When to start using dog training collar
5 Tips: E-Collar Dog Training for Beginners
hey everybody Brian with you trooper
training and today we're going to we're
gonna talk about five tips that will
improve the way you use your shot-caller
these are things that are gonna keep you
make sure you're using it in a humane
way in a way that doesn't hurt your dog
but also in a way that takes advantage
of these incredible tools I love my
shock collar or electronic collar
whatever you want to call it when we
talk about shock people think
electricity high-voltage not it's a it's
a static electricity it's like rubbing
your feet in the carpet and tagging your
brother there's no permanent damage here
for the dogs as far as what the shock
you know as far as what the collars
doing however if it's in the wrong hands
or if you're not using it right it
really can cause a lot of damage I've
come out into a kind of an open field
where there's a lot of rooms for the
dogs to run but there's a big highway
that runs and we're about maybe 150
yards away from it this is one of those
situations where I think a shot-caller
is really almost absolutely necessary if
you're gonna let your dog off the leash
and so five tips on keeping your dogs
safe also getting the most out of the
shot-caller make sure you listen to
number three because it's one that
you're not gonna hear from anyone and it
might be the most important tip of the
day so let's get the video before we do
that though if you haven't already
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[Music]
okay so for the very first tip and this
is probably the most obvious one is it's
got to be fitted right on his neck and
if you watch a lot of the the guys who
are running dogs in the AKC events
you'll notice that usually right where
you know usually higher up on the neck
rather than lower down that's usually
because if it's if they put it way down
into the neck where it's a little bit
thicker it can work its way up and then
it's too loose and so a lot of times
you'll see them wearing them almost
where it looks like it's like right up
at the base let me get the hay out and
come come good boy right here sit sit
good
so you'll notice I know that I've got it
right up here on top and you want it so
that you can get one or two fingers
under there but more than that and it's
too loose you also want to make sure
that these prongs are sitting on the
skin you want it to not to be on a bunch
of matted fur so tip number one make
sure it's fitted right and make sure
that it's in a spot where it's not gonna
loosen up but that it's not so it's so
tight that it's gonna choke them okay go
play alright tip number two is has to do
with the way you keep it stored any
decent dog collar system that you buy
any collar system that you're going to
buy especially if you're an outdoorsman
and you like to get outside is gonna be
waterproof and you want both the remote
and the collar to be waterproof
but the charging apparatus whatever that
might be may not be waterproof and I
don't like I've more than once I've gone
on a search for my charger around the
house because I had it set out I charged
it before a big hunt or before a big
hike and I come home and my wife has
moved it and so I like to keep the
charger with me and with all of my other
dog stuff in the bucket and so what I
like to do is just keep it in a gallon
ziplock bag it's one of the doubles zip
doesn't have to be you don't have to
spend a lot of money on these then I
just keep the charger and the collar and
the hand and the remote all in the same
bag when I get to wherever we're going I
pull it out and and it's all right there
as soon as we get back to the truck I
take it off and it goes back in the back
so there's tip number two all right so
tip number three and this is the one
that I think I've never seen anyone use
a shot-caller like this or
at least talk to people about using a
shot-caller like this and that is to use
it in place of a clicker if you haven't
watched my my video on clicker training
and how to charge a clicker or
introducing a dog to clickers check on
those videos right up here but what
we're gonna do today I'm going to show
you Oh Denise is the first time he's
ever had a shock collar on so I'm gonna
basically charge the shock collar the
way I do with a clicker now the feature
that I'm going to use and I suggest that
if you get a shock collar if you get an
electric an electric collar I suggest
that you get one that has three
functions you want one that has
stimulation vibration and tone and tone
is the one that we're going to use and
so what we're gonna do is I'm gonna use
the tone of the collar the same way that
I use a clicker and so to charge that
I'm just gonna take a treat put it on
the ground and when Odin eats it I'm
gonna click good boy and I'm gonna do
both of those at the same time now I'm
gonna put the clicker away Odin already
knows what the clicker is but I'm just
gonna do that four or five times and and
get Odin used to the tone of the collar
the same way I got him used to a clicker
good boy Hawaii good boy
let's take him a little longer to chew
those up now here's the benefit to this
is that one of the most difficult things
to training dogs of any breed is the
timing of your acknowledgment the timing
of your praise and of the reward
whatever that reward might be and so if
you're doing retrieves at a hundred
yards and your dog goes out and you do a
whistle stop at fifty yards and he spins
around and sits on a dime one of the
challenging things can be to reward that
early on so that he knows that's what
you want good boy good and so what we're
gonna do is once he's used to this tone
and knows that that's a good thing what
we're gonna do is we're gonna send him
out there we're gonna blow the whistle
when he turns around and sits we're
gonna give him a good boy tone we're
gonna give him the clicker or the tone
on our collar good boy the reason I
really like this feature is because it
takes what usually let's be honest shot
callers and eCollege have a really
negative a really negative stereotype in
fact they're outlawed in in some
countries like the UK but this this
opens up a whole new way to use the
caller it provides a way to give
positive reinforcement when they're
doing when they're doing what you want
them to oh good boy good boy yeah you're
being so good so this is tip number
three and again I think this is the one
thing I've not ever seen anyone teach
this particular use of an e-collar and
in my book if I were to write a an
e-collar book this would be the number
one thing that I would highlight in fact
I I would suggest that there's even some
benefit if you're really adverse to
using any kind of electric stimulation
at all
take the probes out and and don't even
use that just use the tone on this as a
clicker and you can give your dog that
positive reinforcement when they're a
hundred yards away the other benefit to
this versus any kind of a positive
reinforcement training or anything that
would be adverse to using e collars is
the fact that I can get my dog's
attention when there are a hundred yards
away whereas you know if I'm if my dog
is out of the out of the range of a
clicker noise and there's something that
distracts him to the level of not paying
attention to my calls I have some way to
reinforce it so that is I think the
biggest but the biggest positive or the
biggest potential out of these collars
so there's number three that's the one
that nobody's talking about there's your
little that's your that's your special
spot your special sauce with the e
collar when anyone gives you flak for
having one on your dog just just explain
the positive reinforcement tool that it
is let's jump over to two tip number
four good boy okay tip number four and
this is I don't know how to emphasize
this one enough I an electric collar is
not a tool that you use to introduce
your dog to a new command this is a
finishing tool and so whatever process
you've been using to teach your dog the
command
whether that's treats or clickers or a
leash some kind of a pressure collar
whatever process you've been using those
steps need to be in place and if it's if
you're working the command sit or if
you're working the command come or heal
or rafet whatever all of those things
need to be introduced and proof meaning
you've taught them you've worked on sit
inside the house in the back yard in the
front yard with distractions and then
out in the open field then you've done
all of that and you know without a
shadow of a doubt that your dog is well
versed and very comfortable with the
command sit and what you mean when you
say that then this becomes the finishing
tool this is how we're going to
eliminate any has any hesitation if you
give the command and the dog hesitates
then we're going to introduce the
vibration or the stimulation then the
next part of this is when you do
introduce it make sure you start on the
lowest setting I like I said in the
previous to previous tip one of the tips
before already I like the the caller's
that have three features or three
functions I want tone vibrate and
stimulate and so I'm going to use the
tone like I said for the positive
reinforcement I'm going to start with
vibration some dogs very sensitive dogs
that's all you're gonna need if your dog
doesn't respond to vibrate then you can
move to the stimulation but you're gonna
start at the lowest setting and you want
to just go high enough until you get
your dog's attention until he and you'll
notice this watch his head when you give
a command and he doesn't respond and you
you zap him or you buzz him a little bit
he's gonna respond with that that twist
of the head he's gonna look at you
and that's that's the perfect level you
don't want to go any further than that
you don't want your dog yelping because
of this that's going to actually
distract and take away from your
training it's gonna make your dog cower
it's gonna make him really uncomfortable
and it's gonna ruin your relationship so
let me show you how this works with Odin
he's never had the shock collar on but
there are some some things that he's
comfortable doing oh good boy Odin sit
good he did that right away and so I
gave him the tone I want that positive
reinforcement good boy Odin lay down no
lay down good boy so as I said
no at the same time I gave him the
vibrate I want him to associate vibrate
and no good boy come good sit all right
my last and final tip a lot like with
Bart callers the electronic callers are
the the e-collars the shot callers
anything that has that little prong on
it you have a risk of rubbing the fur
raw and once you rub that raw and you
create a sore and open sore on your
dog's neck you have the risk of an
infection you have the risk of your dog
starting to scratch at it and cause more
you know inflict more damage so you want
to make sure that you're not leaving the
collar on your dog for long periods of
time another reason that you don't want
to make sure that you want to make sure
you don't leave your collar on and I
made this mistake once this is why I
know this is super important I left my
collar on my dog one time came in sat
the remote up on top of what I thought
was out of my kids reach went into the
other room came out about five minutes
later and my kids had the the the remote
and I could see that you know luckily I
had it turned down to a rather low
setting but I could see my dog sitting
over in the in the kennel from where I
was standing in the kitchen and
scratching and his head was twitching
and I realized that I had my kids were
in there not realizing that this was on
my dog and that it was turned on it was
it was you know learn from my mistake
I'm not above knitting that I make
mistakes and that's why and I pass it on
to you so now as soon as we're out of a
place where my dog doesn't need this
anymore we're back to the truck I take
it off but I also think that you know
anytime you're in a place where your dog
is off leash and there's the potential
for a distraction that's why you know
we've got this relatively large highway
kind of a quasi highway behind us a lot
of traffic a lot of big trucks I don't
know if you can see it from now it's
just over this Knoll but this is a place
where even though there doesn't seem to
be that much here if something were to
distract my dog and take him off and
over I would want that I would want the
e-collar in place because I can get his
attention I've been on runs with my dog
before where he was off leash and there
was another dog that became very
aggressive and kind of trying to be
alpha and it looked like we were headed
four-four kind of a dogfight with my
e-collar I I called come come come
nothing happened I was able to increase
the stimulation pretty quick to make
sure that to really get my dog's
attention he turned his attention round
to me I was able to get him back to me
and away from the other dog and nothing
happened so when you're out and about
make sure the collar is on as soon as
you're in a place where you have your
control your dog he's on a leash or he's
back in the kennel he's in your fenced
back yard that's when you want to make
sure that the collar comes off turn it
off get it charged up make sure you're
ready for your next your next adventure
if you choose a good well-known collar a
well-known brand they're gonna come with
some kind of a manual I really like the
sport dog collars in part because their
product is really good but I think
everybody has products from time to time
that that malfunction or that don't work
quite as well as they need to
that's when Sport dog really shines
their customer service is hands-down the
best maybe in any field any product any
line I've ever I've ever come across
I had an experience where one of my
collars wasn't working quite right I saw
an Instagram and an Instagram post of
somebody else had another dog trainer
that they used the same collar that I
had so I just reached out to them
through their post and said have you
ever had this problem described what was
going on and sport dog was tagged in the
original post so when when somebody from
sport dog came across the post saw my
comment and they reached out to me gave
me a number to call I called it we were
able to get the collar reset and all of
my problems were taken care of so hands
down sport dog is like the best customer
service I've never had I've never had
anyone from any company who's customer
service has reached out to me to fix a
problem so usually it's the other way
around all sports all sport dog gun all
sport dog collars come with this and
this really good manual and it walks you
through kind of the the step by step of
using the these devices these tools and
you'll want to read that closely before
you put it on your dog's neck so thanks
for watching I'll see everybody in the
next video
