i volunnteer AP to fit the Ecollars to the gATORS,then we can zap the s**t out of them if they see a dog!

And close enough to be eaten. I wouldn't want to risk the dog making the WRONG connection and running TOWARD the gators. Have you considered that? The dog may not have any idea why you're shocking the crap out of it and may run right where you don't want it to.

I am curious... There is a sort of unwritten second question to this thread..

How would you use a shock collar to teach a dog about alligators?

Alligators are superb ambush predators that submerge themselves almost completely in water to mask their scent and disguise their outline from their potential prey. You could train your dogs to fear the alligator they could see and smell using adversives, this I can see, but then as has been pointed out.. avoiding the alligator you can see is easy enough, just pull them away, keep them on lead, train a good recall, walk somewhere else.. But a hunting alligator is a different thing... An alligator actively hunting is nigh on invisible. so.. do you ecollar train the dog to keep away from all water edges? or all shrubs and bushes?

Or are you just going to train to avoid the alligator they see, but maybe that you don't... Like the one that has climbed your fence (there are recorded cases of gators scaling 8ft chainlink fences to get to water)... In which case any training method that can teach a dog to act calmly but avoid something will work and e collar training would be the most tricky in this case as you'd need the equivalent of an alligator in a box then set the dog up to be curious and shock it if it went anywhere near the box.. How do you ensure in this case that the dog is not learning to avoid boxes? back this up with stuffed alligator? Or alligator behind chainlink.. I've got to be completely honest I truly cant see how the training works...

Regardless of the training method you use you cant eliminate the risk that your dog will be eaten by a gator.. Any more than someone in australia could eliminate the potential of their dog being bitten by a deadly spider, or in russia that the dog could be carried off by eagle owls... you are in the gator's territory and they have been hunting for thousands of years before we were even evolved! short of move out of the everglades, gator attacks are just another hazard you have to learn to deal with.

Stay as clear as you can from places you know alligators may be, teach your dog a good down and recall command in case of a gator you see that they haven't or them going into an area you perceive as higher risk and just relax safe in the knowledge that gator attacks on dogs are rarer than lottery wins..

More people have won the state lottery in florida than have had their dogs eaten by gators.. so relax.. Put the ecollar away and buy a lottery ticket! If you win, you can move somewhere gator free!

If you watch the snake avoidance video they do it with the dog on a lead, when the dog pays attention to the snake/gator the dog is stimmed and moved away.

Re close enough to be eaten, shows how much you really know lol.

Adam

Its the same as with snakes, when the dog pays attention to the gator you stim and move it away. The dog associates the gator with something unpleasent and avoiding the gator with something pleasent.

This attention would include the dog sniffing the air when it gets in the scent area from the gator.

Ultimately this leads to the dog avoiding the smell of gators.

The vid I posted shows it done with a snake, a gator would just be a greater distance.

Adam

Does anyone else feel that Adam is ruining this forum?

not really, i dont give him such high regard.
besides, there's all sorts of BS on here you could call ruinous, if you had a mind to do so.

Am I alone in beginning to put off opening threads if I see he has posted because he is making me feel ill?
Enough, already!

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE THE GATOR IS YOU CANNOT SHOCK THE DOG WHEN IT GETS TOO CLOSE.

You cannot know if your dog is scenting an alligator. You have NO CLUE.

i think Adam had simply watched the dog whisperer episodes/you tube vids with snake avoidance and blurted out what he sees.
cos Adam had NEVER actually trained Gator avoidance has he? so how on earth would he know how to teach it?

go on Adam PLEASE tell me youve taught a dog to avoid alligators!