I recently started a Facebook page called ” I love my e-collar and so does my dog” The purpose of the page is to offer a collective place for people who choose e-collar training to tell their success stories and feel supported in their choice of training.
It is also about creating awareness that their are people campaigning to have e-collars banned for sale or use.
Their campaigns would have you believe that using an e-collar means you walk around randomly shocking your dog into submission.
Of course those who use and understand the tool know that nothing could be farther from the truth. Remote collars are not shock collars unless a person choices to use them inappropriately. The term “shock collar” has hung on from a distant past when the tools were crude, the levels very strong and the training techniques in infancy. Now, the stimulation is adjustable and we strive to use the lowest levels possible to gain the dog’s attention and redirect to more desirable behavior. We also use all kinds of positive reinforcement with the training…but these facts are typically overlooked (sigh) by the misdirected passion of a few.
Here is another story from a family happy with their choice to use an e-collar to train their dogs. After experiencing a distressing event in losing their dog for a period of over 6 weeks, they understood the true peace of mind that could come from reliable training.
The winter of 2010 was a harrowing one for my family, and I don’t use the word harrowing very often. On New Years Eve our five year old Newfie / Rottie went missing. Penn is a dog that if he ever got out the back gate would come to the front door and wait, or scratch to come in. He was the friendliest most easy-going dog I have ever known. The kids could lie on him, fall on him, tug on him and he would look at them, perhaps lick them; he was that type of dog. His disappearance brought up all types of questions, worries and tears for the kids. For me? Well, frankly, much of the same, except I had the extra burden of trying unsuccessfully to answer their questions.
For twenty-seven days we wondered: frozen somewhere under a bush (it was a very cold month), taken from the yard? Then calls started coming. Sightings about six miles from our home. Hope rekindled, but at a cost. I slept even less, worried more, spent time at places he was sighted, left work mid-day to follow leads. See? Harrowing.
Then on February 18th Penn came home to us.
My biggest worry after Penn came back after his forty-nine day adventure was that he’d chase a squirrel into the street and get hit by a car. I couldn’t imagine going through all we had only to deal with that. He’s generally a very good dog, but hanging out in the front yard with the family was sometimes problematic. Tethered he’d bark at any passerby; un-tethered he’d lounge comfortably but if he saw a squirrel he was off.
No longer.
Training with Sarah from Paws n Motion solved both those problems and some others as well. Penn used to pull on walks. The Gentle Leader didn’t work, treat training didn’t work-nothing really did. My arm was sore after a short walk with him. That’s even more of a problem if Jenny, my wife, takes him for a walk while I’m at work. Balancing twins, a baby in a stroller, and a dog is no easy task. Once, Penn even knocked the stroller over lunging at a squirrel. After a few training sessions with Sarah, walking Penn has become a pure pleasure. We can even go past the yard where the dog waits barking at the fence without incident. Before, I would brace myself, cinching up the leash half a block away, getting ready for that yard. He walks so obediently now even our twin eight year-olds can walk him!
Seven days before the first reported sighting we got our family a new puppy. We hadn’t given up on Penn, we just needed some four-legged happiness to take up some of the room in our minds and hearts. Riley started using an e-collar and training with Sarah at four months old. I don’t know if he’s just a quick learner or what, but now, just two months later, if told, Riley stays on his rug, sits, lays, comes, waits, and more.
You’d think things would be just nuts with two dogs romping around, but that’s not the case at all. With e-collar training the dogs are very responsive to our commands. In some ways, because they are so obedient, it even feels like less to manage, not more.
They wait to go in or out the door, which has made that more manageable and safer (no more worrying Penn will bowl the baby over on his way down the steps). Both dogs are calmer overall at home, even when company comes over. This is really important as we have two eight-year olds and a two-year old, and have people over often who have little children, too. The dogs obey better, are easy to handle off leash, and it’s a pleasure to take them places where other dogs and people will be.
Our whole family wants to thank Sarah for giving us the gift of dogs that are exactly the companions we want them to be.
Flint & Jenny – St. Paul, MN
http://missingdogblog.blogspot.com/
Definitely going to check out your face book page. thanks so much for educating people that e-collars are a great tool in humanely and safely training our furry friends!!! Good luck with your page and thanks!!!