I let OH use an e collar on Ben

After over 40 years of owning dogs, I have learned to never say “never” and to always keep an open mind.

We rescued Ben, son of our previous dog Hal, about 6 months ago. To start with, all was not too bad, the two males, Ben and Tai, seemed to bond well etc. etc.

However, things took an extremely bad turn for the worse. Ben went for my husband, did not bite him, but it was serious. It was due to Ben having had a very bad first 3 years of life where clearly he had not only been kept on a running line in the back garden, but had been beaten, kicked or struck in some way, following someone grabbing his collar and then hurting him. OH took hold of his collar too robustly, and Ben went for him. In addition to this, he and Tai were having terrible fights, serious fights where Tai always got injured. On top of this, Ben started to run off, having previously been pretty obedient off lead. He never ran away, just ran off. Over the last 6 or so months, we have tried everything. We have consulted several dog trainers and behaviourists in the area and beyond, and we have explored every single training technique, knowing they would not work, but still desperate to give them a go and succeed. We were staring failure in the face – Ben was going to have to be kept on the lead the whole time, a fate that I am afraid I would not inflict on any dog, certainly a dog who had been confined to a running line in the back garden for 3 years.

One of the trainers suggested an e-collar. I was dead against it, nobody was going to electrocute MY dog, I would not have done to my dog what I would not like done to myself, etc. etc. However, my husband was adamant, he has done a lot of research and reading up and talked to several people who had used an e collar successfully to train their dogs not to chase sheep – we live in serious sheep country here in Northamptonshire – and as he is the one who does the exercising during the week and the general dog care, and has to go searching for Ben every day when he runs off, I really was not in a position to do much about it. He borrowed an e collar with full instructions and a video and to demonstrate to me how safe the device was, he strapped it round his arm and told me to put the collar through its paces. I used the pager device, which is just a vibration then I used the “stim”, set to the lowest setting. I was very very uncomfortable doing this, as I am terrified of electricity, but he told me to keep doing it until we got to the higher levels, when he shrieked and jumped! I dropped the controller unit and burst into tears, I was so upset, and told him never ever ever to use it on Ben, except on the vibrate. He explained to me that he was just winding me up – he has a very black sense of humour – and it hadn’t hurt at all, it was static electricity not current, just like you get when you touch a metal filing cabinet or your car, but I wasn’t convinced. I was extremely concerned, but even I could see we had no choice, unless we were to keep Ben on the lead the whole time, which is just not an option.

So, last Wednesday, Ben wore the collar. As was his wont, the git ran away into the sheep field (currently empty of sheep) on the edge of the wood. OH did his usual thing of calling, whistling, following him with Tai as fast as he could run, but Ben took no notice whatsoever, so he used the vibrate on low. Nothing. He turned it up to the maximum rumble, absolutely nothing, Ben kept on running. He had the stim set to the very lowest, and so pressed the stim button, nothing. He gradually turned up the level and pressed the button (not continuously, just a split second nip), still nothing. He went higher to 30, 50, and at 50 Ben merely shook his head but kept on running. OH went all the way to the maximum, when eventually Ben screeched to a halt, looked at the dot in the far distance behind which was OH trying to catch up with him, and came galloping back to him! He had massive praise, his Fish 4 Dogs treat, and Mike turned round and walked back out of the field into the wood, and the walk proceeded. Ben carried on doing his thing, until they reached a patch of ground the other side of the wood where Ben always runs off. This day was no different. Mike went through the routine of pager, nothing. Stim on low setting, nothing, until he got up to about 80, when Ben yelped and came galloping back to massive hugs and rewards.

He has not run away at all since that day last Wednesday. He is still the same old Ben, still arsey, still grumbles if you try to make him do something he does not want to do, still bounds joyfully round the woods, greeting friends old and new, he is exactly the same dog … except he now comes when he is called.

On Saturday, we took Ben, me and OH and Tai, back to these same woods. The dog did not put a foot wrong. He was actually a bit quiet, and I was very worried that he was traumatised, psychologically damaged, and gave OH a hard time. The next day, Sunday, we went to Harlestone Firs on the edge of Northampton, and there was Ben roaring around having a whale of a time, greeting all and sundry, but every time I whistled “Ben! Come!” he would come running back to me, skidding to a halt in his haste to be obedient and get his praise and his Fish 4 Dogs.

And don’t think it is the treats – treats alone meant nothing, he loves his treats, but he loved being a hobo more. Now, thanks to the e collar he has the best of both worlds. I frankly cannot see anything wrong in this, we had an extreme situation, a situation which would have taken YEARS to train the dog out of, during which time he would most likely have been shot by a sheep farmer or got run over. He’s the same old Ben, arsey, naughty, playful, greedy, disobedient … but he COMES when he is called. Not always the perfect recall that you will get from a high obedience dog, but a nice recall which is more than good enough for me!

I will probably get castigated for this, but I am not ashamed of what my hubby has done - I wanted to present the "other side" of the e collar debate. There are very exceptional circumstances IMO when it can be justified.

...funny enough this doesn't surprise me!

even your profile says no to positive training methods.

oh... and typical have dogs with northern heritage and want to change them.. so much for u loving the dogs for what they are

nuff said

you know...I actually have nothing to say to you. You shocked a dog that has had enough hassle in his life. YOU (your OH) let him off lead and set him up to fail and then you shocked him. Shame on you both. I am NOT entering into an ecollar debate on this, suffice to say I am putting you on ignore. Your dog has had a hard enough time without someone thinking it's a good idea to shock him. For now...you've had a few days of it having worked...how long before he just needs a quick shock to reinforce it?
Not getitng dragged into another ecollar debate, there have been enough on here.
Poor dog.

What they said ^
Not fixing the problem at all.

would a spray collar have the same affect, without the electric shock, im not saying i disagree with you using the e collar, but the spray collar may have made you feel better about using it.

(i dont know much about either e or spray, dont use either)

yeah. I did that the last time she said something like that. Leopards... spots.

Bloody hell, the poor dog has a terrible start in life, because of humans, and then gets electronically shocked with a barbaric piece of equipment because of the problems he has because of humans. Is it any wonder he doesn't trust humans? I wouldn't if I was him. He is being punished for the problems humans have caused him - just brilliant that.

Christ, you should be ashamed of yourself, this is NOT fixing the problem at all, just masking it and suppressing it.

I'm really sad to be reading this actually. This dog deserves a home who will understand his problems, why he has them and humanely working to resolve them or at least be able to manage them.

You don't deserve to own dogs, quite honestly.

Sorry that made me so sad to read

6 months chopping and changing and 1/2 heartedly trying different methods
incorrectly (if there really is a 'correct' way to torture a dog) introducing the collar
turning it up to the maximum level without the dog having any way to know WHAT he was being zapped for

then hailing it a total success after it being proofed once

I am so sorry but not only have you let your dog down but you have set yourselves up to fail too, he is not trained just now and he will forget about this random shocking experience


It is such a myth that its gonna take YEARS to train a dog a good recal
The thing is once you start training properly you have 100% recal right away - because you set your dog up to sucseed, go places where he is safe to learn - you dont let him practise ignoring you

Yes, didn't work, as I said, we have tried EVERYTHING.

Befor eI click ignore....6 months, you've had the dog 6 months...and you have tried 'everything'...I think not. If you have...you haven't tried them properly and for enough time.