Having watched several of Ed's DVDs, one point he makes is to rotate your collars so the dog does not become collar wise. I have been doing this for three months now. However, the club trainer I go to says I should pick a collar and keep it on the dog, whether it be a prong, e-collar of flat leather, that way the dog does not try to change its behavior based on the collar. Normally, this would not be a big deal, but last week I introduced (after two months of just adding it into the rotation) the e-collar. So I am confused if I should keep the e-collar on at all times, as we are using it in training now, or just continue to varying the collars and the training accordingly.

Sorry for another "collar" question, but I am a bit confused, any help, as always would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Al

Hi Al,

I rotate all sort of collars on my pup and dogs I owned in the past. My logic is that this is what desensitizes them. Also, it is also your approach when putting them on at first. For example, when you put on an e-collar for the first time, you would not use it because then the dog will associate or become collar-wise. Instead, put on the e-collar a few times a day for a good 2-3 weeks and then start using. Even at that point, I would not put on the e-collar and start nicking right away, wait for 20 minutes or so and then go into training with it. Same goes for prongs or another other training collar. I think by keeping one collar on the dog all the time (prong collars really should not be left on a dog, e-collars also should not be left on for extended periods of time - over 8 hours) may desensitize the dog to that one collar, but when you switch you will have to go through the whole 2-3 weeks process again. So, why not just change collars throughout the day so that the dog sees it no more than a routine when s/he comes out of the crate, comes into the house, goes back into the crate, goes to training, etc.?

Al,

Do you mean changing training collars, or regular collars?

Training collars shouldn't be left on all the time - such as the prong or e-collar - but the day-to-day collar with name tag can be changed as often as you like.

I'd agree with the thought that the more you change them, the more the dog is desensitised. I don't use an e-collar, but do love the prong. Again, we introduced it over a couple of weeks, on and off several times a day until it became just another collar.
When we started using the prong, it went on early, 30 mins before walk/training, and stayed on after for a bit of playtime.

I think you should proboably stick to one style of collar for training, beit prong or e-collar, but changing collars around shouldn't cause any problems.

HTH

I change out all four collars (prong, e-collar, fur saver, and buckle) and often have two or three on at a time, all day long.

They CAN very quickly become collar wise; found that out the hard way with mine. Now I include the fur saver and buckle in the rotation… BUT I don’t leave ANY collar on a dog in the crate at all. Coming out of the crate is like leaving the house, they have to get dressed!

Also, different collars affect the coats on my dogs differently, and I like to give them a break from each regularly.

When in the crate, all collars are off. Out of the crate, I change which one they have on, and a lot of the time they have several on at once. The e-collars I just got, and I rotate a LOT so that they don't realize a pattern. Sometimes I will train with the e-collars on without using them at all.

Do not leave the E-collar on all the time. E-collars need to fit snugly for the contacts to be properly against the dog's skin. Leaving that much pressure for more than a few hours can cause sores on the dog's neck.

Thanks everyone - it appears that changing the collars regularly is the way to go!

-Al