I personally advocate the use of the e-collar on duty. I do not use it as a replacement for solid on and off lead training, however, I feel it has it's place in preventing a failure either in training, or worse, in the field. I look at the e-collar as a lead that can stretch for a half mile if needed.

Many of our handlers use the e-collar for the same reason, it is a safety net for us in case things suddenly go awry. Our dogs perform beautifully without the e-collar, however, we all know when a dog is in the highest pitch of intensity, their thinking can become cloudy. In all reality, I often times do not even hit a button on the remote over the course of many deployments, but when I need it, it is there. I have had call offs from animals and humans work cleanly in the field thanks to the Edison Medicine whereas in the past, this was not always the case.

In the end, it all comes down to solid, responsible training like we have always done. The e-collar is just another tool for complete control of the canine in it's working environment as long as it is not abused or used incorrectly.

Good luck and be safe,

Ian Carver

Don't you get reactions from the public? A lot of people overhere would think it is cruelty against animals. I believe that the use of e-collars has even been forbidden in Belgium now.

E-collars here in the states had a bit of a different history. They are seen among the vast hunting crowd (much much larger population of dog people than among police and protection sport people) as a common component of field dog work, particularly among the retriever trainers.
Every pet shop sells at least the anti-barking collars and sporting goods stores stock three or four brands of collars marketed at hunters.
We occasionally hear complaints about the e-collars but really less so than pinch collars here.
The German SV in the last few years was sued by some of its prominent members over their rule that dissallowed their members using the e-collars and now the collar use is no longer prohibited.
In your police dog training center in Rotterdam every one of the dogs in a patrol dog class was wearing an innotek. When Ed and I went to take photos they immediatly took them off the dogs. Really the first time I saw the concern about the image of the collars in Europe.
I know the first collar from Germany i ever saw used was incredibly hot. The ones we have here seem mild by comparison and I notice the American brands are now heavily marketed in Europe as well.
The older technology in the collar...read pre digital didn't allow for the flexibility we have now and often the collars were simply used for avoidance training (crittering being the big thing early on) but now they have so much more flexibility and speed the range of their use has opened up and so has the popularity of them.
I see them used instead of a sharpened prong or the Dutch spiked collars that are always for sale at the KNPV Ch. and as much more humane than a bunch of roofing nails run through a leather strap for corrections.

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Don't you get reactions from the public? A lot of people overhere would think it is cruelty against animals. I believe that the use of e-collars has even been forbidden in Belgium now.

Our police force will use them when training but I don't think they will ever let their dogs wear the e-collar when on duty on the streets.They would get a lot of trouble with it.From your forum I get the impression that lots of Americans are pampering their dogs so it sounded strange that it is commonly accepted there.

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Don't you get reactions from the public? A lot of people overhere would think it is cruelty against animals.

I'd say 99% of the dogs I train (multiple depts) all wear ecollars on duty. As stated before, they work fine without them, but the added insurance they provide is priceless.

As for public reactions, and this is a true story...I was once approached by a woman who was visibly angry. She came over and said, "how dare you put a SHOCK collar on that dog, that's animal cruelty." Now, even if I had 10 hours to demonstrate, educate and explain modern low level ecollar training and it's methods, this woman still would call it a SHOCK collar and think it was cruel. Instead it was easier to say this...and I did..

"Mam, I have no idea what you are talking about. The collar on the dog is a GPS tracking collar. Due to the expense and concern we have for our dogs we enable this collar to allow us to track the dog via our in-car computers. Should something happen to them while on a search, we know exactly where they are..."

Needless to say she thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Some people will never change their opinions so it's just not worth fighting with them about it.

I've never been all that concerned with public opinion, especially when the opinion was based on ignorance, intolerance or mere "feelings." Dogs on my department wore Ecollars for most of the time that I was the trainer, and they wear them to this day.

The handlers occasionally received a few comments directly from the public and a few of them wrote outraged letters to the Chief. We responded that we were grateful for their input and then continued to do what we know was right.

Police departments should be run by people who have expertise in the required fields. If you were going to have open heart surgery would you get a second opinion from your plumber? If your car needed a new engine would you call a TV repairman for an estimate? So then why would you consult a civil rights attorney for the best way to take a suspect with an axe into custody? Why should an animal rights activist get to tell a police department what tools should be used in training their dogs to save lives and apprehend criminals?

The public should have some input but the final word on training dogs and, in fact, all police matters should rest with those people who have expertise in it.

Josh, I put that one in the bank for later. Thats funny as he** <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Reminds me of the time when a lady asked why we all keep our hoods open on the K9 cars. I told her, so the dog cant see if he tries to drive away <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> She actually had to think about it for a moment <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />