Speeding up the re-training process!
I got this collar for my 3 year-old bernedoodle. After finishing puppy school and intermediate training, he was very well-behaved. Fast-forward 2 years and he’s still well-behaved, but has developed some bad habits- mainly barking when doorbell rings, jumping on people when he’s excited/greeting them, and not always coming immediately when called. My main problem was that I was only using positive reinforcement. My dog would bark at someone, I’d tell him to stop… he’d bark again, so I’d break out a treat and tell him to stop again. Then he’d “magically” stop and I’d reward him for it. It wasn’t until after I had a conversation with a dog trainer that I realized my dog was actually playing me so I’d give him treats. If I reward bad behavior, he won’t quit misbehaving because he knows treats are coming! (Totally logical, but I didn’t see it like this until a dog trainer pointed it out haha) So at the advice of a trainer, I got this collar to add some negative reinforcement to this re-training process and it’s been working so well! When my dog barks or jumps, I click the remote and he instantly stops. If he ignores me when I tell him to come, I click the remote and he immediately runs over to me. He doesn’t get rewarded with treats, but he still gets pets and praises when the collar disrupts his behavior and reminds him to listen 🙂 The collar has three settings: vibration, beeping, and vibration + beeping. I’ve only needed to use the vibration setting so far. My dog is close to 45 pounds with pretty thick, fluffy fur, so I wasn’t sure how high the vibration setting would need to be for him to feel it and respond to it. When I first got the collar, I held it in my hand so I could feel the strength of the vibration starting from the lowest setting- I didn’t want to strap it on him and start clicking the remote without really knowing what he was feeling, especially if it could have been painful. The vibration strength and volume levels go from 1-100; I knew immediately my dog would respond to the vibration at a 1-5, just based on how those settings felt while holding the collar in my hand (For reference, a 1 is sort of like feeling your phone vibrate in your back pocket- you definitely notice it, but it doesn’t startle you). I keep it at a 1-2 for things like getting him to come when called or to go lie in his bed when I open the front door. For more “aggressive” behaviors, like jumping on people, I start at a 3 and work up to a 5. For a medium-size dog, he is pretty sensitive (and a little jumpy!), so I haven’t had to go over a 5 yet. My main suggestion with this collar is to test it out from the lowest level with your dog and work your way up to finding the level they need. The dog trainer I spoke to said to think of these collars like being a tap on the shoulder for your dog- for most of their misbehaviors, you’re trying to disrupt their actions and let them refocus, so they can respond to what you’re telling them to do. Overall, it's a solid product and has yielded quick results! My dog is certainly not comfortable when the collar vibrates, but it’s definitely not hurting him either. It stops his misbehaviors and gets him to change his actions, which is exactly what I needed. Definitely recommend! Read more