Gun Dog Forum

I am new to training with a collar as was wondering how you can tell if your dog is freaked out by the collar. I just don't want to push it to far and have him scared of it.

let your dog wear the collar dont even turn it on put it on the dog when you let it out to run or play the dog will asc. the collar as a good thing .when you do start useing the collar make sure your dogs know what your asking it to do and use the lowest stimalation as poss.if your not sure what to do there are some good training videos on youtube about this .

Your dog should never show being freaked out by collar if you follow a solid conditioning program. You start at 0 stimulus and slowly go up until you see that the dog notices "something". That sign is generally a look at you. It shouldn't jump or jolt or vocalize. You want the least amount of stim necessary that the dog recognizes. And as mentioned let it wear it without it being on for a week or 2 first.

I think what he want's is how to adjust the collar to the dog. Put it on turned on when your ready to start. Turn the intensity all the way down and start working up very slowly until your dog notice's it, you will be able to tell. On my Stormy All I need is the vibrator, freaks him out! I use it turned way down and you'll notice he feels it and he does respond but If ya get upset with him, vibrate him! Never had a dog like that before!

How old is your dog? What training has he completed?

One of the most common mistakes people make is they try to use the collar to teach the dog new commands, it should be used only to reinforce commands your dog already does 90% of the time. The second most common mistake with collars is people who start using the collar on a dog that is not mature enough to handle the pressure. The third most common problem with use of an e-collar use, is to use to much intensity on the collar! As noted above, if the dog flinches, jumps, or verbalizes, you blew it! The dog should only, look around, or listen intently when you stimulate the collar...never go beyond that level! You can easily ruin a good dog by using an e-collar improperly.

I personally find introducing the e-collar as the last phase of the Force Fetching process where you substitute the ear pinch or toe pinch with use of the collar.....

Good Luck

I introduced the collar pretty young. Never used stimulation until basic obedience was solid. I used the beep/vibrate as a que starting out. Then it was a light nick with commands. I didn't really introduce true collar pressure until force fetch.

Timewise65 wrote:How old is your dog? What training has he completed?

One of the most common mistakes people make is they try to use the collar to teach the dog new commands, it should be used only to reinforce commands your dog already does 90% of the time. The second most common mistake with collars is people who start using the collar on a dog that is not mature enough to handle the pressure. The third most common problem with use of an e-collar use, is to use to much intensity on the collar! As noted above, if the dog flinches, jumps, or verbalizes, you blew it! The dog should only, look around, or listen intently when you stimulate the collar...never go beyond that level! You can easily ruin a good dog by using an e-collar improperly.

I personally find introducing the e-collar as the last phase of the Force Fetching process where you substitute the ear pinch or toe pinch with use of the collar.....

Good Luck

I missed your line about collar during force fetch. I used light pressure with ear pinch at first then moved into just collar. My issue is my GSPs are very "emotionally" sensitive but have a very high tolerance in other aspects. When running certain drills it takes 2 Dogtras to even get a correction out of one.

DonF wrote:I think what he want's is how to adjust the collar to the dog...

That may be what he wants, but what he needs is to heed as a first-timer what was told him above - and below - about using the e-collar:

Cass wrote:Your dog should never show being freaked out by collar if you follow a solid [e-collar] conditioning program.

MG