# The use of e-collars in field training, introducing the dog to the collar



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I'd like to continue the e-collar discussion as a new thread.
My intention is not to re-hash and re-hash and re-hash ad nauseum whether or not e-collars should be used.
I'd like this particular thread to be people sharing stories, for the curious, about _how their dog was introduced to the e-collar_ and the dog's reaction to it. It might help dispel a lot of myths about e-collars.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

How Tito was introduced to the e-collar
It was about a 6 week project.
The first 2-3 weeks he wore the collar, off, every time we went somewhere fun, and often in the yard and around the house so he would get used to the weight of the collar on his neck. Also it's tighter than his regular collar, so he needed to get used to that, too. 
By this time he was really looking forward to seeing the collar come out, it meant good things.
Next our pro had me put a leash on Tito, I walked around and did some very, very basic obedience with him, such as sit, down, and stay. Meanwhile there were a lot of distractions going on, because otherwise Tito was too compliant to get any corrections in. If Tito didn't comply, the pro gently nicked him with the collar. The point of this was to find the level at which Tito acknowledged the collar, so he started at the lowest setting and moved it up one click each time (my collar has a lot of settings). He was looking for Tito to blink, which he said is usually the first response when they've felt it. That's our "training level", the blink level, which means he has felt the stimulation but his response is so minor we know it didn't "hurt" him.
Then the next couple of weeks the collar was used in conjunction with the leash, so that he would begin to think of it as just an extension of the leash, no more, no less. It doesn't hurt him, it's the same "level" of correction to him as a slight leash pop. It was used only on things which we know he understands very very well, again, sit, here, and heel. I would use the leash, the pro would nick him with the collar and say "nick" when he did so that I was able to learn the proper timing of a collar nick.
And that was Tito's introduction to the e-collar.


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## Tuckers Mom (Nov 12, 2010)

I will jump in, even though Tucker is not a formally trained field dog, he is off leash most of the time at the park we vist daily for his fetching/retrieving and socialization. He was introduced to the e-collar via a trainer that specializes in using them, after many many attempts to tame his wild behaviour, and " shelter dog" syndrome with not discipline, no manners, and well..... he was a bit " testy" to other dogs, and particulary thought his job was to challenge and battle every dog he encountered. I have never had issue with them, and believe that in cases where you need to have 100% control and Total recall is necessary for his own safety then this is precisely when they should be used. Tucker completed basic obedience first, and we introduced the collar on the lowest stimilus to get his attention and focus. He at first was more curious as if the " ground was moving" kind of reaction. From there we worked on tone only alerts to get him to obey basic commands like come, drop, leave it, etc. There have been a few instances where conflict errupted and he had to be discouraged from fighting, and with the use of a stonger stimulus, he now knows and recognizes that this is NOT an option, and quickly moves on, as the stimulus breaks the mindset to snap him out of it. I have also used his collar to break him of the following habits: Counter surfing, jump greets, and mouthing. At the hands of an excellent experienced trainer, you can learn so much, and more importantly, learn properly. He is off leash more than on, and has excellent recall, and I have total trust in him, as he does I, and he is 200 times more confident than when I adopted him 1 year ago. 

MTA: Collar= Joy, Play time, Working time, He does not mind his collar fit at all, even sleeps with it on when Mommy forgets to take it off, it's not hardware anymore, more like second skin like his traditional collar.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Thanks Barb. I don't want to re-hash it either. But--because I felt like I was there once (anti-ecollar) and now that I actually put myself out there and use it I just want people to know that it isn't this horrible thing when used appropriately. 

Scout was like Tito. I did not want her to become collar wise and I did not want a dog who crouched, etc when the collar came out. She wore a dummy collar (while I shopped) for at least a month and a half. I had her wear it off and on. At the house, always field training, on off leash walks, etc. 

When I first put her collar on her I put it at the lowest setting and worked up. When I found the setting that produced only a twitch of the ear that it where I put my baseline. 

She was first introduced to 'here' first. I had a long rope on her and took her to a big field. She was nicked at a low level while simultaneously getting a slight tug on the rope when told 'here' to develop the association. Her prancing in circles with the bumper disappeared in a single day. It was that effective and I still had a eager and happy dog.


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## sterregold (Dec 9, 2009)

I have several who are collar conditioned.

Winter was the first. I had started field work with him not wanting to FF or CC (as we had already been doing a lot of obedience and I felt I had good control with him.) But in the field it became a different matter. He always returned when called, and that sort of stuff, but once he got on birds he began to refuse bumpers. By this point I had been watching others in the group who did use e-collars, and preconceptions had not been borne out. So I decided that he had too much talent to waste and to step into a traditional program. Physically he is a very tough dog, so FF was hard the traditional ear-pinch way. At that point, someone who had used a method similar to Bill Hillman's suggested collar conditioning him and then doing collar force instead. We proceeded the standard way with the basic CC process--once I got my collar he wore it in place of a buckle collar for a variety of activities and around the house. After a couple of weeks we began to condition to "here" starting at the lowest level, and going up progressively until I could see a distinct reaction, then one notch higher, and one more until I got a more pronounced reaction--then backed off down to the level before that one as our standard running level. As it turns out when we got to our handling work, I actually had to run him on the higher level otherwise I was only nagging him--his motivation to do what he wanted was stronger than the correction I was giving him--so that is something to be aware of when doing the CC process. You want to use the minimum level required to get the desired response from the dog, but must balance that with the level being high enough to be a meaningful correction. Otherwise you are doing the collar equivalent of just nudging the dog in the shoulder over and over again.

Breeze and her son Butch are both much softer dogs--and for them the CC process went very smoothly, interestingly enough. I think part of it was my improved knowledge of the collar's use, and the other part that they could separate the correction from "mom" and were still happy to work for me. Bonnie has been more like Winter--we hit a bit of a bump on sit as she had fooled me a bit about her working level--when it was something she wanted to do she acted like she got it, but when it was something she wasn't as keen on, like the remote sit it became more clear that she needed to be conditioned on at least one level higher. She responds similarly to a leash correction on her show lead. She looks cute but she is tough!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Quinn and Gabby are CC'd. The person we went to, who trains with our now trainer, had us put the collar on, leave it off, have the dog wear it as much as possible, around the house, for walks, dinner time... just get used to it. 

Then she had us use it for basic KNOWN commands. First was come, actually we used that to figure out their "level", both my dogs reacted by the second level very low. We did not want fear, we wanted a "what is that" reaction. Then we progressed further (taking a few weeks to complete) to using it on known commands. Reinforce the basic command. Both our dogs, got done quickly and easily. Gabby is considerably softer than Quinn, and with every step of every process from start to where she is now (certainly not 'finished') she hits a confusion point. Once she figures out the exercise, confusion is over and she is past that and gets the process. In her CC work EARLY she would freeze, once she figured out OH do what they are saying, the freezing stopped and she never did it again. I would say it took maybe 3 freezes to fix. Not 3 days. Ran into it with FF, pile work, and I am starting to see it with our whistle sit work too. She will get it, I just need to clearly show her yes and no, and I am not sure "I" am doing my part right... I degress. 

Both our dogs see us get out the collar holders and they start running to the door, jumping up and down, they know they are going to go have some fun. They in no way associate any correction with the collar at all. Maybe with the handler but not the collar.


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