# E collars



## sfapsey (Jan 9, 2015)

I know this is a controversial topic and I have done a fair amount of research but would like to get input from folks on the forum who might have used or are using e collars. I have purchased one for our 11 month old V. She is generally pretty good but looses her mind when we get to the dog beach and I don't always have control of her. In the ideal world we would spend more time with leash training to improve recall but I like taking her to the beach as she really enjoys it and it gives her great exercise. 

The collar I purchase has tone, vibrate and e stimulation modes. Most training guides seem to describe using the e stimulation modes but has anyone used the tone and vibrate modes? 

I would be great if I could get feedback from people how have used these devices, both positive or negative.

Stephen


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## lilyloo (Jun 20, 2012)

I know other more experienced owners will chime in on how to properly introduce your dog to an e-collar (we had a professional trainer introduce Ruby) BUT I just wanted to say that the vibrate feature scared our V SO much. She can handle the regular stim just fine but hates the vibrate.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

lilyloo said:


> She can handle the regular stim just fine but hates the vibrate.


Neither of our dogs hate the vibrate, but it did startle them more than lower stim levels. I wonder if part of it is the sound? If you try out both on yourself, it's easy to see why.

We usually use either vibe or stim for recall. I initially wanted to use tone instead of a voice command, but I read warnings that dogs can start to associate it with all beeping. That's how we started and Dexter started getting really sensitive to my husband's work beeper. I hated the idea that if he heard beeping (like a fire alarm) and wasn't in a recall situation, that he'd be worried stim would follow even if he wasn't in a position to comply. So I guess I would caution against using tone - although I think plenty of people probably use it without issue.


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## momofboys (Jun 8, 2015)

I just posted about this recently myself. Copper is currently 5 mths old and we use his for off leash training. So far we have only used the vibrate and tone feature. We use the vibrate to get his attention when calling his name. When he is focused on us we give the command, usually come, stay or leave it and when he responds correctly we use the tone feature to let him know he's done it correctly and reward with praise or treats. We haven't had any problem with him reacting negatively to it so far. He usually looks forward to getting his collar on as he knows he going outside to be off leash and will have room to roam and run.


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## Pecan_and_BB (Jun 15, 2015)

Just my 2 cents on them:

I used them with my fox and walker hounds in years past and their breeds, once they are on a scent require a higher stim level to get them off of it. The tone, vibrate and lower stim settings didn't do anything and they'd continue to run right through it.

With our 5 month V, she responds positively to the vibrate even when on birds. If you have never used one before, I would suggest finding a pro trainer who has, in order to introduce your V properly to it and so that you understand the timing on command/stim/reward and the transition from still using a lead to using the collar exclusively.


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