What is your opinion about Sport Dog 400 E-collar? We have recently adopted a 2 year old male Yorkie. He was trained a bit by his original owners (sit for treat, stay) but I'd like to get him his CGC so he could do pet therapy. There is a trainer in the Washington DC area who specializes in off leash training. I was looking at their web site, and the price for the first session includes a Sport Dog 400 E collar. Their web site's FAQ section describes it this way: An “e-collar” is basically a collar with a stimulation mechanism (similar to an electric fence collar) ... In the proven training method we teach, your dog is never "shocked into submission" or abused. Unlike a shocking device, the e-collar is used to get the dog's attention and keep it focused on listening to the handler. It is the equivalents of someone tapping your shoulder to get your attention, or setting your phone on vibrate so it will get your attention when someone is calling you. We teach the dog to listen to those "taps" and that the "taps" mean, "I am trying to get your attention.” My first instinct is that it is too harsh of a method to use on a Yorkie, but the trainer is highly rated so I thought I'd check with YT. Do you have any experience with training your dog using any type of an E collar? If so, would you recommend it, or should I look for a trainer who doesn't use one? |
No way. I'd never train a yorkie with anything other than positive reinforcements. I have clicker trained my dogs and it is extremely effective for teaching new commands and for reinforcements. I have never used any aversive methods and I question whether the use of something like this e collar with our stubborn and independently spirited breed would actually cause other issues. In my opinion, a yorkie is best trained with positive rewards done daily in short bursts over its lifetime. |
I worked in cardiology. We use electricity quite a bit in treatment. I went calculating Joules (which is a measurement of electricity). The most common tazer works on 0.3 Joules while this collar works on 0.11 Joules (calculated by using the 7v 16mA battery shown to go into the unit). Which translates into the e collar is emitting almost 40% of the energy used by a tazer to bring down a 200+ lb person on a 5 lb yorkie (which is 2.5% body mass of a person). This is still a significant amount of Joule. I think there are probably better ways of training a dog. I have read trainers found the clicker method (mentioned by another poster) to be a very effective training method. |
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Jackson was trained using exclusively positive reinforcement, wouldn't have it any other way. He's actually reliable off leash but I still worry about it so tend to keep him on a leash unless it's safe. The best part is... we enjoy working with each other, he enjoys working for me, and he's a really well behaved dog. We are planning on getting our CGC this summer as well. |
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Thanks to all who responded. I didn't like the idea but the web site was so persuasive I just had to ask. I won't be putting an e-collar on my little one! Jackson is such an amazing talent, I love his video! I'm sending you a PM for more information about how you trained him. |
I'm glad you decided on another training method and are getting in touch w Britster! Jackson really is a wonderful example of a yorkie - athletic, intelligent, and quite the gentleman!:) |
Here's another good starting point by gently reinforcing that YOU are the alpha in the house. Nothing in Life is Free Gaining control of your dog humanely |
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