What age to introduce e-collar?

shootist · Post by **shootist** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:07 pm

What age do you recommend first using an e-collar on a dog?

Dirtysteve · Post by **Dirtysteve** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:28 pm

Shootist
I may take some crap over this but I have put e-collars on both my pups starting about 6 months old. I dont use it at this age I just let them get used to it. Everytime I take them out in the field it is on so when they see it coming they start getting excited because they know we are going to have fun. I transition the check cord and pinch collar to the e-collar. West/Walker method. Once they know what standing up and standing still is with the pinch and check cord I start using the e-collar with that. Eventually the check cord and pinch collar comes off and he knows that the e-collar is the same.

Wesley Boothe · Post by **Wesley Boothe** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:50 pm

I think alot depends on the dog and it's temperment and the owners experience with e collars and their temperment. I have GSP's and have started introducing the e collar to them when they are 5-6 months old. That is assuming you get the dog at 7-9weeks and have spent 3-4 months with them teaching and reinforcing the basics. As I progress with more "serious" field work, that is about the time I start introducing the e collar and they are usually around 5-6 months old at that time. With my first dog I read the e collar training booklet that came with the collar and watched the video. That was very helpful as the last thing I wanted to do was ruin a good dog with my ignorance. Anyway, that has been my experience. Good luck!

markj · Post by **markj** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:17 pm

Be carefull! some see the ecollar as devils work

I start a pup on my e fence at about 4 months of age, turn the collar way down tho. I use a e collar in the field as soon as training starts, not as a shock but using the tone setting to get their attention. Sometimes it just dont work tho and i get to see a bunch of pheasants way off with pup flushin them. Which is OK for pups first year out.

At about 6 months I start with the collar as a "range" tool only. I do not use it for discipline, they know that by age 6 months. Voice commands work better for me early on then I use only hand signals when out in the field. Any noise late on will get the birds moving fast in the opposite direction, so being quite is important to me.

As I said, some tho do not like ecollars and will take you to the mat for using one.

tailcrackin · Post by **tailcrackin** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:05 pm

Dirty steve, agree take the heat, common sense is common sense, people don't understand sometimes, wanna make a job out of it, instead of teaching the dog. Why the yard work for them falls apart in the field. I don't like using nothing electric that I don't have control of. That is something that always comes out in the wash later, promise

Post by **kninebirddog** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:38 pm

Type of training method with mentality and what you have done with training to prepare the pup for what commands are...The type of e collar you have as if you go through all the proper procedures in your training and have a coller which has LIGHT levels of stimulation the lay over from one to the other is easy...
AS for sound warnings I first thight this to be a great idea...but have since done a 180 on that thinking using for a postive note maybe but if you use your tones for warnings and then decide to go to a beeper collar...well you can be setting your dog up for some serious confusion...
the e fence i am not a great fan of this...first off if your in a neighborhood and a dog comes into your yard they get close to the fence ....your dog yelps ....well I see to many things which raise a red flag to me for them and also I have seen dogs which have come for training how are in e fence yards...they wouldn't pass simple things which interfered with training these dogs...But this is what I have observed and MHO.
The E Collar is only an extension of the check cord and commands already known and as with any training device even a common leash if a person doesn't handle and learn what to do, they all can be bad thing for a confused dog .....

I recommend the huntsmith methods for thsoe learning....the seminars are awesome and I have seen this method work for those learning faster and with more understanding then other methods...many methods are good...just some are easier to understand...and as for seminar Rick smith takes your dog and shows you how the methods work ..he doesn't bring his own dog to show you...

Good luck

TAK · Post by **TAK** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:19 pm

Wesley Boothe wrote:I think alot depends on the dog and it's temperment and the owners experience with e collars and their temperment. I have GSP's and have started introducing the e collar to them when they are 5-6 months old. That is assuming you get the dog at 7-9weeks and have spent 3-4 months with them teaching and reinforcing the basics. As I progress with more "serious" field work, that is about the time I start introducing the e collar and they are usually around 5-6 months old at that time. With my first dog I read the e collar training booklet that came with the collar and watched the video. That was very helpful as the last thing I wanted to do was ruin a good dog with my ignorance. Anyway, that has been my experience. Good luck!

Ditto!

markj · Post by **markj** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:16 am

the e fence i am not a great fan of this...first off if your in a neighborhood and a dog comes into your yard they get close to the fence ....your dog yelps .

Well if the dog does this over and over again I would question the dogs intelligence. Mine know exactly where the boundary is and get this the collars first make a noise, then they vibrate, then shock so they do get two warnings. I also live out in the country, no neighborhood here, no wandering dogs, no dogs getting run over in the road which has happened to me with a very expensive female.

My neighdors that live 1/4 mile away are now installing e fences after they see how well it works on my dogs. This is not the el cheapo fence you get at TSC I use PetSafe radio fence and the heavy direct bury 18 or 20 ga wire from menards it is 20.00 per 500 ft, less than petsafes lighter junk wire.

I view the ecollar as a lazy way to achieve a goal, when the batteries die and the collar quits working? I use it as a far reaching re-inforcement if at all,. my male? never hit the button once this year. A beeper? never use one, Pheasants can hear them and belive it or not they learn what sounds mean hunt, and they head the other way. I dont use a bell either as it has the same effect.

Been hunting pheasants since 1964 and I have shot one or two in my time

That year we could take a hen, populations were so high that year, in nebr anyway.