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July 18, 2011

We have been using the Tri-Tronics G3 Bark Limiter on our 1 year old female German Shepherd with great success, but last night the collar malfunctioned.

Full Question:

We have been using the Tri-Tronics G3 Bark Limiter on our 1 year old female German Shepherd with great success. Last night, the collar appears to have malfunctioned, zapping her repeatedly at a 4 setting until we could get the collar off. It has been set at 1, and she was sitting calmly and quietly when it started. She is now extremely skittish and requires constant reassurance from us. Where do we go from here? I have contacted Tritronics about the issue, but I don't think I will be comfortable using the collar again.

How do we reassure our puppy but continue with the progress we've made? She is an active, somewhat aggressive dog, but through consistent training we have achieved calm quiet behavior in the house for the most part. I fear we have lost that now.

Cindy's Answer:

It sounds like the collar malfunctioned. I’ve been using these collars for years, and have never experienced this in the past. I’ve had them NOT work because the battery was low, but I’ve never had them zap the dog without some type of vocalization or growling on the part of the dog.

If this was my dog, I’d let TriTronics issue a repair/replacement collar and proceed as usual. The last thing you want to do is to baby the dog by constantly reassuring her. This will actually reinforce the behavior you don’t want. Ignore the clingy & skittish behavior and move past the experience and the dog will also.

Be a good leader to her, by offering calm and consistent rules. I’d recommend Pack Structure for the Family Pet. We also have a number of eBooks , which include topics that may help you.

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