Ecollars an wet dogs

[Hattrick]

To day i had a weird experience when i corrected Luci with the ecollar i have the pro 90 TT . She was wet from the rain an when i corrected her, she yelp an it almost knocked her off her feet, i had it on #2 setting wick is mild .. Does the dog being wet make a difference in the amount of stimulation being transmitted. I didn`t like this at all it only confused the s%& out of her an scared me...I tried the ecollar on myself to make sure it was working right it seemed to be the only difference was i was dry.. anyone else ever have this happen?

[Sharon]

Absolutely been my experience too. When the collar is wet - after swimming - I turn down the level.

[RayGubernat]

Here's my thnking on the subject...

No matter how tight we make the collar, on dry skin there is some electrical resistance, so the stimulation effect is diminished. Also if the dog is dry and standing on dry ground is is similarly insulated. If the dog is wet, there is NO resistance, the dog is totally gorounded and the dog gets the full force of the stimulation.

I found that one out the hard way when I touched an electric fence while standing in a wet spot. I got a whole new appreciation of what a horse must experince when it touches the wire with its very sensitive nose while standing on wet ground in steel shoes. YEEEOW!

RayG

[lightonthebay]

Here's my thnking on the subject...

No matter how tight we make the collar, on dry skin there is some electrical resistance, so the stimulation effect is diminished. Also if the dog is dry and standing on dry ground is is similarly insulated. If the dog is wet, there is NO resistance, the dog is totally gorounded and the dog gets the full force of the stimulation.

I found that one out the hard way when I touched an electric fence while standing in a wet spot. I got a whole new appreciation of what a horse must experince when it touches the wire with its very sensitive nose while standing on wet ground in steel shoes. YEEEOW!

RayG

Ray, I agree with your first sentence -- a wet dog does increase conductivity between the probes and the skin of the dog; however, I dont believe the e-collars are grounded with the earth but rather the electricity travels between the probes (positive and negative). So I would guess the moisture content of the earth is not a factor.

Regarding your horse analogy, don't forget to add the extreme weight of the horse which digs down closer to damp soil when the earth otherwise appears to be dry. I have experienced no shock when the earth was dry even though my horses did, in the same spot, merely because they dug deeper into the earth because of their greater weight (maybe not so much difference anymore) and smaller footprint than me. That is a good analogy for a tight e-collar verses a loose one.

[Georgia Boy]

A while back I was reading an article and it cautioned people on using livestock electric fences with dogs because of their higher blood saline content. Aparently it makes a difference with conductivity. Maybe on of our resident experts could elaborate on this.

[lightonthebay]

A while back I was reading an article and it cautioned people on using livestock electric fences with dogs because of their higher blood saline content. Aparently it makes a difference with conductivity. Maybe on of our resident experts could elaborate on this.

I have no expert opinion but my layman clinical observation is that neither species likes gettin' zapped! I have never known of a dog or any other animal that has been siginificantly injured by the electric shock of an equine fence. I am not aware of a salinity difference in the blood between horse and dogs. I would have guessed that any difference would have weighed heavier on the horse side because of the amount of salt a horse can tolerate in it's drinking water. Do you have a link or other source to the article?

[RayGubernat]

Lightonthebay -

You may very well be correct about the way the stimulation works with a collar and that being grounded is irrelevant. I don't think I am in ready to test it out though.

I can tell you this about horse fencing...I'd much rather be wearing rubber boots when I touch the fence wire than bare feet and I don't even want to think about wearing steel shoes like the horses do.

RayG

[birddog1968]

juice from the collar flows from one probe to the other across a small patch of skin.....Ground is one of the probes on the collar, earth ground has nothing to do with it. Equine fence can work to earth ground (ground rod) or from wire to wire depending how its hooked up.

Water is an insulator.....its the impurities (minerals for example) that conduct. A wet dog may very well offer a better path for current flow but only in the same way as a dry dog for the most part....from one probe to the other by the shortest route....electricity is very predictable if nothing else.

[lightonthebay]

Lightonthebay -

You may very well be correct about the way the stimulation works with a collar and that being grounded is irrelevant. I don't think I am in ready to test it out though.

RayG

Ray maybe we should do tests on our girlfriends and/or wives? We don't want to be cruel so, just do the test on a mid-range setting!

[bpenn1980]

I just bought the tritronics G3 basic for my dog. Before I put it on her I strapped it to my arm and tried out the different levels. I got to 4.5 out of 5, but I was scared of 5. Good to know where I stack up compared to my dog.

On the electric fence topic, when we were kids I once had my cousins and I all hold hands with wet gloves on (playing in the snow) and then I grabbed the electric horse fence. Strange thing, it only shocked the last one farthest away from the fence, my cousin erik. If I remember correctly he wasnt very happy, so I bet being wet does make a difference. Just thought I'd share that

[Hattrick]

For testing the arm dont count, you have to put on your neck