31/10/2021
The truth hurts.
As a dog lover, my dogs safety is paramount.
I have long been a believer in training via positive reinforcement and I was convinced it was the only way to train a dog that I loved.
I was always completely against the use of of any training tool that inflicted pain to a dog.
I always believed it was completely unnecessary and that training via positive reinforcement was enough.
I am posting this announcement to officially say “I was wrong”
This may come as shock to some of you because I never like to admit I’m wrong but I feel so strongly about this and I want to apologise for my previous mindset.
I appreciate I may lose some of my customers and even receive some abuse but I feel this is something that needs to be discussed and explained.
I have personally trained and worked with hundreds, if not thousands of dogs and I love my profession. I class myself as extremely lucky to do a job that is so rewarding.
I never tire of seeing a dog or puppy understand what I’m teaching them and I love giving customers the confidence to enjoy their dogs.
Recently, I have started to doubt my own training methods due to a few individual failures. If any of you know me you will know that me admitting to failure is comical in itself. I don’t like to fail!
But this is where I have to admit defeat. Not in my ability to train a dog, but in my ability to overcome thousands of years of inbuilt predatory drive from an animal that is determined to chase prey.
This doesn’t effect every dog, but the ones it does effect makes it almost impossible to recall a dog from prey.
I’ve always said that it was necessary for you to build a bond with your dog and then religiously train a whistle recall. This does work with many dogs but will it work when they see moving prey like a deer, squirrel, sheep or anything else that’s fluffy and moves.
Yes, you can reward them, praise them and even try to make yourself sexier than a squirrel………. But it won’t work! There you go, I said it. With some dogs, no amount of love, praise or steak will break the red mist and fixation of moving prey. The only way that can be done is with an e-collar.
I have always been completely against the use of e-collars. I have even signed petitions to have them banned and publicly ridiculed other trainers that would consider using one.
For this, I apologise. I was wrong and narrow minded.
I was not aware of the advancement of these collars and how they could be used correctly without inflicting pain.
I have spent The last few months researching and investigating these tools and now feel confident in their unrivalled ability to help protect our dogs.
Yes, I did say protect. How does an e-collar protect your dog? It’s very simple, we live in the countryside, we are surrounded by some of the most stunning walks in the country and we love to let our dogs run free and enjoy these areas.
I firmly believe dogs should be allowed to run free as nature intended. But only if your dog will come back immediately when called.
If you can’t call your dog back when they are chasing something else, you don’t have a recall.
If your dog runs into a farmers field and causes any disturbance to the livestock, that farmer has every legal right to shoot your dog.
If your dog sees a deer or rabbit whilst on a walk and then decides to chase that animal, who is responsible the the damage or potential death caused to any animal involved?
What if your dog chases a deer or fox into a main road and then consequently gets hit by a car and dies?
I as an animal lover I can’t live with these risks or consequences and I’m not prepared to lose my dog because I wasn’t willing to use a method that was guaranteed.
I do not want to hurt any dog or cause them any unnecessary distress or pain so for that reason I feel the use of these collars is acceptable in some cases.
There have been studies done by certain animal welfare groups and DEFRA and they say that these training methods are damaging to the dogs wellbeing. I challenge this and totally support the use provided they are used by people that have been given correct training and completely understand how to use them responsibly.
My dogs well being is paramount to me and I believe the the e-collar is a perfectly acceptable training tool provided it is used in conjunction with positive reinforcement. This does not mean that I will train every dog this way, but it does mean I would be willing to consider the use if necessary.
79% of attacks on livestock actually happen when the owner is not present and it is absolutely impossible to teach a dog avoidance with positive reinforcement. With decent e-collar training, your dog can actively choose to avoid the prey even without you there.
If you disagree with my thoughts I completely understand and I’m more than willing to explain the device in more detail if you are interested.
Unfortunately I have lost count of the amount of dogs that have gone missing and the subsequently found dead because they were chasing prey.
This post is dedicated to those dogs and hopefully I can help reduce the amount of unnecessary heartache.
I would also like to publicly support and thank James Penrith from Take the Lead Dog Training for all his advice on this matter and his continued efforts to make people aware of the benefits of e-collars.
Take the Lead Dog Training
