Luna and I had a minor setback yesterday while playing ball in
the yard. She decided my arm looked more playful than the ball and grabbed my arm, I went to grab her collar and missed and
she nipped my arm. I then did grab her collar, told her No Bite
and walked into the house, put a bandaid on my arm, grabbed the
e collar and went right back out. Well it took two zaps after
two times trying to grab my arm and end of story, a peaceful
rest of the day playing, I spent a good deal of time in the
yard not playing, sitting on the porch, walking around giving
her ample time to attack my arm. She was a perfect little lady
I guess she won the first round and me the second. Did I do
the right thing with the E collar? Any other suggestions
would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks
Betty Reavis

me

This isn't a criticism of your response, just helpful advice of ways to move forward.

This dog is almost a year old, so I don't have an issue with the use of the e-collar in this situation. I would keep in mind one simple rule of thumb:

Unless your dog is the very soft type, I would rather over-correct that under-correct. IMO, it is crueler to a dog to give nagging, multiple corrections (and I'm not saying that's what you did, bear with me here), than to give one strong correction and be done with it.

Compare it to the hour long lectures Mom would give, vs the 5 second buttwhooping that Dad gave. In the end, I think it is more fair to the dog to give one correction, even if it is perhaps a little more than needed, than it is to give two smaller ones.

It sends a clearer message to the dog, gives them more incentive to change the negative behavior, and it lets the incident be over quicker (and ultimately, quicker = less stress).
You can immediately follow a strong correction with a command (sit, down, etc), and tons of praise when the dog obeys.

Knowing the backstory on this dog (this has been an ongoing issue with the arm biting, and you have used multiple approaches to end it) I would have given a Level 10 correction when she tried to bite me a second time after I came back outside. A third attempt to bite would not have been made, meaning a second correction would have been unnecessary.

(Although me personally, I prefer the long-line and prong collar approach. I want the dog VERY clear that I am correcting you for biting me. It's a personal preference though.)

Alyssa: Thanks for your comments. It has been raining and
severe weather here for three weeks now. I had to work today
but hope to get home before the rain gets to heavy, not made
of sugar so I know I won't melt, yes this has been a problem
put the redirecting worked for a long time. I was really
surprised when she got me, and no she is not a soft type.
E collar is near max will keep it on her from now on for
a just in case senario. I agree one good jap should have done
it. I need to check e collar and reset to max.
Thanks
Betty Reavis

Betty, I agree with what Alyssa says about the prong. But if for some reason you aren't using a prong and long line you may want to consider keeping a pull tab on her collar.

At the very least you could give her a hard collar correction with the pull tab. Grabbing her collar doesn't do much as far as correcting her.
Once my dog was out of puppyhood, she continued biting at times. I finally got fed up w/ the arm bruises and gave her one good correction (and I think it was just a collar correction) and she has never done it since.

If she's not getting the message w/ the e-collar, give it a shot...

I agree with the one quick correction. HOWEVER, not sure i would have used the e-collar like that. Here is why, everyone has heard of a dog becomming collar wise. I would be afraid that by going and getting the collar right away and zapping her she has now learned that as long as she doesnt have that particular collar, she has you. I would be afraid that she would become collar wise to the e-collar and then you could have a whole bunch of issues. JMO


Completely off subject... GO AIR FORCE.

Lynne and Jason: Lynne are you talking about a choke collar?
A choke collar with a short lead? Is there another pull tab
I'm not familiar with?
Jason: You are correct about the e collar and getting collar wise. That happened to us a while back and I put the collar
away (3months ago). just brought it out yesterday when we
had our little confrontation. Luna is 15 months old.
Thanks
Betty

The e collar is on the maximum setting?

Betty, I am talking about a pull tab, which would attach to her regular flat collar.
Here's what one looks like:
Pull Tab

This is not the ideal way to give a correction, but it's more effective than grabbing her collar.

You don't use a prong, is that correct? Or a long line?

OK so you put it away 3mo ago, cool. now my concern is you may have just REALLY re-enforced the collar wise thing since she was already there.

Lynne: Thanks for the link. I am ordering one in just a few
minutes. I use a prong when we go for walks, did not think it
was appropriate to leave on for play times, may have to adjust
my thinking.
Michelle: Will check to see if e collar is on max when I get
home.
Thanks
Betty Reavis