Mag-Pie
Well-Known Member
"... as long as you are using the collar correctly and at the appropriate level for your dog, it will not cause any fear or agression issues. I think more dogs turn aggressive or have fear from people screaming at them. Our trainer almost whispers the commands, and with him Zola is on point and running to her "place".
^^^ x2
The e-collar I use is the newest SMS collar, they have a few different ones. It has 1-7 stimulation levels, with low/medium/high intensity ranges. Also has the option to train with vibration or tone. Luther's working level is usually 3 indoors, and sometimes 4 outdoors where there's more distractions. The only time he was worked on 6-7 was when he was being handled by other trainers, not his usual trainer, as a part of aggressive dog class training I attended. He hates complying with strangers, and was pretty much ignoring them until they turned up the levels. Then he did everything that was asked of him, although he did it with attitude, and as soon as he would perform command given he would try walking off back to me. After all, I am his primary handler. LOL. I tried the intensity from 1-7 on myself, 1 is completely unnoticeable, 3 is very comfortable, and 7 gets my attention. Nothing extreme though, IMO. One way to explain what it feels like is: the impulses mimic the action potential coming from the central nervous system, causing muscle contraction. This technology is used in physical therapy and rehabilitation of patients. Training started out with dog on leash, wearing the collar, teaching him commands and what is expected of him, the button is always pressed in conjunction with the command given, it is NEVER used as a punishment tool - you never just zap the dog to make him stop whatever it is you don't want him doing. The way I see it, it works like a tap on the shoulder would to a person, it gets his attention and reminds him to pay attention to me and my commands, and snaps him out of whatever else he might be focusing on at the moment.
Before I decided to go with this training program, I met with the trainer, he came to my house for a free demo, evaluated my dog and demonstrated the e-collar, answered all my questions AND showed off his 2 demo dogs. They also have all kinds of training videos on youtube, so I already had an idea of what to expect, plus I did my research on them. I liked what I saw, and the rest is history. Luther's reaction to the first stimulation was nothing more then a look to the right, since that is the side of his neck the contact points are positioned on. There was no fear, no confusion, more like “hey, what was that?â€. This was 3 months ago, and Luther is still going through group classes, which are designed to proof the commands under all kinds of distractions, e.g., people, dogs, noises, etc. Also I work/train with him on a daily basis, doing short training drills, teaching new commands, etc., with and without the collar. He's very obedient, listens well, and comes when I call, with or without the collar. However, with the collar he does perform instantly, and without it he likes to take his sweet time, and sometimes will test my patience, and what he can get away with. NILF.
Training is a lifetime commitment of consistency, so as far as I am concerned his training will never stop. He is still a juvenile, about 18 months old, so he still has a way to go before he is a stable adult. In the meantime, Luther seems very happy with this type of training, he loves going to class, and shows no fear nor aggression while wearing the collar. In fact, he is less fearful and aggressive then what he was like when I started his training. On a side note, he came to me with some behavioral issues and has progressed nicely. He's still a work in progress, but I know I've done extremely well in working to rehabilitate his “issues†so far. And as far as having him off-leash, I would NEVER allow him to just run around in public (park, beach, woods, etc.) without him wearing the e-collar. Dogs are dogs, might get distracted, they don't use logic, they don't reason things out, even IF they are obedience trained. And I like knowing that I can get his attention at any time, and he will not blow me off (which he might) because he found something somewhere that captured his attention. The e-collar is a tool that gives me that control over him at a distance. And SMS offers lifetime group class membership, which is a plus for me; they specialize in family pet training and K-9 police dog training. The company has something like 72 locations in the U.S.. Their program features an "attention-based dog training system†and the e-collar is essential to it. They have very positive reviews from previous clients, and I found them very helpful, so I have no reservations in regards to this type of training. This is just a quick explanation (haha, sorry) of what training was/is like with the e-collar for me, if you'd like more details you can PM me with more questions. Cheers!