Here's an article I wrote that's been on a couple of other lists. No reason you people shouldn't see it too.

FITTING THE COLLAR TO THE DOG

When fitting the Ecollar on the dog it must as high on his neck as it can go, just beneath his jaw. The strap must also go very high, just behind the dog’s ears. A dog’s neck tapers as it joins to his shoulders, that is, it gets bigger. If the Ecollar is put on too loosely it will fit further down on his neck. If this is done, when the dog puts his head down as when sniffing the ground, the Ecollar will move towards the dog’s head, loosening and the contact points won’t make good contact with the skin of the dog’s neck. Arcing may occur and this greatly raises the discomfort level of the stimulation and should be avoided, as it’s not repeatable.

The strap must be snug on the dog’s neck. If the dog starts to wheeze, the strap is pulled too tightly. SNUG is the operative word. If the dog shakes his head (such as when shaking off water) and the box containing the electronic parts moves to a different position on his neck, it’s too loose. If you can easily grasp the box and move it to another location, it’s too loose. But even if the Ecollar is put on snugly, if it’s too low on the dog’s neck, it will slide up and loosen when the dog lowers his head to the ground.

HOW TO FIND YOUR DOG’S WORKING LEVEL OF STIMULATION

You want to work the dog at the lowest level of stimulation that he can just perceive. Put the dog on a leash and take him outside. Let him settle down so he’s not fixated on anything or highly distracted by anything. With some dogs it may take a few minutes for him to settle down. If he’s sniffing the ground, he’s distracted. If he’s looking at something and his ears are standing up (for dogs whose ears do this) he’s distracted. When his ears relax and stick out to the side rather than straight up, he’s ready to check his level.

For the Dogtra Ecollars which have the continuously variable stimulation, set the dial on “0” and press the button. Hold it down and very slowly turn it up. After about 5–6 seconds release the button then press and hold it again. Continue to SLOWLY turn the dial up until you see some sign that the dog is feeling the stimulation. There are many such signs. One of the most common is that the dog will sit down and scratch as if a flea is biting him. Some signs are subtler than that though. They include an ear flick, a quick look at the ground directly in front of the dog, a pulling back as if a grasshopper landed on the dog, a rearing up, moving to another place, locking up (rigidity of the legs). Sometimes all that is noticeable is a furrowing of the dog’s brow.

The technique is just a little bit different for any other brand of Ecollar because of the different way that the stimulation level is set. For the TriTronics series of collars that offer continuous stimulation set it on the lowest level available. Press the button and check for a result. For those Ecollars that have three buttons that give you a low for one button, medium for the other and high for both together, press the “low button.” If the dog doesn’t respond, go to the next level on the dial and press the “low button.” Use only the “low” button until you find the dog’s level. This allows you to use the medium and high buttons when the dog ignores you later in the training.

If you use another brand or model of Ecollar you’ll have to adapt how they work to this philosophy and method. The idea is to be able to stimulate the dog at a very low level, where he just feels it.

You may find that your dog vocalizes and rears up when he gets a stimulation. There are two reasons that a dog will vocalize with an Ecollar stimulation. One is that he’s in pain. Since I’m using the continuous mode, if this is the reason that a dog is vocalizing, he’ll continue to vocalize as long as I hold down the button. If this is occurring YOU’RE TOO HIGH. Another reason that a dog may vocalize is from surprise. Think of yourself sitting in a theater watching a scary movie. Someone taps you on the shoulder and you jump and involuntarily make a noise. This is not from being hurt; it’s from being startled. I think that the first reason given for a dog to vocalize is unfair, especially at the teaching phase of using the Ecollar but the second reason is acceptable. The dog isn’t being hurt; he’s just being surprised.

One giveaway that the dog is surprised is that he only vocalizes for an instant, even though continuous stimulation is being applied. If he was being hurt, he’d continue to vocalize as long as the button was being held down because it would continue to hurt. If you’re using the nick or tap mode and the dog vocalizes each time the button is pressed, YOU’RE TOO HIGH.

Be aware that some dogs are just plain vocal and will make noise, “just because.” These dogs will make noise before the Ecollar is put on, while it’s on and after it’s taken off. Their noise has nothing to do with the stimulation since it’s not coupled with it. But if the dog starts vocalizing ONLY when the button is pressed, you may be too high. Keep a close eye on the dog and if this is happening, back off a bit. You can always go back up. But also be aware that if you’re using the continuous mode he’s vocalize continuously as long as the button is held down as described above.

When the dog shows you that he just perceives the stimulation level, you’ve found his working level. This may change slightly up or down. Some dogs become used to that level and it will need to be shifted up a touch. Some dogs become sensitized to that level and it will need to be turned down.

You may find that the continuous stimulation button is too intense for your dog, even just a slight movement from the “off” position of the rheostat. It’s rare but it does happen. If your dog reacts very strongly, usually shown by constant vocalization and rearing up, you may have to go to the nick button to work him. This can be done but the communication isn’t as effective. AND you’ll have to keep pressing the button while others are just holding it down.

Your dog’s working level may change from day to day. You should verify that it hasn’t changed by checking it every time you take him out to work him. Start out just a bit lower than where you normally work him. Wait till he’s not distracted and press the button. You might find that today, he’s working at that lower level. If he makes no sign that he feels it; you can go back to his usual level. If he’s ignoring you completely, you might need to go a touch higher.

DUH. I forgot to add that this is a work in progress. I invite constructive criticism, corrections and disagreements.

Of course the article is

(C) Copyright 2002 Louis Castle

I think your article is excellent and accurately describes fitting and finding the dog’s working level of stimulation with an E-collar. But I think there might be some confusion towards the end when you talk about the nick button. If you keep pressing the nick button aren’t you just continuously nicking the dog??? Is there more to this article??? The differences between motivated behavior and corrected behavior??? The critical elements of timing???

Alan wrote: "Is there more to this article???"

Joe: The article is titled "How To Find Your Dog's Working Level"...not, "Timing the Stim" or "Motivation Vs. Compulsion".

Alan wrote: "If you keep pressing the nick button aren’t you just continuously nicking the dog???"

Joe: Yes, Lou correct me if I'm wrong but the nick stops as soon as the desired behavior is performed. The recommended stim is via the continuous button with no interuptions. If the dog can't handle the continuous than use the nicks.

Thanks for the great article Lou. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Seemed like some good questions at the time. Sorry they upset you Joe, thanks for clarifying the nick button.

Alan wrote: I think your article is excellent and accurately describes fitting and finding the dog’s working level of stimulation with an E-collar. But I think there might be some confusion towards the end when you talk about the nick button.

LC: Thanks for the kind words Alan. Where you talk about the possible confusion is (I think this paragraph,

“You may find that the continuous stimulation button is too intense for your dog, even just a slight movement from the “off” position of the rheostat. It’s rare but it does happen. If your dog reacts very strongly, usually shown by constant vocalization and rearing up, you may have to go to the nick button to work him. This can be done but the communication isn’t as effective. AND you’ll have to keep pressing the button while others are just holding it down.”

LC: I’ve changed the wording of the last paragraph so that it now reads, “AND you have to keep pressing the Nick button while others are just holding down the Continuous button.”

LC: Is that clearer?

Alan wrote: If you keep pressing the nick button aren’t you just continuously nicking the dog???

LC: What I’m doing is approximating the nature of the Continuous button (keeping pressure on the dog) but keeping the stimulation level low enough for that given (sensitive) dog. When the nicks stop coming, the behavior is complete and the dog has succeeded in shutting of the stimulation, the desired outcome. I don't think that the communication is as clear as the continuous but but for this particular dog, Continuous is too intense.

Alan wrote: Is there more to this article??? The differences between motivated behavior and corrected behavior??? The critical elements of timing???

LC: That’s the end of THIS article which is just about fitting the collar to the dog and finding his working level. The things that you mention are not presented here. One of them “critical elements of timing” is mentioned elsewhere on this Forum where I discuss myths of Ecollar training. I don’t think that timing is as critical as some people would like to think. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important but not critical. Anyone capable of using a leash and training collar to train a dog is capable of using an Ecollar.

LC: You can find that article at the URL below. There’s the first post that includes a long list of myths and then another post that goes into more detail about timing.

http://www.leerburg.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=23&t=000005

Alan, no apology necassary, it's all good. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Lou, I think that makes the sentence clearer, although I think there is a difference to the dog. And approximating the nick to the continuous stimulation, which the dog was not able to handle, seems to be a contradiction. It would seem that the dog would perceive the nicks as corrections rather than low levels of stimulation to motivate behavior. I think both require precise timing to create avoidance behavior.

Alan wrote: And approximating the nick to the continuous stimulation, which the dog was not able to handle, seems to be a contradiction. It would seem that the dog would perceive the nicks as corrections rather than low levels of stimulation to motivate behavior. I think both require precise timing to create avoidance behavior.

LC: Alan could you explain what you mean a bit more? I’m not sure what you mean when you say, “It would seem that the dog would perceive the nicks as corrections rather than low levels of stimulation to motivate behavior.” Why do you think that this would occur? And what do you think that the result would be?

I find that my dogs "working stim level" changes with the amount of drive. When chasing a squirrel, for example, he seems to be able to ignore even the highest stim on the Dogtra 1200.