My new electronic collar has a tone button that send a soft audible tone to the collar. The Leerburg E Collar DVD doesnt' address this . Any suggestion how to use it, if at all. My understanding is that the idea in the Leebburg system is to tie the stimulation to the voice "NO". So I don't think I should use it to warn of an impending stimulation because my voice will do that. How about marking good behavior?

Hi Robert,
There are different ways you can use the tone button. Some people use it as a warning - as you suggest, it can be a substitute for saying "no" before using stim as a correction if the dog still does not obey the command. Other people like to use the tone as praise, like using a clicker to mark the behavior you want and to rapidly communicate to the dog that he's doing the right thing. I use the tone as a "come" command to bring the dog back to me from a distance. The thing is to decide how you plan to use the tone, then take time to teach the dog what it means just like you do any other command. Then, of course, you have to stick with whatever you decide - as my dog now understands that the tone means "come" I can't change my mind and use it to signal "no" or anything else.

The next e-collar I want to get is one of those that bird-dog trainers use with multiple tones, so I have more than one option when communicating long-distance with my dog!

Often the pager has the same result as a stimm. My dog reacts instantly to the pager because he knows what is coming after the pager doesn't work. I can get away with just using the pager about 50% of the time. If he is in high drive I don't waste time with the pager or the nick. He is so hard they become useless. But that is my dog. Sometimes I have to keep turning up the intensity till I get a reaction when he is strong drive.

I also use it when he is retrieving. If he gets distracted on the return I will buzz him to keep his attention. This was a little tricky at first. He used to drop what he was carrying when I hit the pager. Now he just focuses back on me.

 Quote: lee sternberg

Often the pager has the same result as a stimm. My dog reacts instantly to the pager because he knows what is coming after the pager doesn't work.

That's been my experience, as well.

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I also use it when he is retrieving. If he gets distracted on the return I will buzz him to keep his attention. This was a little tricky at first. He used to drop what he was carrying when I hit the pager. Now he just focuses back on me.

How did you solve that, Lee?

I'm a little conflicted on this pager issue. Part of me thinks that it is running counter to the goal of the Leerburg method which is to train him to your voice commands - or at least that it is adding another level of complication which might not be the best thing. Another part of me likes the idea of using it in a way that reduces the number of times a stimulation is needed. But the goal for me is to get Willie responding to my voice reliably - I do not plan to use the collar forever - a good long while but not forever. I want him to be focused on my voice - and maybe some hand signals. So if he hears me say NO - he will understand that as a warning and he will comply - I'm not sure I want to confuse things with a pager that might or might not be on his neck. The other thing is that I am not a professional trainer and it helps me to keep things very simple - I avoid lots of mistakes if it is simple. Hmmmm.

Robert;
I use the pager button very little. I use it to veryify that the collar is turned on, while the collar is on the dog, I place my hand on the box and check to see if it vibrates. Believe it or not sometimes my clients forget or they don't check to see that the green light is blinking. The other times I have used it is for digging holes in the yard, still in a tap tap tap. I find that the dogs that have a high startle reflex and quite offended by the pager and usually that is not the reaction that I want.
Dogs also become quite neutralized to it, so I tend to not use it much.

Hi Robert - The ecollar to me is like having a never ending leash. It has given my dog a lot more freedom much sooner in his life because of the additional control it gives me. To me the pager is just another way to stim him. It just doesn't involve electricity. The pager gets my dogs attention. I use it just the same way as a stim. There are times, as I explained, that I can't use the pager or even the nick with my dog. I didn't use the pager for weeks when I first started using the ecollar. It was a gradual thing with me. It just adds another option for stimulus the way I use it. Which of the three options you select depends on your individual dog and the situation at the time. After a while you will learn which button to push for the situation you are encountering at the moment.

Hi Sarah - I would use the pager and keep verbally encouraging him to bring to ball back at the same time. He only dropped it the first few times. When he dropped it entirely I would stop with the pager and keep encouraging him to pick it back up. He gradually "got it" in just one session. Now I can even soft stim him if he really starts to loose focus and he won't drop the ball. I didn't see or read about this anywhere so I have no idea how it works on any other dog.

Please note I've been using a ecollar for about 5 months on one dog. I've trained a lot of dogs but I am no expert with ecollars.
I just try to use common sense and a degree of trail and error.
I'm responding because maybe I can save someone some time and effort and some dog a few extra stims.

Hi Roni - I was typing and didn't see your response to Robert's question. Roni is the expert on this subject. The only thing I would say Roni is nothing startles my dog including the pager or three taps on the nick. There are lots of times he will walk through pretty much anything. But I've described my dog to you before Roni. He is the exception to many theories.

 Quote: roni hoff

Robert;
I use the pager button very little. I use it to veryify that the collar is turned on, while the collar is on the dog, I place my hand on the box and check to see if it vibrates. Believe it or not sometimes my clients forget or they don't check to see that the green light is blinking. The other times I have used it is for digging holes in the yard, still in a tap tap tap. I find that the dogs that have a high startle reflex and quite offended by the pager and usually that is not the reaction that I want.
Dogs also become quite neutralized to it, so I tend to not use it much.

I think we might be talking about different "pagers " on different collars here - mine produces an audible beeping tone, not a vibration, and I think the OP referred to a pager "tone" also. I have not used a vibrating pager, but I would expect the dog to respond differently to the sensation of it, as Roni describes - more like a poke in the neck to get his attention or refocus his mind. An audible pager tone to me is a substitute for a vocal command - you decide what you want the tone to communicate to your dog, and then train accordingly.

For clarification purposes the pager I have is the vibration type. I have a Dogtra 1700.