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Dog "Shock" collars

I walk a dog something short of two miles every day, occasionally had trouble with loose dogs provoking mine, worse when I had several on leashes, seven at one time, and you know what that can become with you on the ground with furious dogs around you.
Recently not also much a problem, with physical damage from too many hard falls, I've wisely limited myself to one dog, the youngest but largest.
A younger family in a recently built house up the road on my route acquired a chocolate poodle or doodle pup, a good natured friendly playful male that apparently craves play dates with other like minded dogs, like mine. Now a mostly grown male, he has been confined since to a small fenced backyard enclosure after an unplanned "playdate" with mine the whole distance back to my house, which I managed without going down. He did find his way back home and confined until recently, when I noticed him out again but reluctant to move more than a few yards from the house, I suspected a proximity device collar keeping him close, confirmed with a close look when he somehow initiated another rolling playdate with my dog.
Apparently the system wasn't working and he wanted to play more than having the deterrent. After the usual playful doggie greetings they settled down to walking together back to a distraction of cows in a field.
Didn't see him out this morning, assume back in confinement.
Dunno about the collar training here, maybe nonfunctional systen or forgotten deterrence?
 
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My 2 cents, and only read or breezed over the comments after about 1/2 way through....so may have missed something. I'm 62 now and have rescued 3 GS and one Pit Bull ( actually a Staffordshire Bull Terrier but different topic.) I've never had a boundary fence for any of my dogs, but have considered them several times 2 of our GS were relatively easy to train with daily walks multiple times a day around our yard boundary... selective hiding spots for treats close to the house and within several feet of the boundary helped establish territory. Welp nothing for me to see or find here so let's go snooping around the yard somewhere else. One GS was prey driven....there was absolutely nothing we could do to break that habit with her...she was great on leash, but give her a split second and gone like a rocket. Luckily only squirrels interested her. We would exercise they daylights out of her. Walks, play, swimming, attention....but see a squirrel or given a chance to chase and she would. We had her for 15 years....great family dog, great with kids, great with cats, great with other dogs...just wanted those pesky squirrels. Fast forward to our SBT. We do use a collar on him. But, only in vibration and beep mode. No shock. We use it to help him focus and for recall. If he gets distracted during training 2 beeps and he's all ears. Get too close to the yard boundary 2 beeps he's by your side. Out walking and another dog or ??? Gets his attention we let him assess the situation gently distract him with a treat or heal command and he is usually good if the other dog is flaring up, ears back, tail pointed, we give a couple beeps and redirect his attention and turn around and go the other way. So most shock collars have three modes, shock... vibration....beep. stay off the shock and stick to beep and vibrate....my 2 cents
 
In my experience, a shock collar is just a tool that, when used properly is very effective for training. We have a very hyperactive dog that was very difficult to control and exhibit good behavior. She is not mean and is just easily excited. We signed up at a highly rated dog training company and they required the use of a specific shock collar as part of the program. These collars are not one size fits all so it is important to size a shock collar to your dog. The one we used gives an audible warning before giving a shock and the shock increases in intensity if the dog ignores it. This allows the collar to tailor its operation to the dog it is used on. Some dogs are highly sensitive to shock and some are not and it can be counterproductive to over shock a dog. What we found is that after a few shocks, our dog realized the audible warning was the precursor to a shock and started responding to just the sound. The training was very effective and I don't think that doing it on our own would have been as productive. Having other dogs around while being trained is good because it desensitized our dog from this type of stimulus. This training happened years ago and we have used the collar maybe 2-3 times to reinforce the training that was learned. It is interesting that she retained the memory of how the collar operates and she responded to the sound before the shock occurred.

As a side note, this training was very important and likely saved our dog's life. She got loose one night and my wife and I split up to find her. Part of her training was to respond to a command "Come Annie" which meant go to the person saying this command. I was hollering this command and when I got close to her she heard it and came running to me from the dark. This would have never happened before the training and she would have likely just ignored us. Also, without the use of a shock collar, I doubt her training would have been nearly as effective and quick to set in. The training helped her to focus much better to respond to verbal commands. So my advice is to not look at shock collars as cruel but as a very effective training tool for many dogs when used properly. I also highly recommend signing up for a training course that utilizes them because the instructors will show you how to use the collar properly.
 
Pio1980 said:
I walk a dog something short of two miles every day, occasionally had trouble with loose dogs provoking mine, worse when I had several on leashes, seven at one time, and you know what that can become with you on the ground with furious dogs around you.
Recently not also much a problem, with physical damage from too many hard falls, I've wisely limited myself to one dog, the youngest but largest.
A younger family in a recently built house up the road on my route acquired a chocolate poodle or doodle pup, a good natured friendly playful male that apparently craves play dates with other like minded dogs, like mine. Now a mostly grown male, he has been confined since to a small fenced backyard enclosure after an unplanned "playdate" with mine the whole distance back to my house, which I managed without going down. He did find his way back home and confined until recently, when I noticed him out again but reluctant to move more than a few yards from the house, I suspected a proximity device collar keeping him close, confirmed with a close look when he somehow initiated another rolling playdate with my dog.
Apparently the system wasn't working and he wanted to play more than having the deterrent. After the usual playful doggie greetings they settled down to walking together back to a distraction of cows in a field.
Didn't see him out this morning, assume back in confinrment.
Dunno about the collar training here, maybe nonfunctional systen or forgotten deterrence?
Click to expand...

Dogs are smart and once they learn how a deterrent works, and they defeat it, they will do it time and time again.
 
GChief said:
Pigs are smarter. :dunno:
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Dogs can be trained to do a multitude of tasks where a pigs are limited to very few, so which animal is more intelligent is up for debate, IMO. Especially when considering a wide range of capabilities. Since pigs are physically limited, we don't know if they can match a dog's versatility. Maybe they are equally smart but in different areas.
 
OldJBL said:
Dogs can be trained to do a multitude of tasks where a pigs are limited to very few, so which animal is more intelligent is up for debate, IMO. Especially when considering a wide range of capabilities. Since pigs are physically limited, we don't know if they can match a dog's versatility. Maybe they are equally smart but in different areas.
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Having raised and trained both I am going with pigs :thumbsup:

Pigs | The Humane Society of the United States

Edit: and did I mention physical abilities of just mental :idea:
 
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never used one, never needed one.

There's lots of ways to train a dog that doesn't involve the pain or fear response....but they're not as easy and take a lot more effort, which is probably why people use the shock stuff....
 
GChief said:
Having raised and trained both I am going with pigs :thumbsup:

Pigs | The Humane Society of the United States

Edit: and did I mention physical abilities of just mental :idea:
Click to expand...

The only experience I have had with pigs ended up with them being on the table. This prevented getting to attached to them. Until a pig can apply its intelligence to the same wide variety of tasks as a dog, I think the jury is still out on which animal might be smarter. Also, I don't recall me saying a dog was smarter than a pig. You injected this into the conversation, not me.
 
OldJBL said:
The only experience I have had with pigs ended up with them being on the table. This prevented getting to attached to them. Until a pig can apply its intelligence to the same wide variety of tasks as a dog, I think the jury is still out on which animal might be smarter. Also, I don't recall me saying a dog was smarter than a pig. You injected this into the conversation, not me.
Click to expand...
I know, you said "dogs are smart" I just commented on how pigs are smarter. And there are plenty of studies so the jury has already been dismissed.
 
OldJBL said:
In my experience, a shock collar is just a tool that, when used properly is very effective for training. We have a very hyperactive dog that was very difficult to control and exhibit good behavior. She is not mean and is just easily excited. We signed up at a highly rated dog training company and they required the use of a specific shock collar as part of the program. These collars are not one size fits all so it is important to size a shock collar to your dog. The one we used gives an audible warning before giving a shock and the shock increases in intensity if the dog ignores it. This allows the collar to tailor its operation to the dog it is used on. Some dogs are highly sensitive to shock and some are not and it can be counterproductive to over shock a dog. What we found is that after a few shocks, our dog realized the audible warning was the precursor to a shock and started responding to just the sound. The training was very effective and I don't think that doing it on our own would have been as productive. Having other dogs around while being trained is good because it desensitized our dog from this type of stimulus. This training happened years ago and we have used the collar maybe 2-3 times to reinforce the training that was learned. It is interesting that she retained the memory of how the collar operates and she responded to the sound before the shock occurred.

As a side note, this training was very important and likely saved our dog's life. She got loose one night and my wife and I split up to find her. Part of her training was to respond to a command "Come Annie" which meant go to the person saying this command. I was hollering this command and when I got close to her she heard it and came running to me from the dark. This would have never happened before the training and she would have likely just ignored us. Also, without the use of a shock collar, I doubt her training would have been nearly as effective and quick to set in. The training helped her to focus much better to respond to verbal commands. So my advice is to not look at shock collars as cruel but as a very effective training tool for many dogs when used properly. I also highly recommend signing up for a training course that utilizes them because the instructors will show you how to use the collar properly.
Click to expand...
+10 on everything you said. Great contribution! Thanks.
 
tourmax said:
never used one, never needed one.

There's lots of ways to train a dog that doesn't involve the pain or fear response....but they're not as easy and take a lot more effort, which is probably why people use the shock stuff....
Click to expand...

My experience with using a shock collar for training was positive for me and the dog. Before I used it on her I shocked myself with it from the lowest setting to the highest and it doesn't cause pain. It is more of a sensation that gets the pets attention and breaks up the bad behavior they are exhibiting. Also, once the pet associates the pre-sound warning with the upcoming mild shock, the need for the shock goes away. I know all dogs are not the same but there were many dogs in the same training session. Probably a dozen, or more, and they all got the gist of how the collar worked and rarely needed to be shocked after the first session or two. Lastly, the use of the collar has had zero impact on our dog's personality or behavior. She is the same dog from this aspect as she has always been. The difference is that now she follows commands which is to her own benefit and ours.
 
OldJBL said:
My experience with using a shock collar for training was positive for me and the dog. Before I used it on her I shocked myself with it from the lowest setting to the highest and it doesn't cause pain. It is more of a sensation that gets the pets attention and breaks up the bad behavior they are exhibiting. Also, once the pet associates the pre-sound warning with the upcoming mild shock, the need for the shock goes away. I know all dogs are not the same but there were many dogs in the same training session. Probably a dozen, or more, and they all got the gist of how the collar worked and rarely needed to be shocked after the first session or two. Lastly, the use of the collar has had zero impact on our dog's personality or behavior. She is the same dog from this aspect as she has always been. The difference is that now she follows commands which is to her own benefit and ours.
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That's cool. Everyone is different. That includes dogs. I'm actually very familiar with how the "shock" collars work.

I'll stick with my never used one, never needed one.

My three 140lb dogs are well trained and listen to commands. My house is not one you want to try and sneak into in the middle of the night I'll tell ya!

I think the funniest dog training tool was one we tried on our Shepard cross. He used to bark a lot so we got him one of those spray collars to try.

He barked with it on once and it spritzed him. He first looked confused so he barked again and it spritzed him again. At this point he went nuts and started barking crazily at the spray, which caused it to spray more and it just went up and up from there. One trying to up the other.

He kept barking until the spray bottle finally went empty. Funniest thing I've ever seen!
 
tourmax said:
That's cool. Everyone is different. That includes dogs. I'm actually very familiar with how the "shock" collars work.

I'll stick with my never used one, never needed one.

My three 140lb dogs are well trained and listen to commands. My house is not one you want to try and sneak into in the middle of the night I'll tell ya!

I think the funniest dog training tool was one we tried on our Shepard cross. He used to bark a lot so we got him one of those spray collars to try.

He barked with it on once and it spritzed him. He first looked confused so he barked again and it spritzed him again. At this point he went nuts and started barking crazily at the spray, which caused it to spray more and it just went up and up from there. One trying to up the other.

He kept barking until the spray bottle finally went empty. Funniest thing I've ever seen!
Click to expand...

Years ago we had cats. They would constantly be on the kitchen counter. Then I ran across this motion activated water spraying device. We bought three and placed them in strategic locations on the counters. The first cat to jump up was met with a deluge of water. I laughed so hard I nearly suffocated. We would move them around so they never got used to them being in the same place. After a couple of weeks they just gave up on the kitchens counters. Then we moved them to spots where they were scratching things and it solved that problem in a few days. After a while the cats avoided these things like Superman avoids Kryptonite.
 
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