Any experience with electronic dog collars

EMTDAD

NES Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2013
Messages
4,699
Likes
6,825
Location
North Attleboro, MA
Feedback: 8 / 0 / 0
wife was out with the dog today and saw a guy using an e-collar to train his dog. Was wondering if anyone here had any experience with one.. thanks.
 
Brought my dog a long time ago to a trainer that used the collar. My dog was so stressed out afterwards and had diarrhea for a day. Slept the whole ride home and was a mess. I’ll never use one.
 
I have one that does zap and tone and vibrate. Vibrate freaked my dog out enough. So I just use that. I would be freaked out too if my neck started buzzing.
Got drunk and did the zapper in my neck.
All I can say is. If you plan to use one on your dog. Make sure you shock yourself so you can fully understand what shitting lightening bolts is
 
I use one on my German Shepard 95% of the time the beep or vibrate is all that is needed to remind her not to jump on people. I did zap myself and even as an electrician and have some threshold to being zapped it hurts so use lowest setting and sparingly.
It has worked well but she gets lots of other training with out the collar.
 
I've used garmin collars w/gps to track my dogs. When one dog was losing her hearing I taught her hand signals. Then, I used the vibration function of the collar combined with the hand signals. When afield I would get her attention with the collar, and she'd look to me for a hand signal. Never needed to use the shock function (they refer to it as "stimulus").

 
An important thing is also to put it on your dog and leave it on for a couple weeks before using any feature
Make sure the dog doesn't become collar smart

It is also not a correction tool while you are communicating in close proximity with your dog.
You can't say sit and if the dog doesn't you can't hit the button. Thats not what its for.
Further distances you can yell a command. If dog doesn't listen , you can hit the button and give command. . As soon as you get to your dog all collar corrections stop. It Pavlovs the dog into thinking he will not be zapped or buzzed when he is close to you. Rather than making him scared all the time. You are his safe zone and it will make him grow more loyal to you rather than making a basket case dog that is always afraid he is gonna get corrected.

Also a good trick to know is orientation of the collar. Lets say you are teaching your dog to stay down. A long down is a huge control to have over your dog. Put the collar on the back of the neck. When they get the buzz or zap they will naturally flinch away from the feeling. Keep that orientation in mind when you are figuring out the movement you are wanting for your dog..
But most importantly. Remember your dog is a member of your family . My dogs train all the time. But they also got a tbone and a rotisserie chicken today.
Pain isn't a thing to put on family. Long zaps are a nono. And use the absolute least you get a response from. Like I said I only need vibrate.
I also hand feed. This strengthens the bond and shows them im the boss. Hope some of this helps
 
Last edited:
Have one for lab - she only gets the beep as that is plenty after training for the invisible fence.
She is very smart and tests the collar all the time. If the batteries die she will sneak out through the neighbors yard so we don't catch her.
Neighbor ratted her out this week and I changed the battery without her knowing (she doesn't wear it when sleeping. She immediately tried to sneak out her usual way - never got shocked - full on NOPE as soon as it beeped.
 
I had to purchase one years ago for my black lab that would not stop barking in his kennel. The neighbors complained to the town and the animal control officer recommended one and told me that after a few days I could remove the battery and the dog would know not to bark when it was on. He was absolutely correct.

A few weeks later I had the MSPCA at my door telling me that a neighbor had contacted them about me abusing my dog and if I did not stop using the collar permanently they would make my life miserable and petition to have my dog removed from my property.

I sold the house a moved a month later.
 
We have one that as levels, beeps, then vibrates the zaps. Each of those have levels of intensity. We turned the zap off completely, we have small dogs so just beep and vibration get the reinforcement across.
 
We have one that as levels, beeps, then vibrates the zaps. Each of those have levels of intensity. We turned the zap off completely, we have small dogs so just beep and vibration get the reinforcement across.
Exactly right. Use the minimum stimulation that gives the desired response. Once dogs get collar conditioned and understand them, they usually respond to less stimulation. The collars are NOT about pain. When used correctly, they are tremendous tools.
 
I use an ecollar when I hunt my dog. When she gets out too far I give her the tone/vibrate. It stops me from yelling commands. Some dogs range a bit and yelling for them is not ideal, id rather just be quiet and use the collar.

If the tone doesn’t work then she gets the lowest stimulation setting and usually that does the trick. My collar has never gone above the 2 setting, that’s usually when the dog starts to hunt for herself and needs a quick tap reminder to stay closer.

I find some breeds are just laser focused on hunting and once and a while need to be brought back to earth

Those that say ecollars are not needed have likely not worked with high strung big running thoroughbred type dogs whose whole focus is to get game.
 
Last edited:
Trained my ex’s Beagle partially with a charged collar. It had multiple levels and you were supposed to use the higher charge when outside because your dog will already be wicked overstimulated and they won’t register the lower levels, while the lower levels inside only feel like a small vibration and they will register them. It was pretty interesting, but we eventially stopped using it because charging it was a pain in the ass and the training was pretty much solidified behavior at that point. Not all of the training stuck with that little Beagle but it was worth it and was exactly what we needed to get her in line. Miss that Beag.
 
Last edited:
If you are using it to stop constant barking you can use a citronella dog collar if you aren't keen on a shock collar
 
An important thing is also to put it on your dog and leave it on for a couple weeks before using any feature
Make sure the dog doesn't become collar smart
I tried it with my last lab. He absolutely knew when the collar was on. Threw the collar away. He ended up being one of the smartest dogs I've ever known.
 
Back
Top Bottom