dog running away - e collar?

[evilstevie]

Our 1.5 year old GSD is generally a good listerner, and generally very obedient.
The only time that he is not, is when I have him off leash in the field behind our house, and he hears the neighbor dog bark. I've tried to keep him on leash and correct him when the neighbor dog makes his appearance, but our GSD knows when he can get away with something and when he can't, so he seldom shows any sign off wanting to visit the neighbor when I have the leash in my hand.

The obvious simple solution is to keep him on leash all the time, but that doesn't make for very good frisbee games or encourage general running around. The second obvious solution to me is to purchase an e collar. I've never had one before, and never had to use one with our previous GSD, but this new GSD seems to have a somewhat thicker skull than did our previous GSD, so I'm looking for some training advice.

Thanks. I have seen some of the other threads on e collars, and I guess I'm just looking for any other specific training advice prior to purchasing one.

[Shaina]

I use an ecollar for my lab who tends to run after rabbits off leash, and it works very well. I recommend getting with a trainer before using one as it is easy to use them incorrectly, but what I started with was -

Put a 15ft line on my lab along with the e-collar. I would give him time to run around and then call him to me. I would use the e-collar and if he didn't understand I would ALSO give the long line a few pops towards me, and AS SOON AS he started coming to me the stimulation would stop. Then TONS and TONS of praise, and back to having fun, throwing a ball, etc. I'd repeat this a few times.

If you have someone that can help you, sometimes my old boss and I would hand each other the line and take turns calling/praising as he would come to us. It became like a habit.

Keep in mind that if you use an e-collar, there is a very good chance that he will know the difference of when he is/isn't wearing it, which means if you take him out off leash, you should ALWAYS have it on. Don't assume that just because you don't need to stimulate him anymore that it means he won't run off without the collar. Always make it fun! Call him to you and then run the other way quickly once you are no longer using the long line... make it seem like coming to you is the best thing ever.

Good luck!

[Lucy Dog]

I think the best use for an e-collar is to reinforce your recall if used correctly. He needs to know the command first though and I'm assuming he does just not with distractions.

I recommend Lou Castles training methods. Home