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Shock Collar, thoughts?

Belvi

Member
I have a 2 year old Cane Corso, love him to death but when I call him when he's off leash he decides when he wants to come. I'm going to purchase a shock collar to work on this as well as jumping on people.

Just wanted to know if you guys have used a shock collar and your thoughts?
 

dpenning

Well-Known Member
I would just refrain from letting him off leash until he has a consistent recall. I would use a longline instead.


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Hiraeth

Well-Known Member
I'm not 100% against shock collars, but I am against them when other training methods haven't been attempted first.

Dogs trained with shock collars show consistently higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in their blood. If your dog is made anxious by a beep, noise, or vibrate, the collar could have detrimental effects on your dog's behavior and levels of anxiety.

Also, if you use a shock collar incorrectly in either of these circumstances, fallout is likely to occur. For example, if you call your dog, your dog goes the other way and then you shock your dog - what has the dog learned? That whenever you call him, he gets shocked. He won't necessarily equate his movement away from you to the shock - he'll relate your command to the shock. So you're likely to teach him that your command results in pain, which will poison the command and make his recall worse, not better. In the jumping situation - your dog is likely jumping on people because he's excited and has poor impulse control. If you shock him when he's jumping on someone, it could teach him that interacting with that person (or all people) can cause pain. Or it could further elevate his excitement/anxiety and potentially cause even more jumping, or a bite to occur.

What have you done to train him to recall and not to jump? How long have you been working on training these desired behaviors?

Shock collars should be a last resort, and should be utilized by a professional in order to get the timing correct and to minimize the risk of fallout.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
My question would be... why isn't your dog coming when called?

Is there something more interesting that YOU out there? Squirrels or other dogs are going to be hard to compete with...

Corsos are strong dogs, and if he thinks he needs to protect you from something, he will go through fire to do so... a shock will not be a deterrent.
One way I heard it put... for guardian/protection and other "heard-headed" dogs, pain is something you "work through". It is not a motivational force.

You need to find the right motivation for your dog to come to you. Treats/bribes often work early on... then mixing random treats with love and praise for being near you... then, hopefully you can count on muscle memory for a sturdy recall (and still provide praise and love on a good finish). If treats are not motivational (make sure you try really, really good treats... like people food, before you give up on treats), a favorite toy, or game of tug might be a good option.

Do you ever punish him for coming to you too slowly? That will backfire.

Does he get too far away to hear you? The shock collar can be used that way - just on vibrate or 'beep' - so you can 'alert' him to a command from a distance.

We tried using a shock collar to interrupt aggressive behavior in a rescue... it did NOT work... it made things worse... so I'm not a big fan (mostly because I recognize MY inability to use it correctly).
I can see a potential for it to work on the jumping issue... if your timing is PERFECT... but there are other ways to teach not jumping on people, too.

Have you don't any formal obedience training, either in a class setting or one-on-one with a trainer?
I'd recommend some clicker training and a long-line if you haven't tried that yet. And... start training a new word if "come" is not working. Teaching a 'touch' or 'target' command (where your hand is a 'target') might be a good option.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I'll also add.... make sure you practice a recall often - and make it a game in itself.

When at the park, randomly ask for a "COME!" get a treat, some praise, some love and then "GO PLAY!" - make sure the come command is not a signal that you're ending play-time at the park.

Run around, make the dog chase YOU! When he catches you "GOOD COME!" - with lots of excited praise... then again... a release to "GO PLAY!" and run around again.
That exercise can help a LOT in removing any negative connotation to coming when called.
 

levans2012

Active Member
I have a 2 year old Cane Corso, love him to death but when I call him when he's off leash he decides when he wants to come. I'm going to purchase a shock collar to work on this as well as jumping on people.

Just wanted to know if you guys have used a shock collar and your thoughts?
I have a dogtra for my 3 year old Corso we went through obedience training and he does well, but we have over 2 acres and squirrels that are more interesting than the "come" command. It is strictly forreinforcement! Don't have to use it because just the sight of the collar and remote and he will automatically sit.
 

PippatheMastiff

Well-Known Member
Dennasmom, I have tried to make ME more interesting than whatever Pippa is smelling but it's very hard. I'm going to start working on the long line you suggested as soon as it warms up. I wanted to thank you for the tips, even though this wasn't my post. Lol


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7121548

Well-Known Member
My neo uses one. Our trainer layered it over foundational training and obedience commands for reinforcement and corrections. It has worked well for my dog. He's a very stubborn, independent guy who came to me as a 3 year old with some serious behavioral issues that purely positive training wasn't able to fix. I believe that an e-collar can be an invaluable tool if used correctly. Check out videos from The Good Dog Training on how to use e-collars. https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGoodDogTraining They are very knowledgable about the tool and have great how-to videos and tips on using it properly.