E Collar Training

[fortune82]

I know how controversial electric collars are and want a bit of advice.

 

I have a 14 month Cocker dog who has developed a habit of running off for 10 - 15 minutes.

 

He is 100% on the stop whistle whilst on a long line or in an enclosed area.

 

He is 99% on the whistle when in the open but 1% of the time he will sit momentarily on the whistle then he just bolts.

 

There is nothing I seem to be able to do to curb this.

 

Question is would a shock collar stop this? He is going to a professional trainer on Tuesday for a 1 to 1 so we will see what he says.

 

What are peoples experience of these collars and which models are good?

 

Thanks

[JonnyR]

I had and to an extent still have the same problem with my 3yr old cocker and went through hell. There is a post on here somewhere, where I describe it.

 

In the end I went to a cocker breeder and trialler who advised me not to use an e collar.

 

Monty is now far better but I have to really keep on top of him. No more than 10 yds from me, unless he is doing something like hunting or retrieving. I am now convinced that professional help is the only way to go and that Monty was just bored and knew he could get away with it.

 

I am glad to hear yours is off for some 1-2-1 time. I also think it is vitally important you go with him. In my opinion, 80% of the job is about training you not him. Cockers are far too smart to need much training!!!!

 

cheers,

[Lloyd90]

I was literally on the verge of using one on my lab to stop her running off to other dogs, although I didnt in the end and am glad I didnt.

 

In the end I used some advice from a pro trainer and in some training books. She still isn't 100% :blink: I think by now with the coller she wudnt be running off, but shes so much better than she was Will get there in time!

[Sprocket]

fortune82

Thats good advice from both the other posts.

You will need to persevere with this problem -and the easiest way is to "Read" your dog and try to anticipate what its going to do. Keep the dog close to you, Hide Balls, Dummies, etc without him seeing you. In this way, he will be kept active (Hunting for the articles) and he will soon learn that everything he finds is near You (So why bother running about for nothing ?). Personally I would never use an E collar as in my opinion I think its a sign of Failure -although others will look at it differently - (Wait for the responses :blink: ).

Best of luck -and keep at it -You will only get out what you are prepared to put in!

Sprocket

[fortune82]

Thanks for the replies guys. Im off with him tomorrow for the 1 to 1 and its with a really god Cocker trainer so we shall see what happens!

[WGD]

I have no issues with correct use of an ecollar but it tends to be a quick fix and can therefore come undone quickly and is no substitute for engrained basic training, which at 14 months old this dog does not have.

 

As Sprocket highlights, you need to have a stronger bond with the dog giving the dog a desire to work with you and not away from you for 10 - 15 minutes; that's the biggest sign for me that an ecollar is not the answer for you.

 

All my dogs have had a chase at one time or another, I'm assured it happens to the best of them, but they all come stright back when they've finised doing what they (shouldn't) have been doing so when a dog disappears for 10 or 15 minutes it's because it's having more fun on its own than it's having with you, which is where you need to start as a collar won't fix that.

[pegleg31]

can i ask where you are walking your dog?

 

 

if there's to much scent/distraction's around maybe try walking him somewhere different.

[fortune82]

can i ask where you are walking your dog?

 

 

if there's to much scent/distraction's around maybe try walking him somewhere different.

 

I think this could actually be one of the problems. I live in a rural area and I cannot find anywhere to train him without rabbits or cats popping up. I have literally tried everywhere, industrial estates, parks, fields, forests, country roads, car parks etc etc! The only place without either is my back garden which isnt massive!

[pegleg31]

you really need to find somewhere without loads of distraction's.

 

is your cocker greedy?.try keeping food with you.

 

try making walks more fun and active(take a ball,dummy or his favourite toy).don't let him run free while your walking,walk him to heel.only let him have a run round when you're stood still and away from any distraction's.

 

remeber you're the one in control don't let him get to far ahead and never tell him off for coming back.

 

 

will he sit on the whistle when he's retrieving a dummy?

[al4x]

From an ecollar user I can say it will sort the problem and it will sort it straight away, however you will need to do the preparation work of having the dog with the collar on and not using it so it doesn't associate it with the shock etc. I'm assuming the dog is pretty headstrong in the fact it clears off for so long and I've never had that issue with mine but what i have found is it makes the dog far more attentive to you and what you are saying. I walk mine as you do in a very game rich environment so having one that wants to hunt every second it can be difficult, in my case with a GWP she was clearing off on hares and pointing rabbit holes and just stopping on them and ignoring everything. Yes you can avoid everything but I'd say for a dog you want to use in the field is that the best way to steady them to game and distractions to me its avoiding problems you have to overcome later. I used the shock facility a handful of times and that is it, the fact you can beep it as a first warning works very well on mine. What you find over time is you slowly don't need the collar, I was out today on a different walk and we probably had 10 hares get up in front of us and she just stopped and looked at me with one pip on the whistle. Mine is a PAC and I would definitely recomend one but do watch the training video well and go into it eyes open.

[fortune82]

I had the lesson with the trainer yesterday and it has made world of difference already. As I suspected it was down to my inexperience as well as he dog being headstrong.

 

A bit of tough loving is all that is required as I was not being firm enough!

 

I can see an improvement already.