No More Tall Tails: Busting Training Myths

Two dogs living their best lives at dog camp

Introducing my new blog series-No More Tall Tails! In this series I’ll bust common myths of dog training. Dog training is a field with a lot of different opinions and a lot of people sharing information with little to back it up. Almost every conversation I have about training involves some kind of misinformation! Here I’ll set the record straight.

This month’s tall tail is a big one. It’s a controversial topic that gets heated and overblown on both sides. The myth? Ecollar training is inhumane.

This is a tough one because anti-ecollar advocates have a reason to feel the way they do. There was a time when ecollars, also known as remote collars, electronic collars, or “shock collars”, were inhumane. This is where the “shock collar” misnomer comes from. Early iterations were too powerful and lacked precision. Today’s ecollar market is a completely different ballgame, but even they can be used inhumanely. However, if done correctly, ecollar conditioning can be a fun bonding experience for your dog that increases their quality of life immeasurably.

The common misconception is that ecollars are used to “shock” or punish dogs. Firstly, they don’t provide a shock. Good quality ecollars (the only kind we’ll discuss here, since they’re the only kind we recommend using) are powered by mostly voltage with very low amperage. Amperage is the electricity you feel when you get a shock from an old lamp or a power socket. It’s the electricity that travels through your body and can cause injury or death. Voltage is the same power used in TENS units, a common treatment in physical therapy and chiropractic offices. This power stays in one place and stimulates the muscles underneath the skin, causing them to contract. It feels odd and can be startling or uncomfortable at higher levels, but it can’t cause any damage or injury.

Three happy off-leash dogs

Secondly, ecollars used correctly are not a punishment. They are above all a communication tool. I’ve seen many sensitive dogs, whose owners were anxious that their ecollar training would terrify them, flourish with their ecollars. This is because ecollars offer a clarity of communication that is otherwise nearly impossible to accomplish between dog and human. The stimulation is extremely precise in both its level and timing, so a conditioned dog will understand exactly what it’s telling them. Compare that to other methods of communication with your dog - yelling, pulling their leash, etc. - all use more force and less clarity. Through training, they also learn to become appetitive at the feeling of the stimulation, so it leads to a positive outcome for them (food!).

The key is that conditioning a dog to an ecollar is not something you can figure out on your own. Anyone who is interested in an ecollar for their dog should work with a qualified trainer. The trainer should have experience in ecollar training and be knowledgable about how to make it a positive experience for you and your dog.

The argumen I always come back to is the dog’s quality of life. Without ecollar training, many dogs would never be able to run offleash. I see everyday at dog camp how joyful dogs are when they’re offleash, and it feels wrong to deprive any dog of that. It’s the ultimate way they’re able to express their dog-ness - running hard, playing chase, sniffing to their hearts’ content. I believe that every dog deserves to live that way.