Tag: Professional Dog Trainer

What lens are YOU looking through?

Pet dog trainer, field dog trainer, working k9 handler, service dog trainer, competitive bite sports decoy, competition obedience master. The list of areas of expertise is long. Many areas overlap and intersect – but sometimes important nuances don’t.

Proper Fit of a Remote Dog Training Collar | Robin MacFarlane

Rule #1: Proper Fit of a Remote Dog Training Collar Is Essential Proper fit of a remote dog training collar is one of the most over looked reasons for poor results. Viewers write and tell me the e-collar “didn’t seem to work” or it didn’t seem like it was working so they kept turning the level up and then the dog startled. When I’ve had opportunity to witness these problems in person I generally find that the e-collar is just […]

E-collar dog training: What the Sharpie had to say.

Last weekend I taught a workshop on advanced concepts in e-collar training. The workshop hosted by Flying Colors Canine touched on many topics. We discussed improving precision, adding tricks to the repertoire, how to deal with behavioral problems like aggression and anxiety, how to begin with puppies plus a bit more. While all the topics had the use of remote collars as a common denominator there were other messages I was trying to convey in my teaching. One of the […]

A happy owner has a whole new dog with e-collar training (and a whole new perspective!)

When someone is delighted with the results of their e-collar training they can’t help but share their enthusiasm. The following is an e-mail sent to Eileen Balcom – Vetillo of A Whole New Dog in Earlville, IL. Eileen has been coaching Anna and her two dogs through a series of dog training lessons using a remote collar as one of the tools to improve communication and reliability. I asked permission to share the note here because I believe reading the […]

What do you think about remote dog training collars?

  The main reason I started The Truth About Shock Collars blog was to share information with potential remote collar users. I want to provide insight that I have gained, share experiences from other trainers and most importantly share experience and opinions from other pet owners who decided to go the route of training with a remote dog training collar. Because the big picture goal is to rid ourselves of the term and idea of a pain inducing “shock collar” […]

The Abuse Theory: How Do You Use a Shock Collar?

How Do You Use a Shock Collar? Is it Abusive? I’ve witnessed conversations by professional trainers regarding the average pet owner, that they don’t understand how do you use a shock collar for training a dog and therefore they should not be allowed to purchase one. There is concern that without a high level of expertise and perfect timing JQ Public will use the tool abusively and thus harm dogs through application of *pain and fear*. Some trainers and behaviorists […]

Two weeks of remote collar training turn mischeivious mates into precious pups again.

How long should it take to have well well-trained, well-behaved dog? For the Earl family, it was eight years of challenges before they found the proper training and techniques to turn their two into a more mannerly duo. However, once they learned about how the electronic collar could help them, it was only two weeks until the problems were solved. They were then on the way to the more enjoyable life they had envisioned with their dogs.

A Prince’s tale: what a little dog taught me about possibility

I’d like to share the story of Prince, a Boston Terrier who helped define my career as a professional trainer and particularly my learning curve about how a remote dog training collar can assist in rehabilitating dog’s with aggression issues.

“My dog likes his e-collar!”

The idea of using an electronic collar for dog training conjures up many emotions in people. For those who have had negative experiences or no experience at all, it typically goes hand in hand with ideas of pain or fear. This is understandable given that most people

If He Ain’t Nakked, He Ain’t Trained!

Training a Dog to Come When Called: What Defines “Trained”? The argument of whether or not a dog is *trained* if he is wearing an electronic collar comes up frequently among dog professionals. The debate rages that a *trained* dog shouldn’t need to be wearing an e-collar.