July 17, 2009
Brentwood DOG TRAINING MYTHS REVEALED!
There are a lot of different opinions when it comes to San Jose dog training and puppy training. The different dog training methods range from strictly motivational to strictly compulsion based and a number of variations in between. One of the most misunderstood methods of training is the utilization of the E-COLLARS VS SHOCK COLLARS. Before we get into that lets talk a little bit more about the traditional types of training. Purely positive dog training in theory sounds great. You take the dog and their favorite treat, (milk bone, dehydrated liver, chopped up hot dogs etc.) tell the dog to sit, use the food to lure the dog into position, and when the dog is in the correct position reward the dog with a treat.sounds great, but the problem is that around real world distractions assuming that you want to be able to have your dog listen when you take your dog for a walk, there are going to be variables. What I mean is this, lets speak in terms of currency, something that every person can understand.Take the american dollar bill. If you have a $100.One dollar bill and a hundred dollar bill.00 bill and someone says pick one, which bill are you taking? Sounds ridiculous to even ask that question, right?But that is the whole foundation for training purely motivational.The one upside is your dog will be well fed and happy, but you will have no control around distractions.
The other side of the coin is strictly compulsion based training. The theory behind this type of dog training is you give the dog a command, then give him a moment to comply, and if he does not then he is heavily corrected via choke chain, pinch collar, throw chain, or shock collar.Dogs have been trained this way for years, but the problem is you will crush the dogs' spirit in the process.Now that we have a base and comparison lets talk about TR Systems and how it compares to using a shock collar.
Your traditional method of shock collar training is correction based.This type of training has been used for bird dog training for a long time as well as for patrol dogs. The first type of shock collar training is similar in nature to your pinch collar training.Give the dog a command give him a second to comply and if he refuses then the dog is given a very high level correction.The purpose of the high level shock in theory is that it will create a big enough deterrent that the dog would not dream of disobeying again. The other type of shock collar training is HOT SPOT TRAINING. Here's how it works. Lets say that your dog is at a distance and you are teaching him a recall to heal position with a military finish. You would tell the dog heel and hold down the continuous button which distributes a constant high level shock until the dog happens to get into position to turn off the pain of the correction. The dog learns that the only way to stop the pain is to get to the safe spot associated with the verbal command which in turn is when the button is then let go and the pain stops. This type of training creates frantic erratic behavior in the dog because the level of anxiety is so high due to the fear of encountering that type of severe pain again. On top of all that 95% of dogs go one of two ways: they go into avoidance (they give up and shut down) or they lash out and try to nip and bite the handler and now you have a handler aggressive dog which usually winds up being euthanized due to the poor training. The other 5% percent have enough drive that they are able to work through the terrible training condition and their pain tolerance is high enough that they do not shut down. PROPER E-COLLAR training is very different. There are a few people in the US that understand PROPER E-COLLAR TRAINING. TIM SMITH is among the best in the country that understands the system and how to teach it with clear understanding even with the most novice handlers and trainers.The first thing that you have to understand is that E-COLLAR TRAINING is neither compulsion or motivational training it is strictly a neutral means of getting the dogs attention. What you want is for the dog to be ELECTRONICALLY LITERATE. The definition of the dog being ELECTRONICALLY LITERATE means that he understands the VERBAL, PHYSICAL and STIMULUS intertwined together.E-COLLAR basics: Lets say it was the first time we were teaching the dog to sit.You would have the e-collar, flat collar, and a six foot nylon leash. You would then proceed to tell the dog to sit and at the same time you should be guiding the dog into position and pressing the nick button at the same time.Once the dog starts to sit without the aid from the handler then it is time to move on to the sit portion of the command. With the remote sit you will have a hold of the leash and then tell the dog break, which means he is free to be a dog and run and jump and play. Once he is at a distance you would tell him sit. The dogs first instinct will be to move back toward you since he only knows sit in one facet of the command and that is at your side. Use the pulley method to keep him at a distance so that the dog can start to learn separation of angle.Once he is starting to sit remotely without the help of the leash you are going to sit him at a distance, walk away and turn and face the dog. Then call him to you and about half way tell him to sit. Before moving to this step the dog should have already demonstrated that he is ELECTRONICALLY LITERATE. There are a number of ways to know, but today we are only going to talk about one. You will see it when the dog starts to break position and you tell him to sit and he self corrects his position back to where he originally was which will be the key for every transition in the sit. The purpose of E-COLLAR training is so the dog can learn in the fastest period of time without compromising the dogs attitude. You should not be waiting for the dog to make a mistake and then fix it you should be looking for the subtle shift in weight before the dog breaks position so that he has success every time. The other big question is what is too high or low of a level and that answer is that there is no such thing. This is what I mean.The common denominator is that you should just be getting the dogs attention so putting it into perspective if you were sitting on the back porch listening to a baseball game and your wife wanted to get your attention she could tap you on the shoulder lightly. So my point is, you are going to adjust according to a given situation or distraction, but you should not be on a ten if the distraction is a seven and you should not be on a two if the distraction is a ten.It should be four to four or seven to seven.Hope this gives you in-site into e-collar training. For more information on T.R. systems visit www.sfcdogs.com.
