I was wondering if anyone who has the E-collar training DVD thinks it would be useful for me: My 11 month Aussie has been trained with an e-collar over the past four or so months using escape training methods very similar to what Lou Castle outlines on his web site (Auto correctsions with command for 1 month or so, then continuous correction until he complies if blows off command). He is about 95% perfect with all of his commands at this point, only failing occasionally around his Golden playmate or when quite tired. I may or may not have new commands I want to introduce which will be taught using the e-collar. So, anyway, do you all think the Leerburg DVD will help me significantly, or should I just keep doing what I'm doing? I guess the real question is:

1. How different are the methods in the DVD from what I've been doing?
2. Are they significantly more effective?

Thanks!

Escape-training with an e-collar on a pup for basic obedience lessons is just plain wrong, IMHO -- Yes, please get Ed's e-training DVD immediately & you will NOT be sorry for one second (it's 100% different AND 100% better than the method your poor dog has been enduring) !!!

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Escape-training with an e-collar on a pup for basic obedience lessons is just plain wrong, IMHO -- Yes, please get Ed's e-training DVD immediately & you will NOT be sorry for one second (it's 100% different AND 100% better than the method your poor dog has been enduring) !!!

I agree. If you scroll down to the second question (and especially the answer) here, headed "QUESTION on electric collar training," it's explained succinctly:
http://www.leerburg.com/qaelectric.htm

Escape training is so old school.. You're correcting a dog for something it doesn't know how to do..

The E-Collar Dvd shows you how to use the e-collar as an invisible leash. You correct only when the dog disobeys a command that YOU are 100% sure that the dog knows.

Get the DVD.. You're sure to find the methods much more logical and humane.

Good luck training..

Thanks for the input. I'll order the DVD right now.

I get the feeling that a lot of people have had experiences like this--you go to a trainer who is the best in the area and they teach you their way and it is 100% better than what you would have gotten at PetSmart or wherever , but later you realize it could have been much easier for everyone. I mean, I'm gratefull to our trainer for teaching us *something*, but that month of automatic corrections was just gruelling psycholocially for both man and dog. About a month after that was done I started letting him sleep in our bedroom with us because it was so obvious he was just down in the dumps. Like he wasn't just not the Alpha-male, he ranked somewhere down near the houseflies. A week with just a flat collar on canoeing in Minnesota also helped his mood, as it did mine! He's doing a lot better now: much happier, much more driven, and much more resilient to correction.

I think the thing that has been the hardest skill for me to learn post-obedience class is using 1-2 level corrections rather than going from 0 to 3 to 9 every time.

Thanks everybody!