Hello all, I recently purchased Ed's E-Collar training DVD and studied it with the intention of purchasing an E-collar for my boy Apollo. He is a 86 lb. GSD with a very high prey drive.

I studied the video and found it to be very informative, and I am certain that the E-collar will be an invaluable training tool for both of us. He is a companion animal, not a competition GSD.

My main question is about a specific situation and if the E-collar is an appropriate control device for it. (As opposed to a prong collar, which he usually wears).

He is dog aggressive if another dog approaches my property. This is not the case off property, such as at the vets. This is particularly true with the neighbor's daschund, who has charged Apollo three times on my property, each time I took care of the situation, with the third time being the last after I became quite firm with the neighbor.

He did have one episode where he slipped out of his flat collar and went after the neighbor's daschund on their property. The daschund received a small laceration, so they called Animal Control. Long story short no fines were handed out after I assured the officer it was all my fault for allowing the collar to be loose enough to slip, and that I gave him corrections with the prong every time he started in the direction of the neighbor's house.

I want to know if I can be comfortable with having him just on the E-collar while training in our back yard (AFTER he is trained with it and knows the corrections are coming from me, of course... not right away by any means). If the neighbor's daschund comes out and starts yapping (which it does incessantly) will I have the control to stop Apollo in his tracks if he disobeys his recall and goes after the daschund? I would never want to take a chance that he could be taken from me.

Sorry for the long post but this is one question I have had since wanting to train him using the E-collar. While the DVD was great showing me how to make him ignore other dogs and other situations, I did not get this particular question answered with it.

Thanks!

-Lee

I would not test this situation without having a long line on him also.

Then you can see for yourself if it would work, with no danger to the dachshund.

I definitely plan on doing as much testing as possible, but he knows when the leash is on and when it isn't... even the long drag line. I was wondering if the stim from the E-collar would be enough of a deterrent to stop him in his tracks if the long line was not on him.

I will say that Quinn can take a VERY high correction and move through it when he wants to; it almost looked like he was gritting his teeth and just waiting for it to be over, and once it was, he just continued doing what ever it was that we didn't want. My fault for using it incorrectly at first (and we have since re-worked his response to a collar), but the fact stands that he can. And FYI, I use both Dogtra and Tri Tronics, so not cheap-o brands with low power.

For a dog in a situation where there is an established dis-like and accomplished attacks, I know that I would never trust that situation with my dog. Yours may react differently, and only you can know how he reacts to a correction...

Thanks Jessica... maybe this collar will have to be just for further training then, and not as a device to allow him to run around the back yard with no leash on. Some day I will have to put in a fence, but it is not financially feasible to do so at this time.

I wouldn't take the chance. My dog is dog aggressive. In normal circumstances we have our Dogtra 1900NCP set in the low 20's. If another dog charges him we have to crank the stim way up, while hanging onto the leash, as he doesn't appear to feel the normal stim setting. Fortunately the dogs who charge him are usually confined by a fence, but I once watched him drag my wife across the street while I was cranking up the setting on the ecollar*.

Bottom line, if your dog is like mine, he will be on the other dog before you can raise the stim level up to something he can feel. Keep him on the leash and start saving for a fence.

*It would have made a hilarious home video. Except to my wife. She still doesn't think it was funny.

I agree with the other posters. Besides which, once your dog is alert to/fixated on another dog, a stim may encourage and provoke the very thing you're trying to avoid.

I've read of ecollars being used successfully in dog aggressive situations but you have to have a back up (line on the dog) and your timing has to be spot-on...well before your dog's intensity level goes up.

I understand... thanks so much for the info guys! Someday soon I will buy him a fence.