E-Collar

When dogs are first born they only have their sense of smell and their sense of touch. They are the most primal to the dog. Their eyes open next, followed by their ears. This is an important thing to remember because smell and touch overpower sight and sight overpowers hearing. You want to keep this in mind because as you get outside into the woods a lot of other factors come into play. This is where the e-collar comes in. We will be teaching your dog the concept of pressure/release through the e-collar. 

Finding correct “working levels” for your dog is the first step in working with your e-collar. The working level, refers to the LOWEST possible level that your dog feels the collar come on. The class goal is to work on the lowest possible levels (situationally dependent) and only going up if the situation demands it. Once the working level is found, we will teach your dog that looking at your turns it off. Dogs learn when the collar (pressure) turns OFF not ON. This is important because when the collar comes on, we want the dog to be able to THINK through the situation, “What do I need to do now?” If the dog isn’t taught HOW to turn off the collar, you can actually increase panic and cause the dog to go in the opposite direction.

It is very important to cue into your dog and make sure that you are working correctly with them. At low levels your dog will have very subtle signals that they are feeling the collar, this could be as minor as an ear flick or their eyes moving.

Proper collar fit is important. The collar needs to fit snug against the dog’s neck, off to the side, on the muscle. The collar should not be able to slide around, the collar wants to remain solid in place. Owners often don’t tighten down the collar enough and this will create what is know as INCONSISTENT contact. This means that only one of the prongs is touching the dog and this doesn’t allow the collar to work properly. Typically, when this happens, the owner turns up the collar because the dog isn’t responding, then at some point the dog turns their head and gets full contact. When that situation presents, the collar is now way too high and the dog gets too much stim.

If you have found your working level and the dog is not responding, check human error first.

• Is the collar fit right?
• Did I charge my handset and collar?
• Did I turn on my handset and collar?

Once you have eliminated these things, go back to the beginning and re-test your dog.

Please note: just because the working level is a certain level in one situation does not mean that number won’t change in another situation.