# Finn and the eCollar



## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Well, it came a little earlier than I expected, he's only 5-1/2 months old, but I was able to transition Finn to an eCollar. I actually kind of had to do it, because he's pretty darn opinionated. ( Read as, he knows what you want, but he just thinks he has better ideas!)
It's nice because it gives Finn the freedom to run and not drag the check cord, though he still wears it in concert with the eCollar most of the time. In a few months he should be off the check cord.
He transitioned just fine, though he is a tough little dude, and made me prove it to him, the little jack weasel. it didn't take but a few days retraining everything and he knew the rules.
I was able to cut him loose in a fresh water marsh earlier this week without the checkcord, just the collar. I've been working him on water confidence these past few weeks and he just went banannas in that marsh. He was really ably to turn and burn without that checkcord dragging behind him. He was a wet muddy mess. I loved it.
He starts on live birds next weekend, and I think he's going to be just fine. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when instinct kicks in.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

It's so wonderful to see them run like the big dogs. I just love seeing a young adolescent gain their wheels, and start eating up the ground.

I to start ecollar training, when they start thinking they know better, and blowing off recall.


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## tegee26 (Apr 25, 2018)

My female V Chloe just got introduced to the ecollar a few weeks ago. Like your Finn, she is exceptional in every way with the exception of recall on demand. I take both my V's to work everyday on a 160-acre property and having them on a check cord would be ridiculously difficult and restraining their freedom to be V's. My 2-1/2 year old male was professional trained on an ecollar at 9-10 months old (8-sessions over two months) and there is not a day that goes by without him wearing it. My female is scheduled to have her first professionally trained onsite training next Monday. I've used it in her with a very lite stimp and also used it in vibrate & tone mode just so she gets used to wearing it, etc. But I am a firm believe, at least for me, to have a professional train my V's with the ecollar. Similar to telling your kids what to do time and again, BUT when they hear it from a stranger or someone else it resonates with them.....lol. I am very very fortunate to have a top training literally miles away that is a phenomenal ecollar specialist; he works with all the K9 police units locally. He worked wonders with my my male and I have hope he does the same with Chloe.

We use Ecollar Technologies for all training and recall. And Garmin Alpha 400 Track & Train for the GPS features when hiking in woods/trails. Glad to hear Finn is taking well to the ecollar, it works wonders when in the right hands & situations.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

tegee26 said:


> My female V Chloe just got introduced to the ecollar a few weeks ago. Like your Finn, she is exceptional in every way with the exception of recall on demand. I take both my V's to work everyday on a 160-acre property and having them on a check cord would be ridiculously difficult and restraining their freedom to be V's. My 2-1/2 year old male was professional trained on an ecollar at 9-10 months old (8-sessions over two months) and there is not a day that goes by without him wearing it. My female is scheduled to have her first professionally trained onsite training next Monday. I've used it in her with a very lite stimp and also used it in vibrate & tone mode just so she gets used to wearing it, etc. But I am a firm believe, at least for me, to have a professional train my V's with the ecollar. Similar to telling your kids what to do time and again, BUT when they hear it from a stranger or someone else it resonates with them.....lol. I am very very fortunate to have a top training literally miles away that is a phenomenal ecollar specialist; he works with all the K9 police units locally. He worked wonders with my my male and I have hope he does the same with Chloe.
> 
> We use Ecollar Technologies for all training and recall. And Garmin Alpha 400 Track & Train for the GPS features when hiking in woods/trails. Glad to hear Finn is taking well to the ecollar, it works wonders when in the right hands & situations.


 I am using an eCollar by SportDog. It's part of their Contain and Train system. I've yet to put in the electric fence, but will soon. During the winter I had some large trees come down that I am currently clearing before I can install the wire loop.
It is a tool that requires discipline on the handlers part. I use the three step approach, "ask", "tell", "demand".
"Ask" is the verbal with the tone. "Tell" is the repeated verbal with the vibration. "Demand" is the repeated comand with the correction. 90%+ part of the time, my dogs will respond at the tone and voice. The remaining 10% is almost always the vibrate.
I always give them a chance, and understand that they are just dogs and not robots. I also want them to be independent enough to hunt and not completely dependent on me for all direction. They can't be "obedience" trained, or you risk losing that independent thought process when hunting. 
I do "avoidance" train them, but that is a very narrow focus.
I personally have never started out with an eCollar. I know that many do. There are many hundreds of hours of checkcord work that precede it, and by the time I put one on, I know that the dog understands exactly what is being asked of it.
I spend a couple of weeks/months with the eCollar and checkcord being used together. Nothing is more unfair than correcting a dog, when it doesn't understand the command, or expectation. Most of this happens in the backyard. Every session to go out and pee/poop, is a training opportunity.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

texasred said:


> It's so wonderful to see them run like the big dogs. I just love seeing a young adolescent gain their wheels, and start eating up the ground.
> 
> I to start ecollar training, when they start thinking they know better, and blowing off recall.


Pretty much the same here. The quicker you get them running, the quicker instinct and purpose kick in.
I'm going on 33 years now with these dogs, and I still love watching them run and work.

Finn is responding well to the recall right now,but he's just at 6 months. I expect to have repeat everything again in about 6 months, when all of the adult hormones and behaviors kick in, and he really starts to blow me off. Then we'll be fine.
One nice thing about training to hunt is that it quickly refines what commands are important, and which are not.
Recall is the TOP command.


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## tegee26 (Apr 25, 2018)

gunnr said:


> It is a tool that requires discipline on the handlers part. I use the three step approach, "ask", "tell", "demand".
> "Ask" is the verbal with the tone. "Tell" is the repeated verbal with the vibration. "Demand" is the repeated comand with the correction. 90%+ part of the time, my dogs will respond at the tone and voice. The remaining 10% is almost always the vibrate.
> I always give them a chance, and understand that they are just dogs and not robots. I also want them to be independent enough to hunt and not completely dependent on me for all direction. They can't be "obedience" trained, or you risk losing that independent thought process when hunting.
> I do "avoidance" train them, but that is a very narrow focus.
> ...


Fantastic sage advice. Thanks for sharing and will definitely incorporate into training our 10-month female. as you stated, our 2+ year old male almost always responds on vibrate or tone. I reserve the heavy stimp for deer, coyote or squirrel chasing; especially since our large property is bordered by two heavily traffic roads and can't chance them to "run for it".


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