Basic Training :: Getting Started with an E-Collar

 For a dog trainer, the e-collar is just another tool that we can use in our program. It's going to take the place of the leash, and we will start to substitute using the e-collar in the leash's place. This cannot be used to teach while we're working with the dog. They need to be taught prior to applying the e-collar.

 

How do you start training with an E collar?

Once they've learned their skills and they're comfortable doing their skills, then we can use this in place of the leash. When you first take your collars out of the box, and your transmitter out of the box, you want to charge them. Put them on the charger for two hours. They'll go to a full charge in that length of time and be ready to use. 

What age should you start training with a shock collar?

You'll know that when they need to be recharged, the light on your receiver will be blinking red and the light on your transmitter, when you press the button, will be red instead of green. If you've got a green light here and a green light here, you've got plenty of battery life.

If you've got a red light when it's blinking and you've got a red light here, that means you can train a little bit longer but you're going to need to get this thing on a charger pretty quickly. 

When should you start using an E collar?

Okay, to turn the unit on, we're gonna turn the receiver on. It has an on/off button on top of the receiver. You're going to press that button, and the green light will start to blink saying that it is on. The transmitter does not have an on/off button. It is on demand. When you press a button, any of the three buttons that are on it, it's on but when you release the button it's off. 

Can e-collars make dogs aggressive?

Therefore you don't have to turn this on and off. As soon as you turn this on, you want to send it a signal from the transmitter just to make sure that they're synced up. I'm pressing the continuous button right now and you see a continuous red light here.

 That means that they are paired and they're ready to go. As you start to introduce your dog to the e-collar, one the first things you want to do is put it on the dog.

How do you stop pulling on an E collar?

Tension and tightness here is very important. There's multiple ways to do this. My rule of thumb is I pull it to a specific hole on the collar strap, where it's very tight, and I'll back out one hole. That allows you to get a finger underneath it, and that you can get a finger under the collar, and you know it's not too tight. 

It's not strangling him. Once that is done, then it's time to do something fun. So, immediately after you put your e-collar on your dog, it's time now to throw a tennis ball or throw a bumper and make him start to believe that when this goes on, we get to do something fun. So he looks forward to you putting an e-collar on. 

It is his uniform to get to go play in the game. So how do we get a dog to understand that this is nothing more than a leash? In our training, as we start to teach this dog, we're going to be applying leash pressure with our leash on his neck. That's where the leash will contact him. As we use the e-collar, it's going to be contacting the dog at the exact .

Same location. So now, each time that we give a tug on the leash, we're going to give a light bump with a transmitter to send the signal to the e-collar, to give the dog the stimulation. It's just a light tap. Each time that we use a tug on the leash, we're going to tap him with the collar. Before too long, in his mind, these two, the leash and the e collar, are the exact same thing.

There is no difference between them. Now with that, you need to be careful. Probably the first two weeks, we're gonna have a min/max rule. No more than five stimulations per session so that you can avoid over stimulating the dog and having him start to worry about this. Get at least three stimulations in, so that he can start to learn the lesson we're trying to teach him.

 That this and our leash are the exact same thing.As you start to stimulate your dog you're going to use low levels of stimulation, and what we're looking for is the reaction from the dog. 

It could be for him to stop and turn his head and look at you. What I typically look for is a little bit of head drop and a swallow response out of the dog. If you look closely, most the time when you see that they're saying I understand.

 I accept. I know I've done something incorrect here. Once we see that response, then we're going to start to think about that level on our intensity and stay in that level. Any time that you see your dog vocalizing, you're out of bounds and you need to turn that wheel down.

Rule of thumb here though, is to always use the minimum amount of pressure necessary to get the dog to respond and to stop what his instincts are trying to tell him to do.

Used properly, this is much easier on the dog than a regular leash is, because it's less contact, it's less intensity, but they've just been conditioned through training to understand they have to stop when they feel this. It's the word "no" to them. It tells them to stop their actions..