A good dog training collar is a dog behavior modification tool that, set up right and in the able hands of a caring trainer, is also safe to use.
If you’re wondering what tool may help you teach your dog boundaries and acceptable behavior through negative reinforcement, then a training collar is highly effective for this. But we aren’t here just to discuss training collars. The emphasis here lies on what a good training collar is.
What is a Training Collar for Dogs?
If you are new to training collars, you may wish to consider what an ordinary collar looks like first and how to fit a dog collar correctly on your dog. The conventional training collar is the choke collar. Made of leather, sturdy fabric, nylon or even metal chain, the choke collar was designed to create tension around a dog’s throat when pulled in any direction. Use inappropriately, it can quickly cause damage to a dog, including bruising, asphyxia and even neck bone dislocation and tracheal damage. This is why some Northern European countries have banned them.
Nevertheless, as part of a sequence of training tools to use at various stages of behavior modification for particularly large and strong animals, it is a very effective tool in sending immediate signals to train a dog immediately to comply. However, it may not necessarily be the first and most optimal option for most cases. Thus, the conventional training collar is good at achieving its designed purpose but only in able, trained hands. Alternatives to a choke collar include the flat, Martingale-style or front-clip harnesses.
Non-Conventional Training Collars
The conventional collar was replaced in popular lore with the electronic training collar, a device that delivers a beep, vibration or even small electric shock to the dog when the trainer presses a button on a remote control. With the advent of electronics, training collars fall into 3 types: 1) obedience collars, 2) bark collars and 3) containment systems. You should choose a collar according to the situation you’re attempting to improve.
What are the differences between obedience, bark and containment system collars?
Obedience Collars
These work by manual remote control while bark collars and containment systems operate automatically, once the dog barks or moves beyond a boundary area. A demand for obedience requires intelligence on the part of the trainer, which implies no automation but purposeful intent. Obedience collars today come with your ability not only to control when to signal the dog, but also by how much to stimulate the dog to comply.
Bark Collars
They consist of a microphone with vibration pins that become automatically activated when the dog begins to bark. They are designed to control nuisance barking. While obedience collars are much more versatile than the remaining 2 types of collars, the bark collar is effective at getting a dog’s attention over something that you cannot control when it suddenly starts.
Given you set the limit of stimulus and then you can walk away, the bark collar instantaneously proves itself effective in your absence at conveying your desired signal and intensity of message to your dog to desist from barking, better than tugging a leash or other alternative negative reinforcement tool could do, including your shouting at the dog. An improvement in today’s bark collars is your ability to choose that intensity of stimulation by tiny increments, which the dog may need to experience before becoming compliant. Different dogs require different degrees of stimulus. What may be insensible to one dog is highly sensitive to another. You control this difference.
Containment Systems
These are very effective at teaching a dog to remain within defined borders inside an areas not demarcated by fences or any other kind of physical barriers. You install a containment system on premise the way you might a wireless home alarm system, so it carries no electric current the way an electric fence does. The moment the dog is a certain distance from the controlling device, it triggers the collar’s vibration, beep or shock the moment the dog approaches its set boundary.
Are Training Collars Safe for Dogs?
Yes, training collars are safe for your dog. But the major source of controversy comes from the history behind training collars – especially shock collars. In the past, shock collars were much cruder than they are now, and they delivered high-powered zaps without a setting to tone them down.
However, technology is much different today. Good training collars have adjustable settings and most reputable collar manufacturers make collars that aren’t even felt at the lowest level by the smallest dogs. With newer and more modern technology, training collars have become smarter and subtler in showing your dog the do’s and don’ts of domestic life.
How do you ensure to begin in a safe way to use a good training collar?
You should set up the training collar in a way that the electrical stimulus annoys but causes no pain.
Your dog should perk its ears when stimulated and not yelp and put its tail between its legs. You must dedicate time to learn how to use the training collar that you purchase to ensure you’re complying to its designed purpose and for best effect with the least discomfort to your dog. This is responsible trainer behavior.
Many websites and books exist to help you understand dog psychology. Use your dog collar manufacturer instructions on how to set up correctly the dog training collar model that you buy. An extra is to keep your remote control away from people you do not trust or who enjoy causing anguish on others!
Ensure you get your collars from a proven, reputable source with years of experience in the dog training industry. Listen to comments from professional users and avoid poor quality products to save a few dollars. If you are buying online, read user reviews prior to settling for your preferred product, as a faulty collar may cause problems for your dog not just your purse. You’d do well to check and make sure the collar is not faulty every now and then, once you buy it. Training collars are not for everyday wear. They should last for years. But batteries do die and sensors do wear out.
Not all training collars are shock collars. If you’re not uncomfortable with the use of negative reinforcement as a behavior modification technique but feel uncomfortable with the idea of applying electrical stimulus, there are alternatives: beep, vibration and spray collars.
Some collars use sound, some vibration and some even use scent and sprays. Some shock collars use these features too and over time your dog may associate beeps, vibes and odors to negative stimulus, and you can eliminate the shock function entirely, perhaps not even having to use electric shock at all.
But it’s all in the training. An untrained user may easily make the mistake of applying a high-level electrical stimulus just to save time. This could lead to cardiac fibrillation or even trigger aggression in your dog, depending on its size. An untrained user may even use a shock collar on a puppy and because it isn’t fully developed, the collar will produce fear and impair learning for many years to come. So, get training!
How to Use a Dog Training Collar
Training collar selection and setup is crucial for successful collar training. Knowing what to do with the collar is even more important. Follow these simple steps on how to set up a dog training collar program and how to put the collar on your dog correctly, to reach your dog training objectives with the least worries and quickest results:
- Read the training collar manufacturer’s manual: You need to understand the distinctive features of what you bought and how it works. A lot of manuals will even show you graphic directions on how to put the training collar on the dog by design. It educates you on how to adjust for size, where to place its prongs (if applicable), and how to maintain the device. Most collars you can buy today also come with online training videos. The important lesson to learn is how to begin to use the tool responsibly.
- Power up the collar and the transmitter: If the collar uses replaceable batteries, insert them into the transmitter and/or collar and test if it works. Before you put it on your dog, make sure that it is turned OFF and the voltage level is set to the LOWEST possible to avoid accidental discomfort that will make the dog instantly reluctant to wear the collar.
- Fasten the collar at the right point of the neck: When fastening the collar, make sure it is tight enough not to slip or fall off the neck of your dog, but not so tight that any stimulus meant to be mild will become worse. Make sure it’s also not so tight to restrict breathing or cause pinching that also exacerbates what the collar was designed to do alone. Some collars have prongs that must touch the skin of your dog to administer electrical stimulus, be certain they reach your dog’s neck.
- Test the collar on your dog for a few hours: Dogs are smart animals and can quickly come to realize what the source of their discomfort is. If you use the collar immediately after you put it on your dog, it may begin to associate any annoyance that follows with the collar itself and will refuse to wear it again. So, leave the collar on your dog to wear for a few hours without activating it. And always use the collar only after the dog has become impervious to its existence on its neck.
- Use commands. Use them consistently: Start with a command that your dog has already heard and use the collar to reinforce that command. An example is to command, “Quiet!” If the dog won’t listen, you press the remote, repeat the command and let up the moment you achieve a reaction. Then, reward. The dog will begin to understand that negative consequences from disobeying the “Quiet!” command also lead to positive consequences for obeying it.
- Activate the collar ONLY to discourage bad behavior: When your dog picks up your sneakers as a chew toy, you activate the collar and say, “Drop it!”. When it attempts to run away, you activate the collar and say, “Stop!” Discourage bad behavior only. And always reward after compliance. For best effect, only push the button less than a second after bad behavior is displayed. As much as possible, try not to hold the button for more than 3 seconds, else it’s better to increase the intensity than to prolong discomfort. And do not tap the button repeatedly. Sudden and brief stimulus delivers better results sooner.
- REWARD the behavior you’re after: There is plenty of research that suggests that positive reinforcement is more effective in dogs than negative. Why not take advantage of both? After your dog corrects its bad behavior, immediately reward the good behavior with praise or a treat!
- Hide your hands: As mentioned before, dogs are smart. Do not let your dog see you press the button. Put the remote in your pocket or behind your back when you deliver your command and stimulus, else it will realize your hand devise is causing the discomfort and become aggressive towards it.
- Do NOT provoke an angry dog: Electrical stimulus is not for every dog. If your dog is responding to shock with aggression, even at a low level, then find an alternative. Highly aggressive and already enraged dogs do not do well with negative reinforcement or high levels of negative stimuli.
A good training collar is a safe and useful tool for training your dog to obey, when it is setup right and put in the safety of able hands. Learning to use the device responsibly is a minimum standard for effective training.
Train your dog with confidence, provided you’ve taken the time to get to know your dog and how safely to use the training collar tool. Remember that the aim is not to cause your dog pain but to train your dog to avoid negative feedback for unacceptable behavior. To learn how better to command a dog to obey you, follow this link.