I have really no experience with using the dominant dog collar. I have gotten by with standard chokers, prongs and e-collars. I am curious on how they would work out in our field.

Let's say you have a good patrol dog prospect going through basics with a new handler. The dog's obedience is good, but during apprehension work, the dog kinda flips into hyper drive and the handler starts to lose control. Not bad enough to wash the dog, but not good enough to pass certs.

Positive reinforcement techniques are only half working. I recommend the e-collar, but for whatever reason, his agency will not allow it, so we go to the prong. The prong corrections create some handler aggression issues, and the pup starts to go up leash.

For example, when trying to heel around a decoy, the dog will not pay any attention to any positive motivator we can think up of. He completely ignores hard choke chain corrections. The e-collar is not an option. A prong collar correction hard enough to get his attention also makes him handler aggressive.

Would the dominant dog collar and the "lift the drive right out of them" methods work to bring the dog's drive levels to a more managable level? Is there any real application for the dominant dog collar in patrol dog work?

I would wash the dog and pick him up for myself and try a little time and tri-tronics.

 Quote: bj delos santos

Let's say you have a good patrol dog prospect going through basics with a new handler. The dog's obedience is good, but during apprehension work, the dog kinda flips into hyper drive and the handler starts to lose control. Not bad enough to wash the dog, but not good enough to pass certs.

If as you say, it is the right dog for law enforcement training, then rather than push the issue, I'd concentrate on obedience. Go back to less distractions with ob. Then add the distractions slower. I've found in dog training, when you run into something that is a problem, go back to the last level the dog was performing the task properly. Proceed from there, only slower. While an e-collar may be a solution, it's not, at this point, necessary. From a law enforcement trainers perspective, your goal should not be "just to pass cert", but to put a viable asset on the road for the officer to use.

DFrost

Amen to all of that, David. That was just my long winded way of asking if the dominant dog collar is appropriate for LEO use.

Do you know if they "take drive out of the dog"? Sometimes when trying to control the dog while in hyper drive, I have seen the prong collar make it worse. Sometimes pain stimulus overloads the dog, sometimes it's other issues, but I have witnessed the prong aggravate the issue sometimes.

I have had crazy good luck with electric. I like the way you can get into the dog's head without having to make him panic or stress overload. I've heard hundreds or pro's / cons, but it just seems to work out well for me.

Positive reinforcement techniques are always emphasized with me...even though my post makes me come across like I'm just looking for another correction tool.

Do you have any experience with the dominant dog collars?

I have had such amazing luck with the e-collar that I have been trying to think about what I would do without them. I don't want to become dependent on them, so I try to keep researching the other methods. Knock on wood, so far I've been able to fix most issues that have come my way by either restarting the dog on electric or by breaking it down and restructuring the exercise so that each step can be rewarded positively.

I don't have any experience with it. I have trained a few dogs. Any tool can be misused. If it's the right dog, you aren't going to ruin it's drive by utilizing the basics.

DFrost