Comparing Ecollars to Water Boarding
by The K9 Guy, 02-15-13Yes, that's a pretty provocative title for a post, but I recently ran across a blog article making exactly that comparison. The author was a trainer who proclaimed the virtues of positive only training, while stating the use of an Ecollar was the same as torture. Her article brought to mind the recent State Farm commercials poking fun at "they can't put anything on the internet that isn't true". Well, this author admitted to never using an Ecollar, so I'd take the information with a grain of salt. The article impressed me as more propaganda from a positive only training advocate.
Rather than trying to persuade with opinions, I'd like to offer some numbers. Of the over 500 dogs I worked with last year, about 5 dozen dogs were trained using an Ecollar. With every Ecollar I sell, I tell the owner if they don't like it for any reason, I will take it back for 30 days. Every year I have 2-3 returns - about 5% of my sales. Usually 2/3 of returns will be from owners that readily admit they have pre-conceived issues with using an electronic device on their dog (even though these dogs were responding well), and the other 1/3 of returns are from owners that feel a bit 'technologically challenged'. Given the vast majority of these clients have never seen an Ecollar before my arrival, I would argue there would be far higher return rates if these collars were the torture devices described by the author noted above.
At the end of the day, an Ecollar is just a tool. Like most tools, they can be useful or misused. I can use my hand to pat and encourage, or use it to strike and intimidate. It's the user that makes or breaks any teaching tool, and in skilled hands an Ecollar is a very sophisticated device that offers a very gentle way to hasten reliable training. If money were no object, I would train using a lot more of the devices. However, a reliable Ecollar can cost around $200, and that amount of money may not always provide the best value to a client. If I can help an owner toward their goals without spending the $200, then I do. However, for some goals (especially owners that want their dogs off leash), Ecollars can be the best tool for fast and reliable training that is easy for both owner AND dog. They can also help owners reach some goals more quickly, requiring fewer visits and providing better overall value.
One Ecollar return I had last spring was from a couple that wanted their dog off leash. After 4 weeks, they admitted they weren't really using the device, with one of the owners readily admitting they felt electric stimulations (even at low levels) were "not for them". This couple advised they were going to pursue positive only approaches toward their off leash goals. I wished them luck, and offered to come out at no charge to proof their dog when the positive only training was complete (so that they could be certain the dog had a reliable recall). Two weeks ago I was visiting a new client down the street from this couple, and they were outdoors with their dog. The dog was still on a leash 1 year later. I couldn't help wondering whether the dog would have been happier learning to come when called vs living life tethered to its owner.
As a firefighter of 31 years, I can tell you the most terrifying thing I have to cope with are individuals that think they know something when they really don't. There's a huge difference between knowledge and theory. Positive only trainers frequently offer theory as fact, when history and experience often paint a very different (and far clearer) picture. If the author mentioned above were to be believed, my dog trained with an Ecollar should despise me. Does the black and tan dog in the video below seem stressed? All of his training was done using an Ecollar.