# The use of electronic training devices for reliability/safety?



## bowlhead (10 mo ago)

Hi, 
Our V is almost 18 months old, we got him to accompany us on as many our activities as he could handle and generally wanted a dog that we could take anywhere without any real issue. We've trained his recall solidly for the entirety of his life so far and have achieved great success with it. 

Now here is the kicker, when we visit a new environment with distractions (people, dogs, sheep etc) his recall can fail at times and his excitement/drive takes over and there is nothing we can do to to prevent it. This causes an issue when we want to take the dog with us on hikes up mountains for obvious reasons. 

In the UK the use of e collars is seriously frowned upon and hence I am reluctant to use one (I have done my research and understand the importance of proper conditioning and the use of the collar, I have also identified a trainer that specialises in their use who could effectively teach us to use it properly). 

Is there anything else (besides a long line) that can give me the reliability I am looking to achieve or is the use an electronic training device the only failsafe method?


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

i have trained my boys with the long lead too, it took time and lots of practice in different settings and they became very reliable. then Covid lockdown hit and our usual off lead running place along the creek, in wooded areas etc became the overnight party spot for some people and suddenly all sorts of non-dogsafe food items were to be found everywhere. we knew leave it as a command very well, but it did not help when that salty saucy stew or whatever residual was 300 yards away from mom on the ground, where first i thought that they are just sniffing wild animal`s outputs, as we have plenty of those around too. After picking up some unknown human food residuals we hit a whole weekend of diarrhea with both (and we got lucky that it did not become anything worse), so mom went ahead and ordered their first set of e-collars. it took about 30 minutes to train them and suddenly my extended leave it command works. we call those good boy collars and they love them since they know we will go for good boy (aka off leash) activities when those get put on. i understand the frown, i used to think myself that they are inhumane and i saw people where in my opinion they were misusing these devices. Now i think that having the e-collar on them as a life saver is nothing to be frowned at. 
I use the types which have a beep and vibrate function too. The beep comes handy when there is strong upwind and they can not hear me calling, the vibrate is a warning, it does not hurt and the shock button gets used probably once every 6 months...


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## InTheNet (Jun 1, 2016)

Nothing wrong with an e-collar as long as the dog AND you understand the correct use.
We run both ours off lead all the time. The correction "has only been used once that I remember after the training . 
Our male flushed a coyote out and they were off across a frozen lake. Our V was gaining rapidly. My wife had to give him a little "tickle" to get his attention.
The beep/vibrate will stop them most of the time because they know what is coming.
The setting we use is about what a mosquito bite feels like. I have tested it on myself. 
We like the Garmin Alpha that also shows their location.

They hate the "tickle"!

They also free roam about 5 acres we have under electric fence and they know what is coming after the beep/vibrate. They learn very fast. 
Our previous lab was another story. She would stand at the wire /screw up her courage and go for it.Then she would stand on the other side until we came and got her.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Mine have always graduated from a checkcord (long line) to a ecollar. It just gives me a reliable recall, so they can enjoy being off leash running.


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## InTheNet (Jun 1, 2016)

I jinxed myself! One of our collars died yesterday. It did last 3 + years.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

InTheNet said:


> I jinxed myself! One of our collars died yesterday. It did last 3 + years.


I have a tritronics transmitter that is over 10 years old, and still works. The two collars were replaced right before garmin bought out tritronics. I still use them if I have more than two dogs in the field.
My newer collars (around 4 years old) are dogtra rt edge. Any problem with them has been operated error, as in accidentally nicking the wrong dog.
The only brand I had a problem with was Sport Dog. It would intermittently stop transmitting to the collar. That was a long time ago, and they might have improved the quality over the years.
I’ve never bought a Garmin ecollar. I’ve only used their stand alone GPS collars.

I would not try to go cheap when picking a ecollar. That would be like buying a race car, and using a rope for a seatbelt. It may work, but eventually it’s going to fail.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

The idea behind the long line and e collar are methods to reach out and "touch" the dog when out and about. I can't think of any other technology other than a projectile that could do the same. We started on long lines of various lengths and eventually graduated to the e collar. I use an Easy Educator EZ-900. I would not rely on cheap no-name e collars.


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