Dog owners I need advice!

[1975porsche]

Hey everyone, looking for advice on an ecollar. I have an 18 month old husky/Akita mix. She is a great dog just stubborn as hell on recall when she gets in the prey mode ,as the trainer says. The trainer has suggested I try one , have never used one as this is my first dog as an adult. Any one have any experience with one. Thanks Glenn

[LWJ]

I did a shocker for my lab. It was awful. Did it one time.

I am clicker, praise, reward training my new pup. He is stubborn as hell but we make progress

Good luck. Some dogs just don't do what you want.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by LWJ

I did a shocker for my lab. It was awful. Did it one time.

I am clicker, praise, reward training my new pup. He is stubborn as hell but we make progress

Good luck. Some dogs just don't do what you want.

Agreed...never used a collar, never will. I have a built in clicker (my mouth...chk chk )....some dawgs are eager to please, some harder, but I just don't use negative reinforcement....never needed to. Best of luck....

Use much restraint if ya go that route....jmho.

Is your pup motivated by treats, etc.? I can stop most dawgs in their tracks, and come to me with a "chk chk"... after they're trained

[flipper35]

We tried food and praise for our beagle. Did not help a bit and beagles are pretty food driven. That said, the collar didn't work either. He still will go do his own thing when called.

I don't know if you can get one as a training collar, but for barking the citronella collar works wonders. If you can find one, it would make a good training collar.

[unclebilly]

Our current dog is an idiot and in some ways untrainable.

I googled, ‘Is my dog retarded’ and came up with a dog IQ test. We tried it yesterday. The dog failed.

[URY914]

We took our Boston Terrier to boot camp for 6 weeks and the trainer used a shock collar. We used it after he came back. They work.

[RSBob]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

Our current dog is an idiot and in some ways untrainable.

I googled, ‘Is my dog retarded’ and came up with a dog IQ test. We tried it yesterday. The dog failed.

Too funny.

Yes some pets are just lovable idiots. I have had a couple. Used the same reward based training on two labs simultaneously and one did wonderfully and the other one just continued to bumble her way through life. With really sensitive animals, yes Walter animals do have feelings, negative reinforcement can actually traumatize them, so it is important to know your animal well before selecting a training method. Unlike some trainers that cannot see beyond their own technique, one size does not fit all.

[Tobra]

My younger dog is a handful when he sees a squirrel, might help if I had more than 30-40 pounds on him, but he is getting better. He would rather eat a squirrel than a piece of bacon, it seems.

Lucky the other one is a little less nuclear powered.

[gr8fl4porsche]

We have the Mini Educator ET-300.

Pricey, but worked great in training our little 90lb pup.

[doug_porsche]

Having had a husky before... Adorable breed, but they need LOTS of regular exercise, and have very selective hearing.
I swear my husky could do word problems: The husky is 20 yards away from the open gate and can run four times as fast as the human, who doesn't want me to go out the gate, that is 5 yards away from the gate. Can I make it?

I currently have an English Setter, also known for thire stubbornness.
The ES and I had disagreements on when to leave the dog park.
He was smart enough to know "if I don't come within three feet of the fat guy, there is nothing he can do and I get to decide when it's time to go home"

I bought an adjustable shock collar off of Amazon.
You could adjust the shock setting from 1 to 100%.
I tested it in my hand at 30, noticeable but not painful.

Used it on shock on the dog less than three times.
Then I set it to vibrate and needed it less than a handful of times.
Totally solved the issue.
Have not used the collar in probable a year, but when I call the dog, he comes to me.

I definitely prefer the positive re-enforcement method, and now that we have established who is alpha dog, is what I use. But there was a week or so of alpha dog negotiations that the collar let me win.

[KFC911]

By the time my pups reach 90lbs....they've been trained for months already .

[Cajundaddy]

I have trained a dozen dogs and all are boundary trained, and do sit, stay, down, come, leave it, in, out, pee, and poo, on command. This was accomplished over about 6 months each with pocket treats and praise when they promptly comply.

We have a new doodle pup who is approaching 70lbs at 9 months old. She is about 95% trained on the above but still gets barky when dog walkers pass by or the UPS driver arrives. This is tougher to train away because it usually happens when we are not home and was making my wife crazy. She ordered a training collar that warning beeps, warning vibrates, and if the behavior continues will zap the dog once.

I was not in favor of using this but after a month I gotta say it does work. We only put the collar on when we are home and if she is nuisance barking. She now might bark once or twice and when it beeps she runs in the house and stays quiet. I expect the nuisance barking to be solved shortly. I don't think this should replace regular training but as a supplement to lots of positive reinforcement. They also have a remotely activated collar that gives the same beep > vibrate > shock sequence that is remotely activated. We don't use that one.
https://www.amazon.com/ELZU-US-Newest-Upgraded-Collar-Smart/dp/B07HP8NLXY/ref=asc_df_B07HP8NLXY/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241981090934&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14116040747845591600&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031217&hvtargid=pla-635604839693&psc=1

[varmint]

Chaos was chasing cars, and that had to stop. Got a sport dog e collar. I tried it on myself first. 4 out of 10 was as high as I got. Unpleasant.
We zapped him three maybe four times, he got the message. Now just a beep will turn him around. Everyone says not to use it too often. The dog will developed the attitude that he’s only going to behave when the collar is on.

[javadog]

Leashes work well.

[vash]

get that dog exhausted before any training?

having said that, my buddy had a beagle that would run and run once the leash came off. this was a bunny chaser dog that went feral immediately.

he got a shock collar. it worked almost immediately. just a tap. that dog eventually associated that collar with "fun" and would walk into it. just nose right in.

i've never tried one. my friend did shock himself first..he set it on low and he said it didnt hurt. it was just a tap.

[KFC911]

Though I've never used one, I can see how on low settings they could be very useful in the right hands...as an aid to proper training....absolutely.

[smokintr6]

I used to foster dogs and used shock collars with all the fosters, and the two dogs that were family members. Not all dogs take to it as well as others. You need to be able to train them as to what the collar means. If they don't understand they will just freak out, and possibly run farther away (happened with a foster). The shock collar isn't an easy button, but it can be a good training tool. With all my dogs, I used the collar for several weeks *without even bringing the remote*. I would get the collar out, and the dogs get used to the beep sound of the collar switching on being associated with going to do something fun outside. They never associated the collar with something negative. All my dogs would go to the moon with positive excitement when they would see the shock collar come out of the closet. I also trained them to associate the "beep" function with the shock, so eventually you didn't have to use the shock to get the dog's undivided attention. I bet I only shocked my pit mix 10 times in her life. I hated shocking her, but it was for her own good and she got to go along on some really fun adventures off lead that she never would have been able to experience without the collar training. As for brand, I always used Sport Dog. They're affordable and available at most farm stores. I don't really think the brand matters much, as long as it has decent range of voltage adjustment, and a beep function.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by KC911

Though I've never used one, I can see how on low settings they could be very useful in the right hands...as an aid to proper training....absolutely.

Yup, they work.

I was raised with gun/duck dogs (primarily Labs), as well as working LEO dogs.
A good shock-collar is an asset to any serious K9 training regimen IMO (if used as properly/as intended).

We always had/used TriTronics collars, and they were nearly indestructible (and waterproof). I wouldn't even bother with any of the cheap alternatives. YMMV...

[smokintr6]

Originally Posted by vash

get that dog exhausted before any training?

having said that, my buddy had a beagle that would run and run once the leash came off. this was a bunny chaser dog that went feral immediately.

he got a shock collar. it worked almost immediately. just a tap. that dog eventually associated that collar with "fun" and would walk into it. just nose right in.

i've never tried one. my friend did shock himself first..he set it on low and he said it didnt hurt. it was just a tap.

I did shock myself first as well... and every time we got replacement collars. It didn't hurt, but it was very not enjoyable.

[piscator]

I'm a dog trainer and I hate this topic!

E-collars are great when used properly. If the dog shows anything more than an ear twitch while it's being used, you're doing it wrong. If the animal winces, noticeably, you're REALLY doing it wrong. The goal is training, not discipline. Using the collar at any higher level defeats the purpose and only makes the dog rebellious. As it would you!

The e-collar is a training tool, NOT a discipline tool. It's a stimulus, like a treat, clicker, praise, whistle, etc. Theoretically, all stimuli are potentially equal in training, (See B.F. Skinner, Pavlov). In practice, different dogs respond to different stimuli. For example, many dogs are praise oriented but not food motivated. Some are oriented to toys. The key is to find the stimulus that works best with a particular dog.

A very effective method is to 'stack stimuli' that is use more than one in a given instance. Teaching a dog 'recall' (come back to me) I put the dog on a twenty foot lead, back up twenty feet and -- call the dog -- that's stimulus #1. Simultaneously, I activate the e-collar (set so he feels it as no more than a nudge) that's stimulus #2 I may have to give a brief tug of the lead, stimulus #3. And of course, treat and praise when the dog follows the command successfully, that's stimulus #4 and #5.

With difficult behavors, particularly with sporting dogs, the e-collar is a God-send and sometimes the only thing that works. It has to be used correctly.

Also, different tools need to be used in different settings. Clickers mark a moment in time for the dog and are great for agility training. They don't work well when the dog is 100 feet away. And yet, I still know trainers that swear clickers are the 'only' way... sheeesh!,

Keep in mind that proper training is essential for the health of the dog and the people around it. The e-collar can be very important to insuring all parties well-being.

Lastly, the budget e- collars typically found in big box pet stores are worse than using no collar at all. DON'T buy one. They are imprecise, making them FAR more susceptible to being turned up too high and banging the dog with voltage. Defeats the purpose. Best by far are the Garmin products. I have no relationship to this website, but these folks are great:

gundogsupply.com

Good luck, Robert