[QUOTE=Bicoastal;8722957]
I think meup is referencing the training theory that applies pressure until the behavior is completed, then the pressure stops. A good example could be the ear pinch. I know some bite sports people do this via the collar.
Meup, correct me if I’m wrong. Of course, it is much more complicated than this and requires an experienced trainer.
And this is the training theory that you add punishment if dog fails to perform behavior after cued. Most of us are more familiar with this use.[/QUOTE]
I am referencing the DVD that came with my ecollar. In the DVD, they apply the lowest buzz WHILE ISSUING whatever command. The command and the buzz happen at the same time. The point is not to teach the dog the command, but to teach him that he can turn off the collar by obeying.
When training my dogs to the collar, which is a specific training event, (you don’t just put it on and say “Now I have back up!”), I put them on a long leash and waited for them to walk away from me. When they were a distance away, I SIMULTANEOUSLY:
- Called their names to ask for a recall
- Started the buzz
- Tugged on the leash to cause the correct behavior
The second they turned toward me I stopped the buzz.
After a few times ensuring the correct response with the leash, I simultaneously buzzed and called, but did not help with the leash. If they didn’t listen I tugged the leash so they would turn toward me and then I could turn off the buzz.
It took fewer than ten total repetitions for them to understand that turning toward me turned off the buzz. Now they understood that the buzz is the reinforcer for the command. (Think about it: if you do not teach the dog this they might think, oh she called my name, whatever. oh when I walk past this bush I get zapped. I don’t like that bush so much anymore. A dog who has not been introduced to the concept is not going to necessarily say, oh, she called me and I ignored her, this buzz when she is no longer calling me is now retribution from God for not listening, I will always listen when she calls now.)
Once the dogs understood that the buzz is related to listening to the command, they pretty much immedistely had a 95% recall without it, and if they don’t listen they promptly get the buzz + command combo, and the buzz stays on until they turn their heinie around.
So that is my explantation. I am an expert only ina s much as I followed the DVD instructions to the letter. It worked for me and my dogs, but to be fair I was ONLY interested in off leash recall reinforcement. That said imo a recall is the most important training tool. If your dog is recalling to you it cannot also be barking at people, jumping on people, chasing things, fighting with things, eating things it shouldn’t, running the fence at the neighbor’s dogs, etc etc and so forth. I want divine back up when I issue a recall so that NOTHING is more important than that command!
I don’t use the collar as punishment for barking at the squirrel in the tree, I use it to back up “Come here instead.” I don’t use it as a correction for taking off after the cat, I use it to back up, “TURN YOUR HEINIE AROUND and come here instead.” If the dog is ignoring my recall because it is more interested in something else, I recall again with the buzz and leave the buzz on until the dog is more interested in turning that off than anything else it is doing. My collar has an escalting function so they get motivated to turn it off fairly quickly.
I also should have been more clear in my post that when TEACHING the collar, everything, command +buss, is simultaneously applied until the dog complies.
Once the dog already understands both the command and the collar (two separate things), the command happens once with no buzz, and THEN if there is no reaction the command is given again simultaneously with a reinforcement buzz that does not goal away until you have compliance.
So, in teaching I used the first theory.
Once the dogs understood I used the crop version.
ymmv