All About Electric Collars
Before y’all get your pitchforks out, let me preface this by saying I am primarily a reward based trainer. My most commonly used tools are treats, toys and a leash, and that’s all the majority of dogs will need. But I also use ecollars where appropriate, and would hate to see a world where they were not available for those who needed them to help their dog.
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This is Brooke. She was my main working dog on the farm for several years - heart of gold, and would happily work all day long. Unfortunately she also had a habit of leaving a mob of cattle to go maul turkeys. Sometimes she would kill them, sometimes I’d have to seek assistance to humanely end their suffering myself.
This isn’t good for the welfare of anyone involved. The turkeys obviously, who though a pest species still deserve a kinder ending. Me, because when you’ve got a mob of very large bulls coming at you it’s not ideal to have your back up buggering off down the hill. And for Brooke, because 1) had she done that to a native species on our many hikes together she would likely have been euthanised, and 2) to manage this situation would have meant putting her on lead and removing her from work for long periods of time (potentially forever). Which is a welfare issue in a high drive working dog whose favourite game in the world outside of these games is work, and would have led to her being euthanised. She was never going to thrive as a pet.
Did I fix this with treats and recall games and flirt poles? Nope, though that was and is certainly part of my wider training strategy as a reward based trainer. To actually fix the problem and keep everyone safe, I used a well timed ecollar correction to create an aversion to turkeys. Effective enough that she could happily run through a flock without touching them or being stressed by them (the act of attacking them was the thing corrected, not the presence of them), and passed avian avoidance training over a year later for kiwi proofing without needing any further work.
The turkeys didn’t get mauled, the dog got to continue living her best life, and Kelly didn’t get squashed by a mob of 3 year old bulls without her dog or work out how to euthanise a huge turkey miles away from the gun cabinet. I’d call that a win, wouldn’t you?
Since then I’ve done a lot of work with ecollars including with pet dogs. Some avoidance work, but also discovering the beauty of low level ecollar - at levels lower than I can even feel - used to layer over existing known commands, or interrupt reactivity episodes to put dogs in a better head space. The dogs learn what this very low tingling means, it removes a lot of conflict and unnecessary pressure, giving many humans and their dogs happier, more free lives together where it might otherwise not be possible within a humane time span. Again, forcing a high drive working dog to live a highly restrictive life for months on end is not humane.
And you’d likely be amazed at what dog people are using them or are at least supportive of them for some thing or another that you aren’t aware of. I’m just transparent about when and how I engage them.
Here’s the problem we all share though. Ecollars are not all created equal, and some the marketing around them creates some really inappropriate and unkind training choices. And that reflects poorly on everyone who chooses to use a range of tools in their training. I do not support cheaply made ecollars sold on general websites and marketed as quick fixes without the work behind it. These collars are often inconsistent which is problematic from a training perspective, and that approach can be unfair to dogs, creating more issues. The foundations, the timing and the implementation matter.
As a professional trainer, I support ecollars of a few quality brands. These include ecollar technologies (my preferred option), garmin, dogtra, sportdog depending on the case, and Martin systems. I support these being used where appropriate as part of a wider training system that starts with and is primarily reward based methods. I support using the collar on yourself at all levels you are going to use before putting it in your dog. I also support their use in conjunction with appropriate guidance from a trainer who can assess the situation, give you excellent reward based foundations and appropriate techniques to integrate it where appropriate to ensure the best outcome for everyone.
So that’s the deal with ecollars. They are not necessary for the majority of dogs, nor should is it a starting point for any dog. If you choose not to use them personally that is 100% supported by me, and I would never use an ecollar or other tool on a dog without discussing that with the owners first - we can train with positive reinforcement all day long if that’s what you’d prefer. But. They are not evil. Without access to these tools there are a lot of dogs who would die prematurely or live pretty damn miserable lives. And you probably know at least a few of those dogs, whether the owners have been open about it or not.
