Sienna Brick Road

This series of articles is based on my personal experiences training with an electronic collar.

 This article describes the e-collar and how it works and the theory behind the method.

I have been training dogs for a number of years in obedience, schutzhund, personal protection, tracking and agility.  As long as I am able I will likely continue to train.  I have always welcomed new ideas, theories, methods and equipment.  An open mind and the willingness to learn new things has helped me to advance my skills and further achieve my goals.

I bought my first e-collar about ten years ago and I still use it today. I own the Tritronics Sport 60. It is designed for medium to large breeds. I have been happy with the quality of this collar but I would have liked to have had the option to change the length of the prongs to use with some of the heavier coated dogs I have trained.  This was not a big problem, but it is a feature I would look for in a future purchase.  The Sport 60 has a paging button that allows you to send a soft tone that is usually only heard by the dog.  I have used this for a silent recall and it works fairly well.  It also has two larger color coded buttons used to deliver the electronic sensation (what I call the stim) to the dog.  One button is used for a short burst, so you would have to release the button and push it again if you want to resend.  The other button is continuous and delivers a stim as long as your finger is on the button.  The strength of correction this collar delivers is adjustable with six progressive choices of 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.  The collar is rechargeable and the remote unit takes a 9 volt battery.  The time it takes to discharge the collar varies depending on weather and how often you press the button and at what intensity.  I had no problems with using the collar all day on more then one dog and never ran out of power.  It does take several hours to recharge so I would put it on the charger overnight. 

I did experience ALL of the intensity levels on my bare skin, first on my arm and then on my neck.  This might sound unnecessary, but I wanted to have at least some understanding of what the dog is experiencing throughout the training.  Level 1/2 is so mild it is not so much a correction as an alert.  Level 5 hurt, but I can see how all levels are useful depending on how you fit the collar and the sensitivity of the dog.  The level I usually use is 2. 

How you fit the collar and how you condition the dog BEFORE using this training method is crucial.  The collar is not used as a correction for undesirable behavior but more of a communication tool that the dog learns HE can control.  You can achieve a lot with the proper use of this valuable tool, but in my opinion, you can also mess a dog up and cause a lot of problems if you do not use it correctly.  Take your time, do your homework and you should end up with a well trained reliable dog.

My next article covers how to fit the collar and how to condition the dog prior to starting your training.  It also covers the theory behind this training method and why it works so well. 

http://siennabrickroad.com/2010/02/training-with-an-electronic-collar-part-two/

You can find a selection of Electronic Training Collars at the SBR Dog Store.  I have not purchased a collar in a number of years and I see there are improvements in features and price since I bought my first one.  I will do a review of whats new soon. 

[Part Two]    [Part Three]