Training Your Dog With Electronic Collars

Some people today still think that training your dogs with electronic collars is "cruel." I still talk to dog owners today who say that this method of training the dogs, usually by sending levels of stimulation to the dog as a corrective method, is unnecessary. Many of those who say this happen to have ill-behaved dogs that not only are useless as gun dogs, but are a nuisance as pets. Very few of them even understand how the electronic dog collars work.

There are a variety of electronic dog collars on the market. They have a transmitter, which you hold, and a receiver, that goes around the collar of the dog. The receiver usually has a signal receiver that should point towards the dog's nose. The stimulation comes from the charger that is placed on the dog's skin, usually near his chest. All dogs have different sized necks and the larger the dog, the more stimulation is needed.

The stimulation is used in conjunction with commands. If the dog refuses to obey a command, you can use a collar with momentary stimulation to give him a nick to correct him. This does not hurt the dog, but he does not like the sensation.

As dogs have a very brief retention span, it is necessary to correct them when they commit the infraction. Yelling, screaming and hitting a dog 10 minutes after he has done something wrong is not effective. In fact, hitting the dog is a lot more cruel than an electronic dog collar.

Now let me give you an example of "the tale of two dogs." I have two friends, both of whom have or had black labs. One is a hunter, the other bought the dog as a pet. The hunter used an electronic collar on his dog when training. The non-hunter tried to train the dog himself, took him to "obedience school" and resorted to screaming and hitting.

When I go to the hunter's house, the dog, who is very much a part of the family, will calmly approach me and sniff a little. If my friend tells the dog to lay down, he does so. This dog is not only a good hunting companion, but he is a valuable friend to the hunter's children as my own children. The dog accompanies the family on camping trips and is a pleasure to be around.

When I used to go to my other friend's house, I cringed. I love dogs, but this one would jump all over me and even reached up and grabbed food from my kids plates while they were eating, my friend screaming at him all the while.

My non-hunter friend finally could bear the dog no longer as he said he was "impossible" to train. I tried to get him to use a collar, but that was, in his words, "cruel." He ended up giving the dog to a friend. Fortunately, the dog found a good home. Many untrained dogs do not - they wind up in the pound and are put down. Using a dog training collar is not "cruel." Not training a dog is cruel.

Using a training collar train your dog will not do it all for you. You still have to offer voice commands. You still want to praise your dog and you never want to do anything that will hurt your dog. But it will get you a better behaved animal that is a joy to be around. And one that you will want to keep.

My hunter friend's dog is getting old. He still takes him on trips with him. He has not needed the collar since he was a young dog. But the old boy still has some life in him and, after all, he is part of the family.