100 levels. My dog learned on a 3. Feel sorry for me all you want, but its not as inhumane as you all are making it out.

a scat mat is better..

as he will get on while your gone..
scat mat works like a whoopee cushion ..
makes noise every time he lands on the couch..

Rika

I'll check it out. Thanks

Steve, I for one (and I think most here on this thread) don't think that at ALL. It's just a different training philosophy. As stated above, "Positive reinforcement" and communication (getting the dog to understand what you desire) is "what I'm all about", and it simply works better in the long run imo. The fact that some have stated that when the collar is "off", their dog reverts back to prior undesirable behavior is "significant" imo. You've done nothing "wrong"....both positive and negative reinforcements absolutely work....I just use the former (almost exclusively), and my "negative" is simply a sharp tone of voice, etc. It's always worked quite well for me. I am glad you've got your "doggie issues" in check....I just don't view a "shock collar" as better than CHICKEN :D

We have a 2 1/2 year old Shepard mix (looks like 90% GSD). He's a great dog in most respects. But. He barks. A lot. At other dogs, strange people (not a bad thing), squirrels, birds, falling leaves, ghosts. He's outside alone during the day and our suburban neighbors are not amused.

I have raised dogs before and was able to get them to limit barking by the usual training methods.

But, the wife has never had a dog and can't bring herself to discipline him. She keeps saying she'll go to obedience training with him, but it never happens. So, the dog thinks he can get away with barking if I'm not around him. He sees me as alpha dog and the wife as just another puppy.

So, I got an anti-bark collar. It worked well set on low until he figured out how to shift it sideways so it wasn't over his voice box. Should these collars be very snug, snugish, loose or what? Is there a good way to keep it in place?

Any other suggestions?

Mine worked great. My collar has sound and shock. Shock was used sparingly. Both sound and shock need to be accompanied with a verbal command. The collar isn't even needed any more.

snug is good..
some of the newer ones..
have a mic that picks up the bark...
and will go off after several barks...
not the first one..
those are less restrictive..

Rika

Shock collars can be life savers, literally. They need to be incorporated into a training program to be used effectively and to be fair to the dog. I have two labs that are first and foremost members of the family. They are also high powered hunting dogs that I take to the field regularly. I want the ability to get their attention in situations that pose a risk to the dog, such as if they are chasing a flyer towards a road. I know of too many dogs that did not make it home from situations like these. They were well trained dogs that did not respond to voice commands due to the excitement of the situation.

I train my dogs with the shock collar that also has a tone (sound only) function as well. It makes this noise when shocking, but can be selected to only make the tone noise. I find that after a minimal amount of time I can transition to using only the tone function. The dog responds to the tone as well as the shock and therefore, I rarely, if ever, need to actually use the shock button. I can't remember the last time I actually had to shock a dog other than what I viewed as a life safety situation, such as a cattle truck hauling down the road and wanted to be darn sure my dog responded immediately to return to heel.

Bark collars, if used properly, can improve a dogs living situation. Owners with barking dogs can become frustrated with the dog affecting their quality of life. Yes, snug is important.

For those that have collar wise dogs, it is important to have them wear either a dummy collar, or the actual shock collar for several weeks before using the collar. A dog that has the collar put on and used immediately know that if the collar is not on, they do not need to respond.

In the right hands, they are a great tool. In the wrong hands, they are a disaster. I highly recommend that anyone using one read a book on dog training and incorporate them into an overall training program. They are not a substitute for proper training.

KC911,
I hear you but.... my son too has the "gift" amazing results....
until BEAR....
Bear is a 110 lb mix and a rescue.
Bear has some Ridgeback some Hound and probably some Great Dane he is big and solid.
No one is really sure what Bear's past was like but the Rescue folks listed him as having several "Social issues"
A total sweet heart until.... Let's just say when he turns it is difficult to "get his attention".
Never aggressive to humans but you can't tell the humans that.
Terrifying to some because of his size and strength for sure but the ferocity of his growl and bark are off the charts especially when he is charging.
Plus if he takes off while you are holding him you will suffer, ( my son is 6'4" and can handle him but his mom not so much).
Sit, stay, down, wait... all mastered in short order, Bear is a very good dog.... and wants to please until...
Bear has his own definition of an eating disorder. At first his eating habits were like a tornado at full force. Now he sits until you say "take it".
But that was nothing compared to his conniving, don't turn your back raids. The first was when my son left the kitchen to get his phone, in literally less that one minute an entire pizza was gone. A large mushroom and olive 100% gone. There have been numerous other transgressions always followed by a totally remorseful hang dog look when discovered.
The worst was when he lapped up more than a quart of cooking oil from a pot on the back burner as the kids were planning to do some tempora.
OMG the cleanup took days as he was blasting out both ends and no one was home.
To this day you have to Bear proof the house every time you leave.

The real problem was his desire to get social. Open door, gone. Door not latched, gone. Crazy enough to pull his collar off...gone. We use a harness all the time how.
Once he took off he would not listen and had no street sense not to mention terrorizing most folks who saw him coming. He was pretty unmanageable (adoptable) at that stage, my son was fostering him at that time. Bear's future was not great.
One session in the enclosed baseball field where he recognized the need to pay attention to certain commands and Bear was a much different, and MUCH happier dog. He got one zap at level 3, it goes to 8, and the tone was enough to get his attention every time after that.
By the way my son is a grad student at FSU and as a student felt the need to test the collar on himself of course. Level 3 gets your attention but in no way in anyone's book would be considered cruel.
The end of the story is Bear is happy, goes to the dog park regularly and while he is still big and loud he has many friends who know he isn't going to eat them.
we are very grateful every day for the training collar.
And I believe Bear is too

Yes, I tested it on myself prior to putting it on the dog. I also tested the old choke/pinch chain-type collar, a prong collar as well as a plain old leather collar.

The electronic collar was the least painful of the bunch. It was a split second of discomfort. As most say, just enough to get your attention. It's not even one second worth...but it did get my attention.

The pinch collar was the worse. It pinched the skin AND choked you. These should not be used.

The prong collar was fine as long as you didn't pull...or someone was doing a correction. Inevitably, someone is going to do a correction (since you're training a dog) so there will be discomfort or pain. It wasn't extreme though. But still more than the e-collar.

The leather collar (surprisingly) caused discomfort. It really depended on how it was used. If it was pulled a certain way, it put painful pressure on the windpipe.

So yea, e-collar all the way after I personally tried it on me. And while you can train a dog without it (I did all of my basic training without one), good luck when you're doing more advanced long range off leash training (50-100+yds).

FWIW, my dog was Canine Good Citizen, Therapy Dog and eventually Sch 1.

http://imageshack.com/a/img99/61/dax1.jpg

OK, as in most things, I gave my "black and white" opinion without considering the "shades of grey" in between. Both of you guys offer excellent reasons for using a collar in certain circumstances, and it absolutely makes sense to me. I would just caution a casual dog owner from slapping on a collar ('cause it's better than chicken :)), before traditional training methods have been exhausted. It's simply not a "magic bullet" to replace proper training as stated above, but in some circumstances I "could" absolutely see myself using one too. And "they" say you can't change someone's opinion on PPOT....there's a reason I've been hanging out here for a while now....thanks! :D