On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 00:09:34 +0000, TOTE wrote:

On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 09:55:51 -0600 Jeff Dege whittled these words:
I'd never recommend one without two qualifications - 1st, it's only one
tool of many, and it's role in dog training is rather narrow. It's not of
much use in teaching a behavior, it's role is in reinforcing behavior
that's already been learned.

Actually if you know what you are doing it can be an excellent tool for
teaching behavior. The sensation from a quality ecollar is not
necessarily unpleasant, having felt it, I can say so.

It's a corrections, plain and simple. But it's controllable to a degree
that other aversives are not. The levels used in training seem to be
milder than collar corrections.

And second, it's a powerful tool that can
cause real damage if misused. Find an experienced trainer to get you
started. It's critical that a dog's first introduction to the collar is
done properly.

Yes. Real harm can be done.

I won't say that every dog needs to work with a remote training collar.

I will say that very few people training their PET dog should go within
100 yards of a "remote training collar."

A lot of people are doing more with their pets, than they used to, and the
percentage of pet owners who live in places where they can let their dogs
run free are declining.

But if you're dealing with a dog that seems to be deciding not to obey
commands when you know he knows what he's supposed to do, it may be an
appropriate approach.

A big problem with most people is that they DON'T properly train the
commands in the first place, and they are WRONG when they believe the dog
"knows" what to do. 99% of the time when a person claims the dog "knows"
what is expected the command was never taught properly in the first place.
One of the things people get when they get help in learning to use the
collar is a wake up call on how screwed up their attempts at training have
been.

Actually, that was the thought that prompted my post.

I'd called Bear to come, and he didn't move. His recall has become very
reliable, in most situations, but I'd never called him to come when I was
squatting just four feet away. The verbal cue was the same, the body
language was all wrong.

I could have corrected him for his "failure". I instead stood up, stepped
back, and called him to come in the manner I more usually did so, and he
responded promptly. It's hard, sometimes, to keep in mind just how
situational dogs' learning is.

Bear did not need a correction, then. He needed a clear command.

--
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be
regarded as a criminal offence.
-- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5