E Collar Training For Beginners: Overview and Theory of SK9 Method

[@ing5088]

That was really helpful! Thanks 🙏

[@SuburbanK9DogTraining]

Awesome! Good luck teaching your pup not to chase those birds and feel free to reach out with questions any time!

[@ing5088]

@ I love the idea that the vibration setting is associated with good behaviour and it would give her the chance to associate it with positive reward. It was also valuable for me to realise that if you don’t have that and you just pop on the collar and work your way up through the settings to get her to stop chasing, she would have no idea what is going on anyway. I did borrow a collar once and I felt terrible using it because of this reason. The way you train with it gives the dog the understanding and gives them the chance to learn the correct behaviour. Also using the word NO means your voice also has power and hopefully is all that is needed in future. That would be great. 👍 Thanks Great videos.

[@chloeindigo]

I don't think of using vibration before shock as a threat or bad thing automatically.... That's like saying the word "come" is a bad thing bc if they don't do its followed by a shock. I think of the vibration as an attention breaker to give them an extra chance to hear me, and it can still be followed by positive reinforcement. Since its likely to be followed by positive reinforcement more of the time and positive punishment occasionally it would be fairly neutral in the dogs brain. I do understand what you mean and perhaps slightly different approaches create a different picture but I think it can still be a positive if it's followed by adequate reinforcement.

[@SuburbanK9DogTraining]

I think we are in agreement overall. The vibration absolutely can be a positive or neutral. Many people prefer to use it as a “threat” and we don’t do it that way. When they use it as a threat, a stern or unhappy verbal tone is paired with it. That will almost always turn it into a form of punishment for the dog. Our preferred method is to make it a positive, but making it neutral is fine as well.

[@brianlocal3]

4:00

[@jobotmang]

Poor Dash is being pursued by the ponies.

[@SuburbanK9DogTraining]

The mini horses are friendly and just like to chase as a sort of game. Dash understands dog body language well but is still learning how to interact with the horses. Each time they chase him off he stops and watches them and tries to figure out what they are doing. Every time they chase him and then stop his confidence grows a little bit as he realizes they mean well. Thanks for watching and have a great day!

[@pawsitivity-unleashed]

I'm not sure if there's a difference between a shock collar and an e collar. I doubt it. Regardless, I've never used either on a dog. Never had the need (I've been blessed with very good dogs my whole life). However, a couple months ago my neighbor's dog got out and came to my house. I went to put a leash on him to take him home and the collar was really tight. I could barely fit 2 fingers under it. I looked closer and realized what it was, and why it was probably so tight. I loosened the collar and found the "probes" that go into the dog's neck. (I've never seen one of these.) They. Are. Massive.

[@SuburbanK9DogTraining]

Not sure what collar you saw, but modern e collars cannot “shock” a dog. They are similar to a tens unit at a chiropractor. They don’t have enough power to “shock”. That being said, we encourage everyone to do a lot of research before trying any training method with their dog.

[@pawsitivity-unleashed]

@@SuburbanK9DogTraining The point of my post wasn't about the severity of the shock, it was about the prongs sticking into the dog's neck 24/7 even while the dog was not being trained. There are two prongs that are probably an inch long and the collar was way too tight. That was my point.

[@SuburbanK9DogTraining]

Got it! Having an e collar on too tight is definitely an issue. We meet a lot of people who have their dog's collar on too tight. We often use a special type of winged contact point that allows the collar to be much looser and still work properly.