Love the e-collar!

[Willow]

Mine is the DT *Superdog* EDT 302. No visable antenna on the collars, which I like, but the collars are like a thick plastic material, which isn't real pliable.

I got the model with the warning vibration and nick only, and is good for 1000 yds.

I got mine from *Cabelas* and it was $279.99 and came to $309.05 with S/H.

[TrainerMichelle]

Hi Nicki,
No one got to your question about getting the dog to understand the shock. I use the collar for different things on different dogs.

To correct a non-wanted behavior(what ever the prey):
I first form an association with the word HEY and a prong collar correction. Takes a couple of days depending on breed, age, temperament.... then the transition is natural to the e collar, and I depending on the distraction I will adjust the stim. There are two schools of thought though, to let the dog know it is you giving the stim, or let the dog think the item of interest is giving the correction. I prefer to let the dog know I am giving the stim, because I want to use the collar for off leash work, and I want the dog to know I am in control, and to stop the stim, they must obey me.

To stop crittering:
I introduce the prey at a distance and use the e collar on low stim with an obedience command the dog is comfortable with. As long as the dog stays in the command, he is in the safe zone. If he breaks the command, he gets a knick, and then I reinforce the command If he goes into prey drive, he gets continuous stim, and we back up and give the dog a chance to ignore the prey. Then we will move in closer. With this technique, it is critical you do not stim at a level high enough to cause a yelp, as it will build aggression towards the prey, not avoidance. I have had great success at getting dogs to ignore cats in a sit with the cat 2 feet away using this method.

For obedience work, its a different ballgame. I may never use an e collar or prong collar during obedience work unless the dog is handler aggressive. When I teach commands, I use the dogs natural prey drive to get them to work and I work on building their drive and focus from the time they are about 6-7 weeks old. You can imagine that my dogs have a very hard bite by now! Anyway, I will introduce the collar at the proofing stage and I use the lowest level. The timing and effiency of the e collar for non-compliance in obedience work is unmatched in any other training tool in my own experience. I like it better than a prong collar, it is gentle and easly matched to the dog's temperament. I find the dogs I work on the e collar learn faster and are off leash faster than those only on prong. It is primarily due to timing, and some dogs take corrections from the prong very badly (ie are too submissive, or aggressive) where they will take a stim from an e collar just fine.

I have also had luck using the e collar to fix dog dog aggression, in a manner similar to the way I use it for crittering. I can give you more info on that if you want, but it might be hard to describe it with out showing you the dogs reactions that play a part in my decision on when to stim and for how long...

Anyway, let me know if you want any more help with the collar, I love it and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go completely off leash with out using a prong!
Michelle

[Nicole]

Thanks Michelle. I may consider using an e-collar for off leash, although I am not sure yet. We have a long way to go before we get to off leash. I am just starting to introduce distractions during our OB and so far, we are not doing too well. ;D I need to back up a bit. I think I went forward too fast. My impatience, of course.

[rogerb]

Ed Frawley has recently made a really excellent (IMO) DVD on e-collar use, which is described at leerburg.com

I won't try to summarise the large amount of info about this subject, both on the site and on the DVD, but I commend it to anyone interested in e-collar use.

[sibemom]

That is good to know. I feel e collar has it's place in dog training and as was stated in a post above from a long time ago, I have found that using it to curb DOG ON DOG AGGRSION it works AWSOME. I had a few email converstaions with "Uncle Lou" about the appropriate way in which to use it, and I think he was dead on. I do not like the idea of using it to TEACH OB, but to proof off leash behaviors I think it is great. Nice to know that Ed has produced a video on the proper use of the collar and it's benefits. So many people just slap the collar on and start ZAPPING and that is not what it was intended for. I have used the e collar on all of my dogs for one reason or another and have had alot of success