Last week I wrote about a questioner I was looking for volunteers to answer in regard to their e-collar training experiences. I want to hear from dog owners who are using this tool as part of their training program.
And I left you with the tidbit from one person who responded:
Q: In one sentence please describe how you felt about remote collars BEFORE you started training with them.
A: The only people that use them are police dogs and hunters dogs, it was too harsh of training for what we were asking for our dogs.
Plus I promised that I would reveal the next Q&A from the same person so here you go:
Q: In one sentence describe how you feel about remote collars NOW.
A: They are the best tool for communicating, training and open the door to being able to have fun and adventurous experiences with your dogs!
I’d say that is a pretty big change of heart….course I would also say that in my experience that is not an unusual change when a person is giving the right instruction and guidance in how to use a remote dog training collar.
The survey has been an interesting experience. I find it refreshing to hear the words of someone other than myself or other professional trainers. (Don’t get me wrong my trainer friends, love you guys and sharing experiences with you! but the real impact for me is hearing how our work is affecting the lives of the dogs and people we aim to help)
In addition to answering questions about e-collar training I have some folks who are choosing to share their stories as well. I think that in itself demonstrates the power of how life changing good dog training can be. I didn’t request stories but people have been moved enough to share them.
This was the first story that came in and when I saw the picture of Jim and Quigley…well, I had to share it with you all. 🙂
For the record the trainer who assisted with Quigley’s e-collar training and education was Sharon Larson of Canine Coach in Northern Wisconsin. Thanks Sharon for passing my little survey around, it brought our readers this excerpt:
Quigley, a yellow lab, was our third Labrador Retriever. The other two were chocolate labs and were leash trained. While it took a lot of patience, both became very well behaved hunting dogs/house pets. We figured Quigley would certainly be no harder to train than the other two. WRONG! Everything we tried was not working and one of Quigley’s really bad actions was “demand barking.” Nothing seemed to work and we were questioning the wisdom of getting the dog. Then we were refered to a trainer who offered both leash training and e-collar training. She offered an evalution session where Quigley’s reaction to certain stimuli were observed. The conclusion was that our dog had a very “strong personality” and was a good candidate for e-collar training. We obtained a collar, learned how to use it properly during several training sessions where both we and our dog were trained. The results were incredible, considering what we had been experiencing with leash training. We now have a very well trained dog who we consider a family member. Although he weighs 60 pounds, he “asks” if OK to have some “lap time” every day. He can be counted on to obey those commands which are necessary to have a well behaved, socialized pet.
Without e-collar training, I’m not sure Quigley would today be a family member.
Don’t know about you, but the last sentence speaks volumes to me. Thank you Jim and Sue for sharing your story.