Legitimate use of Shock Collars? My experience..

[bianca]

Perhaps have a look at this site

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I am not against them and even have one (heaven forbid).

[Mooch]

Haha Bianca don't use it out in public here in Vic they are restricted use *sigh*

[KayleeGSD]

Originally Posted by bianca

Perhaps have a look at this site

Home

I am not against them and even have one (heaven forbid).

Yes this is a good site filled with info. Right now I am still working on our foundation. Pretty soon I will be getting an e collar for advanced training. I do not have a problem with using e collars. I actually went to a store and tested a collar out on myself to see exactly what it did and how it felt.

[Bear L]

Originally Posted by KayleeGSD

I actually went to a store and tested a collar out on myself to see exactly what it did and how it felt.

I did the same and tried several levels before I put it on my dog.

I'm curious how other dogs react initially then later to the ecollar. Maybe I should start a separate thread on it. At the beginning, it depressed my dog greatly when I just buzzed her (no zap, just a paging feature). She was sad for couple hours, wouldn't take treats. After she got over that one time, she is turning out to have quite a threshold for electricity and it can even get her more excited when she is already in an excited state. Now that she gets it, she does well on it. It's more like a signal to her of what I want enforced at a long distance - since she thought long distance equals no need to listen to me. She is still happy as a clam on her off leash hikes - where I use it mostly. The experience has been positive so far. I just started on it.

[Kdrees]

We got one too just because my guy can be very difficult to snap him out of a moment - like chasing deer. We only use it at the lowest possible setting to get his attention - which at this point is level 2.... he is a bit of a wimp. It's not something that we use often but usually when we are out and about on the ATV running with him and he gets distracted.


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[jocoyn]

I have had the high powered stim fail on a very driven dog. It can also cause the dog to redirect aggression on something else or to completely loose it and run away/freak out. I was stupid and got lucky that it simply did not really phase her. Actually she also took the full hit of a cattle fence and other than twitching a second, continued her pursuit.

I went to Lou Castle's approach for crittering which is VERY LOW stim and it worked much better and with longer duration. Sure, a powerful aversive has a lasting memory but can backfire and can undo some of the dogs natural confidence if it is effective.

I learned my lesson with Beau and exposed him to farm animals from a very young age and he learned that they were not particularly interesting. Did not have to pull out the ecollar.

[GoSailGo]

This is really interesting I've never even heard of shock collars for horses. It would probably come in really handy to get a herd bully under control. Hierarchy is all well and good, unless someone isn't getting enough food or getting the crud kicked out of him.

As for dogs, I had a friend who tried everything but couldn't get a consistent recall from her dog. She was working with a trainer and her last effort was to use an e-collar. I never saw any of the process, as I live very far away and only see them about twice a year...all I know is that the next time I saw the dog a few months later, she came when called and was really good about everything. So it worked for my friend. I definitely think e-collars have their uses and I'm not about to condemn them just because I've never used one before.

[robk]

I have no problem with e-collars. At this time I don't feel the need to use them but am open to their correct usage when appropriate. We have club members that use them with fantastic success and we also have club members who over use them (IMO).

[Olivers mama]

Originally Posted by GoSailGo

This is really interesting I've never even heard of shock collars for horses. It would probably come in really handy to get a herd bully under control. Hierarchy is all well and good, unless someone isn't getting enough food or getting the crud kicked out of him.

As for dogs, I had a friend who tried everything but couldn't get a consistent recall from her dog. She was working with a trainer and her last effort was to use an e-collar. I never saw any of the process, as I live very far away and only see them about twice a year...all I know is that the next time I saw the dog a few months later, she came when called and was really good about everything. So it worked for my friend. I definitely think e-collars have their uses and I'm not about to condemn them just because I've never used one before.

We board our horse with a friend. She's got 3 other horses & 1 is a Classic Snot. Food aggressive. Pushy. When we first took Bud there, this horse would attempt to ram him. Bud would stare at him like he was nuts - Bud's twice his size. He'd shrug off the horse, to no avail - the other guy kept coming back. She finally resorted to "electric teaching/training". Within a month, the other horse was under control & - to my knowledge - has not rammed Bud since. A Clydesdale, Bud is huge. But a Gentle Ben. This other horse had the dominant personality & chose to display it nastily. It was stopped with the introduction of e-sources.

I never thought I'd even conSIDer using a shock collar on a dog. Understanding that horses are different from dogs, I can see where an e-collar would be very useful (using the RIGHT methods, aka Lou Castle) with dogs.

As soon as we can, we're going to purchase 1 for Ziva. After 2 years & lots of blunders (from trainers & then from us), I am quite tired of some of her antics. And - to be honest - most of our local trainers stink. Charge huge $$, but that's all they do. I won't put her in a stranger's hands again. Sgt. Castle's methods make sense to me & his ways are not abusive.

Not everyone has a GSD who's easy to train. Or mellow. Some dogs - whether it be breeding or upbringing - are difficult. The e-collar is a tool to achieve obedience, especially for the "hard to reach" dog. It can mean the difference between keeping a dog or putting it down. Given those alternatives, I'll choose the e-collar any day.

[Jd414]

Originally Posted by KayleeGSD

Yes this is a good site filled with info. Right now I am still working on our foundation. Pretty soon I will be getting an e collar for advanced training. I do not have a problem with using e collars. I actually went to a store and tested a collar out on myself to see exactly what it did and how it felt.

Doesn't hurt at all... Even on the highest setting...


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