This is a complex question with many answers.
The simplest answer is that the efficacy of the collar far outweighs any negative impact that it has on the dog.
I want dogs to have as much freedom as possible. That means being able to go on hikes and to the beach and to picnics and barbecues and friends’ houses and not constantly be encumbered by a leash. Some dogs are homebound or like to stay very close to their handlers. Some dogs like to run as far as they can as fast as they can away from their handlers. Most dogs find themselves somewhere in the middle. The latter two types make up most of the dogs that I encounter.
Most dog owners spend a minimal amount of time training their dogs. And typically, most dogs that are trained by their owners and not by professionals, never have a good recall. Their owners just don’t have the skill set when the dog is at a very young age to create the conditions to lock it in place. Even when people bring us the dog from a very young age, when the dog goes home, the owners’ management of the dog and their usage of commands cannot be equal to a professional dog trainer.
Long lines are very difficult for people to learn how to use and downright impossible for certain people with disabilities or age-related physical difficulties. Before I used electronic collars, I did lessons with elderly clients and full grown American Labradors and German Shepherds where using a long line was extremely dangerous.
With the addition of an electronic collar, someone with less dexterity and physical acumen can still maintain the training of a dog.
The electronic collar is a tool, just like many others. The tool itself is not bad or good, it all depends on who is using it. There are trainers who could not train a dog if the power went out because their answer for every dog training question involves the electronic collar.
I’m not that type of dog trainer and I do not employ that type of dog trainer at Wilde Acres. Those other dog trainers use the electronic collar to shape a behavior with the use of the stim. For example, to train a dog to Come, this type of trainer would have the dog on a long leash, give the dog a command for Come, and start tapping on the electronic collar until the dog returned to him. This is classic negative reinforcement. It’s effective in producing the desired behavior, but it’s purely compulsive, leaving little space for the dog to learn anything on its own. Although I often use negative reinforcement, and even use electronic collars for negative reinforcement, I still don’t believe that the electronic collar used by itself in this way is an ethical method.
My method is quite different. My experience comes from a competitive background where the dogs are judged on how excitedly they perform the behaviors and how cooperatively they work with their handler. It’s important for dogs to know there is something in it for them.
At Wilde Acres, start by motivating dogs using food. We use high-value food rewards to teach dogs the value of the word “come.” After we create an initial understanding that the word “come” will be followed by high-value food rewards when they get to the handler, we introduce the use of leash pressure and slightly more distracting environments.
At that point, dogs learn that if they do not return to the handler, they will be reeled back in hand over fist until they are back in front of the handler.
When dogs at Wilde Acres are proficient at on-line recalls around reasonable levels of distraction with little-to-no failure, we will introduce the electronic collar.
The electronic collar will then be used when a dog does not heed a command. We will give a correction on the electronic collar and then pressure on the leash, which lets the dog know what is expected of it immediately following a correction from the electronic collar. We pair these steps in different quantities based on the dog. Typically 10 to 15 repetitions gives most dogs an understanding of what the electronic collar means.
