6 months!!!!!!

you are kidding yourself and failing the dog you said you 'rescued'

None of you are saying anything I have not said to myself, about myself.

I just wish you could see my beloved Ben ... a happy, contented dog. Hardly one traumatised by his experience. I am sad that you are all so close-minded. You have no idea of what the last 6 months or so have been like, so don't be so quick to judge, I am not stating on a public forum what we have gone through, I don't want medals or brownie points, I am merely trying to show that in EXTREME - very extreme - cases, an e collar may be justified.

You just cannot believe the change in the dog, not just his recall. But if you want to be closed minded, then fine, but a person who truly understands dogs should be prepared to try anything to help.

Also, I think you should take a good look at the breed/s you've got - they're not exactly a breed famed for its easy to train recall!

And - you've had the dog 6 months.....6 month! It can and often does take more that 6 months to train a dog recall (without chopping and changing all the time!), one who has been damaged for the first 3 years old life through no fault of his own!

Ever heard of a long line? Or harness work?! More suited to your type of breed!

With regards to aggression, quite honestly I can't blame him!

You keep telling yourself that. You keep trying to justify yourself. I wonder if AP got you to post this and take up his cause. No more to say to you....ever.

I can understand you feeling desperate in that situation but could you not have given it more time, tried one kind method instead of a multitude of methods and stuck to it religously? Would you reconsider, ditch the collar and give it a try now? Maybe some intensive 1:1?

You know my Loki is one hell of a challenge but I would never subject him to an e-collar. The baby was beside himself this afternoon, crying so much that even I began to lose the will to live. Not Loki though, he just came over and gently licked his head.

I think my point is that I would hate to risk losing any part of Loki because I lost patience and did something I hate.

No not change him, you obviously did not read my post - I admit it was rather long and rambly - the one thing I do NOT want to do is to change my lovely boy. He still runs free, roams through the woods out of sight, chasing squirrels, greeting and meeting people and dogs. All I want is that he does not run OUT of those woods and over the hills and far away. I don't think he actually would worry sheep, but I have no wish to find out. We have very trigger-happy land owners and farmers round here, and I will NOT keep my dog on a lead, no way, no how, never. THAT to my mind is cruelty in the extreme. I wish you could see Ben, you would see that he is still a free spirit, but he just comes back when he is called.

Today he wasn't even wearing his collar. And he still came back when he was called.

lol dont know what its like??..with a house full of sibes their crosses and a wolfdog!!

Why the hell did you get a dog that is made up of northern breeds, if you wanted a perfect offlead recalling dog? The thing I love most about my dog is his character, I would never want to take that out of him, by electrocuting him.

Brownie points? You would get absolutely zero from me, even if you were after them. You have failed the dog and yourselves.

And also, you yourself evidently does NOT understand dogs!

Oh, and just in case you forgot - you've had him ONLY 6 months!!!

This bit in bold - why so defensive? You brought up the subject Nikki, you started the thread so why would you not expect questions or be prepared to explain?