Are E-Collars Cruel? The Truth For Reactive Dog Owners | LIVE Q&A

Okay everyone, we're just gonna wait until, um, I make sure that I'm tech savvy enough to make sure Instagram and YouTube are both working, because we all know, if you know me, that my ability for, uh, ability to organize technology is not very good. So we'll just have a little wait and we'll see who pops on. I think I'm all good. YouTube, sweet. Instagram, we are good. We've got a few people on Instagram, a few people on YouTube. So the whole theme of this live is me talking about e-collars, why we are going to possibly our dog, um, some apprehensions of why, of why you may feel the way that you feel when it comes to e-collar training. Um, or if you've had shitty e-collar training before and you want to know how to fix it. Obviously, if there are some other questions that you really want answering, feel free to throw them in there, but this primarily can be based around e-collar training, the very controversial topic. Excuse me, I've just been burping. I just had Zambreros and a beer for dinner, so come up a little bit, but feel free to drop in some comments in Instagram and move this over so I can see both of you, Instagram and YouTube. Like I said, we are here for to answer any questions that you have in regards to e-collar training, e-collar for recall, e-collar for making obedience better, e-collar training for deaf dogs, e-collar training for aggression, um, whatever it may be. Let me know. Let me know your apprehensions about e-collars, or even just give me a success story. Maybe you're just here because your dog has just had their life transformed with the e-collar. Let me know as well, and then everyone else can see, oh my God, it's not just Adam and his clients, um, it's, it's them as well. Hello, Shana, Connor, Clara. Like I said, guys, we are speaking about e-collars today. Hello, Izzy! If your dog has bad recall, the e-collar could just about change— or will, should I say— change your life. So if your dog has shitty recall, let me know in the comments and I'll find out what breed you got, what you've tried before, and we can go from there. Everyone's a bit quiet. Here we go. Oh, here we are. Yorkshire Camera, I've got all the questions from the Insta question box. Ah, okay, perfect. So I guess we could even just start with talking about what the e-collar is, right? Um, and it is an electronic collar. It delivers a sensation, um, to your dog depending on where you put it. I know some people in the sports world put it in different locations, but it's going to go on their neck like a collar, and we are going to use that for different reasons. The primary use of the e-collar with us here at the Perth K9, Yorkshire K9, California, South of England, is to liberate our dogs. I will scream this into the cows come home. There is no way that you can give your dog 110% reliability off the leash about the use of an e-collar. People will try and debate this, but it's just a fact. I'm— and I don't mean that you can't teach good recall. Of course you can teach good recall, but I mean for the safety of your dog, to be able to put your mortgage down and say, I know that my dog is going to come back and for the— to keep them safe, to keep other dogs safe, and to keep wildlife safe as well. Like I said, we primarily use the e-collar for recall, but it has many other, um, things that it can be used for, especially when it comes to— well, I guess it comes under the same bracket of recall, but teaching deaf dogs, dogs that cannot hear you, right? I've had a fair few deaf dogs now that come to me for recall, and the e-collar has changed their life. We can communicate with dogs who can't hear us we can tell them to come back and give them a life off the leash, and they can't even hear us. It's just absolutely life-changing for some dogs. Two German Shepherds, brother and sister, 7 years. Awesome. Kim, I don't have a problem with e-collars as long as the dog has been correctly introduced and it is used correctly. Absolutely, Kim, I 110% agree with you. Um, the e-collar isn't a Band-Aid, right? It's not just something you can slap on a dog and expect your, your issues to be fixed. You need to understand how you can implement that or layer that over something that the dog already knows. Um, I have a working cocker spaniel with insane environmental, insane environmental awareness. Will an e-collar help when he is so distracted? Phil, absolutely. Um, I've worked with countless cocker spaniels now who are absolute— excuse my way of, um, put it— I always word them as crackheads because they are just crazy, right? Um, and they're so driven that once their nose hits the floor, they're gone, and it's impossible to get them back. And the e-collar can liberate your dog because a lot of the time, being a cocker spaniel owner, what I've found with cocker spaniel owners is that they don't take their dog off the leash because of the stress which it brings them. They don't know if they're going to come back. So the e-collar can do that for you. It can give your dog the most freedom. Uh, who are we next? Is my dog too reactive for this to even work? I guess that question is a— like, that question could be taken in a few different ways, but If we're talking about can it work for, let's say, obedience, sharpening up your obedience, or most importantly what we use it for, for recall, absolutely. Like, it doesn't matter if your dog's reactive, you can get them off the leash away from their triggers and let them live the best life ever. Um, but you can also layer that over punishment if you need to. Um, but in regards to your dog being reactive and the e-collar, or asking if the e-collar can work for them, I would say from a fulfillment, uh, from a point of fulfillment, it's gonna give them the best life ever. And dependent on what your dog— why your dog is reactive, right? If it's just really frustration-based and doesn't have a good outlet, that could be one of the missing tools, or the, the, the unticked box that you have not yet ticked with your reactive dog. That could help you, um, get where you want to go. Um, I hope that helps. Is there a specific e-collar you prefer using which is available in Europe? There are a few e-collars which are obviously, um, very good and some that are very, very bad. Um, when it comes to what we primarily use, we'll primarily use like Educator systems. Um, that could be like the Mini Educator, a FOB, a BOSS, a Micro, but the Educator systems. And then, um, the higher end of stuff, you're going to have the Martin system, so a Chameleon, a very, very expensive collar but a very good collar. You have Dogtras, more of a hunting collar— hunting branded, should I say. Um, you have sport dog collars, but we primarily use the Educator systems. They are reliable, um, and very effective. Does breed matter or does this work for every dog? Yes, absolutely, it works for every single dog. Um, but what I will say about that is certain breeds are probably going to be more tolerant to the sensation of the e-collar, um, in certain settings because of their drive, the breed they are, what they're bred for. When they spot certain things in the environment, they may be more tolerant to certain levels of the e-collar. Some dogs can be very sensitive, some dogs aren't. It's like trying to compare other humans' pain thresholds to dogs, because that's— I don't want to beat around the bush, guys, but that is the whole point of e-collars. Um, they are there to provide a small amount of discomfort. And I know that sounds a bit horrible, but it can in turn liberate your dogs, especially when it comes to recall, right? Yes, the e-collar is there for communication, but at its core, it is uncomfortable, it is a little bit weird, um, to the dog. But because of that, we are able to have complete control of our dogs, which in turn allows us to let them off the leash and live their best life ever. Um, yeah, dog truck Garmin are predominant in Europe as far as I can see. Yeah, I don't have that much to do with Garmins. Um, I found that— I might be wrong, someone can correct me on this— I found they're quite intense. Um, the, the actual, like, the stim is, is quite like— I don't know how to describe it— it's quite grabby and intense even on the low levels. So I find a lot of dogs, um, it's hard to find that low level initially might be wrong though. People might have had really good experiences with them, but personally we just stick to the, the Educator systems. My dog has a bite history. Does that change things? I can't imagine it. I can't imagine letting her off the lead. Well, one, we should— if your dog does have a bite history and you want to do more stuff with her, you should definitely seek out training to fix that issue itself. Um, I wouldn't want a dog running off the leash with no recall who has a bite history, but getting some training for that, so getting the aggression fixed and then conditioning the e-collar for recall, even luring over punishment so you can stop those behaviors initially, um, is going to help you as well. Like I said, it's such like a multi-tool. We can use so many things. Phil Stanley, can you explain in more detail how it is used for How it is used for recall, please. Yes, so we are going to initially teach our dogs to recall, right? We're going to say, hey, when I say this word, and that means turn around, you come back to me, you get rewarded, and then you go away and do whatever you want to do. We primarily use food as a reinforcer initially for coming back for the recall. You could technically not use food, but we still do it. So we're going to get the dog to turn around Use our reward marker, pay the dog. Once we know that our dog has a good understanding of that behavior and is excited to do that, then we're going to start layering the e-collar over the top. So let's say I have the word, um, here as my recall. Let's say if I can get my pen and paper up for you guys. We're going to use our recall. I'm just going to write this down. Hopefully you can see. Here we are. So we are going to— let's say we use the word— oh, that's backwards. We're going to use the word here. We're going to recall our dog. Our dog already knows what this means. They know how to do it. Then we're going to find a level on the e-collar where the dog kind of maybe wiggles their ear a little bit, wiggle their head. There's very, very small amount of, um, they can, they can feel the collar, let's say. We're then going to start tapping the call— if that's backwards again, I'm going to start tapping the collar After I use my recall, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. After they turn around, I'm going to use my reward marker and then I'm going to pay them with food. So we are pairing the e-collar with something they already know. And the concept is that once they hear the recall, the sensation doesn't turn off until they turn around. Once they turn around, that weird sensation is released. They hear their reward marker. And it's a big climax moment, if that makes sense. The— we use a mixture of negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement to make the behavior extremely strong. So like I said, we're going to use our recall. Our dog already understands the concept of coming back to you. I'm then going to start tapping my e-collar on a reasonably low level, one maybe where you can see a little bit of an ear flick. Then once we see that the dog is turning around, they've committed back to us, I'm going to stop tapping my e-collar. I'm going to use my reward marker and reward the dog. We could get in further about how we can make that completely trustworthy to be off the leash, so what's known as proofing the e-collar, but we'll— I'm not going to give you that advice over here because you no offense, might go and fuck it up. I'm looking at using an e-collar to correct dog's behavior to kids, jumping, bullying behavior. Yes or nah? Ash, that could be a very, very slippery slope. Um, yes, the e-collar can be an amazing transformative tool, but it can also really, really fuck up your dog. Um, so you want to make sure if you are using it for bad behavior around especially children, especially if that's for the dog, if they're in a highly aroused state and then you're using the e-collar, if you use that wrong, it could have like catastrophic results. Um, and I'm not being dramatic when I say that as well. So please make sure that you reach out to somebody who knows what they're doing. Buy a course, reach out to us. Study, then go and implement the e-collar. But it's not a Band-Aid, it's not a slap-it-on-your-dog tool, push-the-button, one and done. Um, it's really trying to educate yourself, um, and teach your dog how this is meant to be used. Sorry, I'm ignoring people on YouTube. I'm coming back now. I was on Instagram Uh, what if in this summer days my dog eats much less and is not as food motiv— I'm gonna read this again. What if in the summer my dog eats less and is not as food motivated than he is during the cooler days? Are treats a valid option? So, Marte, if that was the case, then your dog wouldn't take the treats, right? Like, if your— if your dog isn't as food motivated in the summer as it is in the winter, for whatever reason that may be— sounds a bit strange to me— um, then they wouldn't want the treats anyway. But explain to me more what you mean so I can be less sarcastic. He'd take— he takes the treats but not his regular kibble. Well then, it's not a motivation issue, it's a 'I like this more' issue. Does that make sense? So he will take the food, the cheese, but he won't take the kibble. That's not a food motivation issue. He's motivated by food. It's that, uh, the kibble is not that good. I like the cheese more. So then you just don't have that as an option and you only offer the kibble. Um, in terms of e-collar training, I'm no stranger to it in terms of the implications, but from your perspective, do you start off with leash on dog in conditioning phase, use verbal cue that's already understood, um, collar first, then layer of— oh wait, no, sorry. Use the verbal cue that's already understood and apply pressure with e-collar first, then layer on. Okay, that's a lot. So yes, we start off with the leash. We always have a leash on. The leash does not come off the dog until we've proved the behavior in real world settings. So I'm going to have a massive long line on my dog, a very thin long line, and that long line is not coming off until I can 100% trust my dog. So there is no e-collar training without a leash. If you're doing that, it's fucking stupid. Not you, sorry, don't miss out on you. If anybody's doing that, it's fucking stupid. Um, do you start off with the leash on the dog in the conditioning phase? Yes. Use verbal cue that's already understood? Yes. 'And apply pressure with the e-collar and then layer it with leash pressure.' Yes, absolutely. You know what you're talking about, mate. Good stuff. Yeah, so we will use the e-collar over a behavior which is already known. If the dog is struggling to turn around, then we might help them with a little bit of leash pressure. Yes, Marte, remove the, um, prep— the food that your dog is finding more preferential. Back to Instagram. Just on a walk at the moment. Question about e-collar: when a dog is in a high drive, would you not use your Nag and Boost? Granted, the marker should be strong, but in drive, tracing the squirrel— but let's, uh, that wasn't finished. I'm slightly confused, Travis. I don't know what you mean. Um, if your dog is ignoring your recall and they can hear you, boost. You've already done a boot camp. I know you've been on here before. Your dog's ignored your recall, use your boost button. What are the benefits of my dog being off the lead? I'm scared in case he doesn't come back. Dennis the Menace, I, I'm sure you can answer your own question here, right? A dog is not meant to be on a lead, right? They are a dog. They are, they are like hunter and scavenger, scavengers. They want to be running around sniffing, um, they are meant to technically be hunting, right? That's really what play is. When dogs play one another, they're practicing the hunt. A dog who's not off the leash is nowhere near having their genetic um, the genetic needs met. Um, that's why there's such an epidemic of badly behaved dogs, is because we restrict them to this piece of fabric that's been like, um, that we've been made to think is normal. And I know that sounds like I'm wearing a tinfoil hat, right? But it's true that walking our dog around the block is more of a societal norm. We're not meant to do it with our dog. We've just been kind of indoctrinated to do that. To have a happy dog and to have a dog who sleeps calmly in your house and doesn't have, um, this excessive amount of energy, they should be off the leash. And if you're scared that he doesn't come back, this is what that whole live is about, is to teach you the benefits of the most amazing tool in dog training, the e-collar. Sorry guys, Tom, mate, Brodie doesn't need to read the questions out, okay? People, people need to write their questions with better grammar. No offense, everyone. Your dog just gets to be— oh, Hayden's answering my question for me. Thanks, Hayden. Your dog just gets to be a dog, better exercise and spin off the lead. Um, Yes, sweet. I was just puzzled for a second when it came to high drive, but yeah, I had a feeling I was right, but I wanted to speak about it. How can you avoid e-collar tolerance? I don't have this issue, just want to— just don't want to ever have the problem. Hayden, I think you're talking about like creating, um, creating a dog which just gets accustomed to the sensation of the e-collar. Um, the— we try to create hypersensitive dogs. So, so making sure that we have conditioned the e-collar in a very low-level setting or a low-level environment, non-arousing environment, should I say. Then when it comes to proofing the behavior, we want to make sure that when we are using the higher levels to make— say, hey, you fucking need to come back, that that is done over stuff like a smell, a sniffing a tree, something that's not of a really, really high value that's going to spike the dog into a high level of arousal. But also it's making sure that if you do need to increase your levels, that you're not just like slowly going up on the collar. Say your proofing level or your higher level is a 20 and your dog's very distracted and blows off your recall. That we don't want to use a 22, 23, 24, 25. That's going to create tolerance. So if my dog ignores the recall on a 20, I'm going to jump up to a 30, use my boost, and then they're going to turn around. Uh, going back to YouTube. Can you e-collar train with the vibration mode, or does it have to be the stim? So Sammy, you're gonna find that more than likely your dog is going to be more— is going to find the vibration more aversive than the stim. Some dogs don't care about the vibration, they couldn't care less, but a lot of dogs, it freaks them the hell out. So I wouldn't recommend using a vibration. The stim on a good e-collar, you you cannot feel on your skin, okay? You cannot feel it until— I can't feel it to about a 10. My German Shepherd comes back on a 7. So I hope that answers your question. What do you class as a high level? Hayden, that is an impossible question for me to answer. I don't determine anything as a high level. I just look at the dog in front of me. So I look at the dog, I see what their initial level is for teaching the behavior, where they can feel it. And then when I'm proofing the behavior to make sure they're going to turn around, I make sure that that level that I'm proofing the recall on— so the level that I'm making sure is my old shit button— I'm making sure that that is very uncomfortable for the dog so it does turn them around in any setting. Haha, uh, I got you. Yep, that's unfair to the dog. I do training in Indianapolis, Indiana in the States. I'm always interested in different approaches. Final question, how do you— final question, how about how much conditioning do you recommend before you begin correcting, or can that be applied at any case as long as the question is understood? Yes, absolutely. Very good question again. There is no time, okay? When the dog knows the thing, they know the thing. So we do silent tests, okay? We're not gonna spend weeks on end, months on end. We're not going to spend, uh, 2 weeks going over teaching the dog the e-collar. We're just gonna do a few days of the e-collar work, and then we're gonna do a silent test. And the silent test is saying nothing and using that same level and see if the dog turns around. If the dog turns around on its own a few times, they know what that means. So then in turn, we can tell them off for it. How long does it take before I'd actually see a difference? Does it take months? Well, if you're talking about recall, it'll take you about 3 days. That's what we do in our boot camps. We get dogs off the leash in 3 days. I know what you're going to say, Adam, that's fucking insane. How can you get your dog completely off the leash in 3 days?. And that is the beauty of the e-collar. Years ago, I used to have it— Jacob's gonna laugh at me at this— I used to debate with Jacob. I used to say, no, no, no, you need at least 2 weeks of good conditioning, um, for the dog to understand the e-collar, and then you can get them off the leash. So there was this like imaginary strict rule that the god— uh, the dog training gods had made up, and they've been like forced upon me, and it's a load of crap, right? The concept of teaching the dog the e-collar is to see, does the dog understand the sensation? Do they know that when they feel this tap tap tap tap tap on their neck, that that means to turn around? If they understand that, in one day, one session, two sessions, two weeks, whatever it is, that is when your dog is ready to come off the leash. Is this the model you recommend? Mini Educator ET300? Yes, that is the most common collar that you will find people using from all across the world. It's what's known as the Mini Educator, like you said, or the ET300. My dogs are on a FOB, an F-O-B. It's an educator system. Very more stubborn dogs are on what's known as the Bosses. And then the small sausage dogs are usually on like micro educators. Sorry, I'm going to go back to Instagram now, guys. I'm carrying on with my— nothing more in Instagram anyway. Sorry guys, keep coughing. Do you specifically and almost exclusive— exclusive— oh my God, I'm gonna speak exclusively Use the e-collar for recall? Um, no, we do not. I— we can use it for loose leash walking, um, we can use it even for obedience. Primarily we will use it for recall most of the time, but we will also like happily layer the e-collar over a punishment marker that has already been taught. So we have a punishment marker that's been taught in a low-stakes setting we'll then layer the e-collar after we've already taught them the e-collar through recall. We will layer the e-collar over punishment. We don't want the conditioned response of the dog from the e-collar to be, oh, and to shut down, right? We don't want them to feel that e-collar for the first time and go, oh, fuck, I know what this means, it means something bad. We want that response from the dog to be 'Oh shit, gotta turn around, gotta go back to Mom.' The enjoyable part of running back to you to get food, running back, having a good time— we want that to be the thing that is initially taught to the dog, and then we can layer the e-collar over. Don't get me wrong though, we will use e-collar punishment straight off the bat if it's necessary for a certain dog. We have two German Shepherds. Can they be trained together or does it need to be separate? I mean, if you can train two German Shepherds from scratch at the same time together, do you want a job? I'll give you a job if that's the case. But no, I would definitely recommend training them separately, otherwise it is going to be a bloody nightmare. So train them separately, it'll make your life so easy. I think I'm caught up on questions now, so that means I can have a bit of my beer. Um, any more questions from the Instagram, uh, poll that I put out? Susie, like I said, guys, I'm here answering questions in regards to e-collars. Why they're important, why they might change your fucking life and give your dog the best life ever, how they're used, um, and then additionally to that, any other questions that you might have as well. But feel free to fire away. We've got people from all around the world. I love it. People from America, the UK, Australia, uh, people from Europe. I've got a friend who has a skittish dog, but not like tweaking— tweaking, such an American word— tweaking out when he sees other dogs, but he's definitely hesitant in greeting my dog. I know they don't have to meet. How can I help the other dog? So you want your dog to meet a skittish dog. How can I help you? Is that what you're asking? How can you help your friend's nervous dog meet your confident dog? I don't, uh, through e-collar training, you think that would help build confidence? Are you asking if e-collar training your friend's dog would help build confidence in a social setting with your other dog, with your dog? My dog had a scuffle with another dog the other day and they separate themselves. As I recalled him with the use of an e-collar on a— as I recalled him with the collar on a low— on low, another dog rushed him to have a go. Do you think this could negatively affect his recall? It hasn't seemed to yet. So Hayden, as long as you're collar was paired with your recall, so you used your recall and then you used your e-collar as the, uh, pressure to come back to you, then it was turned off, it's really going to have no correlation. Um, but just go out and have a look, test it, do a few silent tests, go out, work on recall of your dog and see if it's had any effect. But I doubt it will. Are they waterproof? Yes, they're 100% waterproof. My dog's absolute maniacs, um, they love the water. And that's the best part about them. How far can my dog go with the e-collar? Far, very far. Let's have a— let's have a Google, hey? Let's have a little look. Mini Educator distance. I'm pretty sure it's like— yeah, 800 meters. Brodie was right. I'm pretty sure— I thought it was going to be 600, but it's 800 meters, the Mini Educator. I don't know why your dog would be 800 meters away from you anyway, but Would the fulfillment part of e-collars help with your other dog's confidence? Well, if your dog has like, in brackets, I guess, anxious behavior from being so pent up and having nothing to do, the e-collar is going to have some benefit to the dog. But I would just— if you know, I don't know how much experience you have, I think you've, you said that you've got a lot to do with dogs. If you know dog body language and you have a good skill set in place, you can just manage their interactions, um, and referee. I always say like referee the boxing match as such, um, and make sure that that interaction is good and let them play, let them have fun. But I don't force it. That's awesome, thank you. I've seen so many of the positive-only force-free trainers that shit all over e-collars, so I'm trying to change that way of thinking before boot camp. Sammy, are you, are you coming on our boot camp? Have you got the, uh, I don't want to say your last name. I'm not going to say your last name. Broadcasted all over Instagram and YouTube. But are you coming to our boot camp? Because I'm pretty sure we've got a Sam next week. If e-collars were truly fine, why are they banned in some countries? Oh, we could talk about this for a very long time because people are fucking idiots. Excuse my language. People are stupid. Um, there are— that in all seriousness though, there are very flawed studies in regards to how these devices are actually applied, um, to dogs. So people have made a study, collected data, um, with dogs who have had e-collars applied in a completely different way to that we would ever apply it for recall, obedience, leash manners, whatever it may be, and studying the dog's body language after and saying that it creates fear and anxiety when what most of the time they're doing is just randomly just stimming the dog on high levels. Of course it's going to be a, a horrible device or a horrible sounding device if that's the application of the tool, but that's simply just not how it's used. Maybe some people do And those people need to be held accountable and be shut down. Um, but I always encourage anyone who is apprehensive about these devices to simply put them on your own skin. How can you have an opinion on something that you have never felt? How can you have an opinion? You can't. You can have, I guess, a preconceived idea about what they might feel like or what they might do or what you might have read. But to have that kind of opinion, surely you, you want to see it in the flesh. Surely you want to feel what these devices feel like with the people who are advocating for them. Um, but in short, it's a crazy world. It's, um, it's a crazy world. And it's sad because if I'm being honest, guys, it's probably going to happen here in Australia. It's probably going to happen in the UK. It's probably going to happen in America. And we're going to be left with a bunch of of sad, angry, aggressive, unfulfilled dogs. Um, and it'll be— sounds dramatic, but it'll be the beginning of the end for a lot of dogs. But while they're still legal, let's change some dogs' lives, hey? Would I need a mini educator for a Jack Russell? A Russell? A Russell? A Russell? Jack Russell. She rushes over to people and dogs. She's also hypersensitive for noises at home, neighbors out in the garden. Yeah, you can use a mini educator for your Jack Russell for their recall so she doesn't run over to people and dogs. Absolutely. Gotcha. Appreciate the wisdom. Don't know about wisdom, but I— yeah, I appreciate the kind words. What else we got, guys? Like I said, how long I've been on for? Oh, I'm only just over halfway. I'm here for an hour. I've got I've had zamburros for dinner, I've got a beer, um, and I'm sat here with you guys on my Friday night answering questions that you might have in regards to, um, your dog's react— no, sorry, not their reactivity. We can talk about reactivity if we want, but mainly e-collar work. What are— why do you, Perth K9 Academy, why do the Yorkshire K9 Academy, South Coast K9 Academy, California, why do you— all of you guys use e-collars? Why do some of the best dog trainers in the world recommend e-collars? Let me tell you. Ask questions. Are you apprehensive? Have you already had your life change of an e-collar? If that's the case, drop it in the comments and flex on everyone and tell them how good it is to have your dog reliably off the leash. Oh, look at you, Sam. You're just dropping your full name online. I like it. Then again, so is mine, so can't really talk. Um, how exciting though. Yeah, you'll be fine, don't worry. I'm just stalking you on all platforms. That's okay. Oh, you'll see me in the flesh on Monday. It's all right. I just hopped on. Which is the better 2-dog system, Dogtra or the Mini Educator? Um, uh, most of the Dogtras don't have a boost. I might be wrong here though. Um, I'm pretty sure Dogtra 2-dog system— I'm, yeah, I'm pretty sure the new ARC-X from Dogtra um, is a 2-dog system and now has a boost setting as well. The reason most of the time that we recommend the Educators is because, because you can have a 2-dog— I should really have mine on me— but on the fob, the EZ900 and the Mini Educator, you can have a 2-dog system and you can boost the collar as well for that like emergency button. Shannon McCarthy joined the chat. Shannon, I'm going to use you as an example. Tell me very quickly, don't run off, do not run off. Tell Instagram and YouTube how the e-collar changed your dog's life, because Shannon had a very scary situation and I want to tell everyone about how the e-collar changed her life. Or she's going to embarrass me and just click straight off of the live. Any tips for training a husky for an e-collar? I have an 11-month-old and consider him medium husky, energetic but not a maniac. I don't know what a medium husky is. His recall is pretty good, but he sometimes forgets as a teenager. So there is no, there is no difference between training any dog on the e-collar. The setup which you might have may be different, so the e-collar itself, the strength of the e-collar, the attachment that you have, like the winged attachments, whether you have a normal like strap or you have a bungee strap, all of these things are taken into consideration. But the way that the e-collar is actually introduced and taught to the dog is the same for every single dog. Husky, Kelpie, Shepherd, Chihuahua, Shih Tzu, Dalmatian, anything. It's all the same. You could— we just have a different setup sometimes. Shannon, haha, absolutely life-changing. I can't speak tonight. Absolutely life-changing. I shudder to think of my life without a Neenkol now. There we go. Shannon had a very, very, very, very reactive, um, German Shepherd named Winter, um, and she came to me for training. We didn't do any e-collar training, um, she just wanted to do on-leash training. We've snapped that reactivity up very quickly, um, and that was all good. She was living the best life. And then for some reason Shannon decided to go and constantly let her dog off the leash without recall, which I give her a smack on the wrist for. So we came back, we got her dog e-collar trained, and now she's living the best life ever with her dog. Guys, as well, just a reminder, I know this is a Q&A, but if you are struggling with your dog's behavior, if you have no fucking idea what to do and you're at your wit's end of your dog, if you're on YouTube, you can literally go into the description right now and just book a free half an hour call with me. There's no catch, there's not like a, um, there's no tricks involved. Just jump on, you book a call, and you can talk to me for half an hour for free about your dog's issues. Does the e-collar or the prong collar actually hurt a dog at all? I feel like they do, especially the prong collar. Well, yes, in short, I'll be— I'll just be upfront. Yes, they do. They cause discomfort but so does every piece of equipment, right? A harness, a front clip harness, a halti— those two things provide arguably some of the most discomfort that we have in any piece of equipment. All of them are there to restrict our dogs. A leash is there to restrict our dogs, apply pressure. Um, but the prong collar and the e-collar are completely scalable. They— you can't feel the e-collar on— well, I can't feel it on my skin to a 10. My wife's like a 13. Um, a, a hawty needs to be counter-conditioned straight away. It's a very aversive tool. So yes, they provide discomfort when used, but the idea of them is not to use them. It's to use them for a short amount of time and be there as a backup. Martin's system is the best two-dog system. Rising stim and finger kicks are amazing. Well, finger kicks are amazing, but a rising stim isn't, isn't a good thing. Rising stim will desensitize your dog over time, so we don't want to have the rising stim setting on, in our opinion. Like, that's us, Yorkshire Cat, all of us together. We do not really agree with having the rising stim on because your dog is going to become accustomed to that over time and become more tolerant. So rather than that, we want a boost setting which goes from your nag level to your boost. All for using e-collars. It's not for every dog. But with the right instruction, discretion, it's an amazing tool and is, and to me, is more humane than most other gear. I'm partial to the Garmin series. Well, Luna, I would disagree with you there. It is for every dog. Um, it's the best thing that we can do for our dog, and I will die on that hill of that every dog is going to benefit from being e-collar conditioned. Every dog is going to benefit from having a seat belt strapped to them. How long of recall training do you need before introducing the e-collar if the dog is coming every time to recall? If your dog is coming every time to recall, then that means they understand it, which then in turn means we can layer the e-collar over the top. For us, we just want to see a dog who is enthusiastic about coming back when you use your recall, um, and they can do it reliably. The argument I give clients is we did— we deliberately go and have surgery knowing it's uncomfortable and knowing it's going to hurt in exchange for a better future type of thing. Exactly. Uh, Kyphrone, I hate needles. I've got lots of tattoos, I'm covered in tattoos, um, but I hate needles. Going and getting a blood test, it really, really— like, I'm not even joking, it genuinely scares me. I don't look— I'd like I grab the chair, I tense up. It just gives me the heebie-jeebies. But I go through that small amount of discomfort because I know that it's going to be better for my health in the long term. It's going to keep me safe. It's going to make sure that I don't have health issues, that I'm tracking well. So yeah, we use similar arguments all the time. And it's crazy to think of a world where people, when they understand it properly, would not agree with e-collars. But that's why we're here, trying to educate. Mate, you move mountains for me and Tyson at YCA. I never got the chance to thank you, so thank, thank you, Midge. Tyson, remind me, remind me, mate, what breed is this? Are you— is Tyson your— the big, um, The big German Shepherd? No, am I— have I got that wrong? Which, which dog do you have so I can recollect and have good feelings about? Rottweiler cross. Well, how about this? I would love for you, Midge, to message the Perth K9 Academy, um, on Instagram and send me a picture of your dog. So I can remember, because as soon as I remember, um, it'll be really nice. I'll give you a message back and we'll have a chat and just have a catch-up. Give me a message. Uh, where are we? Sorry, did you answer my question about the EZ900 versus Mini Educator? Um, I didn't see that. One second. I currently use an EZ 900 and looking to upgrade soon. Would you recommend a Mini Educator over this for a German Shepherd? What— there's— you're not really gonna have any difference, mate, if I'm being honest. Um, give me a reason why you want to change. Do you start with smaller vibration to teach them what it is and what they need to do? Well, I don't— if you're talking about actual vibration, like the vibration setting, we don't use any vibration. Vibration can be extremely aversive to the dog and shut them down, so we don't use any kind of vibration. Um, but we do use low-level stim on the e-collar which is not aversive whatsoever, to teach them initially. Do clients ever get scared of the reactivity even if it's fixed and then letting them off on an e-collar? Yes, absolutely. And that's part of the reason that we have so many catch-ups and why our boot camp is so intensive and we have group classes after is because we can help you fix your dog. Your dog can be fixed but it's good to be able to catch up in a safe setting to get used to constantly, even after that week of our boot camp, getting your dogs off the leash. I'm talking more towards extremely fearful dogs after working on fear. Sure. But if a dog is just extremely scared of the world, I've never had a good experience pairing the two. What are you pair— I don't really understand the what you mean by that, but if we're conditioning the e-collar for recall, that's only going to be a benefit to a dog who is apprehensive, so we can take them out and let them explore the world safely. Um, the first thing I'm going to do with any dog that I have is to get them off the leash to tick their boxes, to tick their fulfillment, to build play, as well as while I'm working on their confidence through play. Um, I'm going to get them off the leash. Where do you train dogs, Luna2194? Do many people change their minds about tools on your boot camp? Uh, many people come in apprehensive, but when they see the results that they get in such a short amount of time and how life-changing it can be, um, they don't even second-guess it. Where does it have a crack, uh, Hayden? Is it just the, the COVID You can buy a replacement cover. Can you guys open up in Andalusia, Malaga, Spain, please? I mean, that's a Jacob question. I'll happily go to Spain after we've got, um, Perth K9 Academy running on its own. But maybe Brody, what do you reckon about Spain? Why not? Yeah, maybe we'll see if Jacob's keen for Spain. Do you use food motivation upon compliance to the e-collar? Say you recall with pressure from the e-collar, do you mark and reward? Is rewarding itself the pressure relief? It's both, uh, Kyphrone. So like, let's say, well, the answer is yes. The answer is absolutely. We're going to use the negative reinforcement, them coming, turning around and having the release of the pressure. That's going to be more important realistically than the positive reinforcement. The negative reinforcement is going to be stronger, it's going to be more reliable. Um, but then we're going to lay the— sprinkle the icing on the cake and mark that behavior, um, to let them know that that was the perfect thing to do. So yes, but we don't actually have to. I've trained many dogs, um, initially who came for board and trains who just are refusing to take food My first port of call is going to be getting them off the leash. They're being very picky when they, when they want to take food, so I'm just going to use the release of the e-collar so I can get them off the leash and living the best life. Oh, it's on the receiver. Yeah, dude, don't use that. Um, go— where do you live, Hayden? Are you in Perth? I do wonder if the same argument— argumentation, is it? I hope that's a word. I want to use that more often if it is. Um, could be applied to a prong collar, cause plenty of— because plenty of people consider that spiky collar cruel, scary, and such. What argument, Twilight the Pony? Ah, you're in the UK. Um, how— well, you can order— get a Mini Educator. Um, I personally use a fob, but yeah, Mini Educator is fine, mate. But don't use it, don't use it, especially in the UK when it's pissing it down. Don't use it with cracks on it. Guys, I've got 8 more minutes. I want to answer your questions. I don't understand. Max can walk fine past some dogs and then want to run at fences if they are too close. Sometimes he's so good and other times he's not. Don't know if he can be trusted with an e-collar. So the reason that he's picking when he wants to do things is the lack of communication that you guys have. So one, behavior, aggressive behavior, running at other dogs and charging other dogs to potentially attack them is something that needs to be punished. Okay, so we can't look to reinforce in that moment. We can't look to reward in that moment. We need to go through what, uh, punishment that's been pre-rehearsed away from the trigger. But then I wouldn't say that I wouldn't trust your dog with it. Like, you can't trust your dog with an e-collar. Collar, I would say that you need to make sure that you get the right training to make sure that you can be trusted to use an e-collar. It's not about the person— oh, but it's not about the dog, it's about the person. It's just around the strap and it's still working fine. I don't want water in it. Yeah, just get a new one, mate. Yeah, I know, no rain in ages. You're living it up in the UK. It's like fucking Marbella over there or something. We need that here now. It's too cold in Australia at the moment. If you have to correct on the e-collar, how long do you tend to hold or tap the boost? Kyphrone, are you talking about recall? Once again, guys, if you are struggling with recall, if you don't know what to do, you're like, how the hell do I get my dogs off the leash? Um, how can an e-collar be beneficial for me? I've heard bad things about e-collars. Um, I've had a bad experience with them. Let me know in the comments. Let me know how I can help you. I'm here for another 6 more minutes. Give me the questions that you want answered. Yes, it is. Okay, so we are just going to tap until the dog turns around, the exact same as the, the initial phase of teaching the dog. So You recall your dog, they ignore you. You've already gone through your conditioning and you're into your proofing. You recall, they ignore, boost, boost until they turn. Once they turn, mark and reward. Why are dogs so motivated with food? But then can be cheeky without food, like they don't want to do what you're asking them. Because positive reinforcement has its limitations, that's when we need to create obligation in the dog, um, to say, hey, I've used rewards and positive reinforcement to teach you this, but that's where it has its limitations on creating obligation in the dog. That's where we might want to ask them to sit, and if they don't sit use negative reinforcement, so use pressure to make the dog do the thing. It's the exact same as the e-collar. We use positive reinforcement to teach the dog and get them to come back, but that has its limitations. That's the reason that you're all asking me these questions about recall, because you already use positive reinforcement and it cannot give you that reliability. So we use negative reinforcement, the application— or should I say, the, the release of pressure, we use that, and that can be spread across everything going back onto your bed, sit down, whatever it is. RSK9 Brian: E-collars are life-changing and life-saving tools if used appropriately. Get educated and get practicing. Good comment, RSK9 Brian. I don't know who you are, but fucking good stuff, mate. I completely agree. My dog had an e-collar— my dog had e-collar training 2 years ago and was great for a while, but it's gone completely backwards. Can this be fixed or is it too late? Yes, absolutely it can be fixed. I would hate to know why it's gone backwards and how badly it's been messed up, but with the right hands it can be fixed. What, um, you can actually come and train with us because it doesn't matter where you are in the world, and this is for everyone, guys. We run a remote training program. It's called Training of Instinct. We teach dogs from all over the world— America, Europe, Asia, um, Australia. Anywhere that you are in the world, we can get your dog non-reactive off the leash with an e-collar and get them living the best life in public settings. Is it hold until compliance or tap until compliance? Um, I usually tap, slow taps, not hold. Come on, send these questions in, guys. In 3 minutes' time, I'm going to sit on the couch and watch a true crime documentary and have a go to bed. When are your boot camp prices rising? They are always rising. They Since opening the Perth K9 Academy, we started off with an introduction price. We did this to get as many people in to show how life-changing our programs can be, and we've done that already. We've like absolutely got some incredible results. Head on to our, our page, look at videos or our Google reviews, and we've already upped the price twice since opening, and that will continue to rise. Do you do a payment plan, a payment plan for the boot camp? Yes, absolutely we do. We have multiple payment— I can't even speak tonight, guys— payment plans available. E-collars are illegal in my country but still getting one for my adopted Dutchie. There's too many deer, deers are around that are a distraction, although he does come back eventually. Loki Joe, if Australia— if e-collars went illegal in Australia tomorrow, I would still use one on my dogs as a matter of safety. So I can understand where you're coming from. I'm not going to say that I advise other people to do that and to break the law, but, um, if they became illegal in Australia, I would personally do it myself to keep my dog safe and to keep wildlife and other animals safe. So I know exactly where you're coming from. Don't be shy, guys, get these questions in. Ask me anything you like because I'm gonna go watch a true crime documentary soon. And hit the sack. That could be interpreted differently to what I wanted it to. I'm going— I would be going to bed. I was told by a trainer that my Jack Russell can never go off the lead because of his breed. What are your thoughts? Crocker shit. What a load of crap. That— listen, I don't care what breed you have, whether you've got a husky a Border Collie, a Maremma, whatever you have, you can get your dog off the leash reliably. And if I can't do that for you, I will train your dog for— how about this, no bullshit, here's something that I promise. Booking a call, if I can't get your dog reliable off the leash when you do a training program with us, I will give you a full refund. How about that, everyone? That can be for a boot camp, that can be our online training program. How about that? Before I go, if I can't get your dog 110% reliable off the leash in our training programs, I will give you a full refund, and you can have that in writing. Can you work around a FIFO roster? Sometimes won't work when you hold the boot camp, so it makes it hard. Yes, absolutely, we can work around a 5-4 roster. We have boot camps 3 weeks of the month. I'm sure you don't work 3 on, 1 off, um, so we can 100% do that. What was the e-collar that you said that you use? I use a FOB. It is the FOB Educator. Foxtrot Oscar Bravo. FOB. F-O-B. Nameless City Apparel, thanks for doing so many of these Q&As, that they are an invaluable resource. Anytime. All right guys, if there are no more questions, I'm gonna jump off. I'm gonna give one more person on Instagram and one more person on YouTube a chance to ask a question, and I am gonna bounce. What's the payment plan prices? Very interested. This will work better as I'm planning a wedding and want to get Max in. It is with Afterpay, Klarna, or ZipPay. You can do anything you want. We don't have anything to do with it. You literally— we literally just send you the link, you choose what you want to do, you do the boot camp we change your life. Simple as that. Alicia, I'm going to be mean of you here. Stop fucking around and get Max in, okay? You've asked me a lot. You've had a few calls with you. You're always on the lives. Let's get Max fixed, and then you can live a happy life with him, and he can walk down the aisle with you at your wedding. That'd be nice, wouldn't it? One more question on YouTube and then we're out. Or Instagram, I don't mind. What is the last question that we've got? Ask anything. Give me a— give me an interesting one. Give me a funny one. Tell me a funny story. Yeah, there we go. Tell me a funny dog training story. That would be a nice one that we can all have a laugh at before I go. Has anyone had a really stupid experience with a dog trainer? I've got some funny stories, but I can't really, um, can't say them publicly because I'll have to mention the business name, but What is a realistic time frame to get a dog off the leash working from home? 3 days. I'm kidding. Well, I'm not kidding. It can be done. Um, if you are following Nameless City Apparel, if you were on our remote program, I could almost guarantee that we could have your dog off the leash within 10 days. Or a week, right, guys? Once again, if you are struggling with a reactive dog, an aggressive dog, a dog that you can't have, have off the leash, and you've been told by trainers, your family, the expert dog owner down at the dog park that these things aren't achievable, that you're never going to do it, it's not true. And we can help you if you are at your wit's end, go into the description on YouTube, click book a call. It's completely free and we can fucking change your life. And if we don't get you the results, like I said before, I'll give you your money back. I'll give you a full refund. All right, we got a funny quote one here before I go. Got charged £500, that's $1,000 Australian dollars, for an aggression assessment that's meant to be 2 hours It lasted 20 minutes of her putting her dog's butt up to the fence and said she can't help after that. Yeah, dog trainers, mate, they're a special kind. I took a large lab out to go potty and was talking to a fellow trainer when I noticed my leg getting warm. The lab had lifted his leg and started pissing on me. That's pretty good as well. I've had a few instances like that. Anyway guys, I am out. If you want to change your life, come and train with us. Perth K9 Academy, Yorkshire K9 Academy, South Coast K9 Academy, and we're even opening in California. I'll see you in the next one. Have a good weekend. See you soon.