Tools We Use

The Good Dogs Ultimate Leash- reinforced safety leash in various colors.

Prong collar- This collar is used to simulate the mother’s “bite” and is one of the most gentile ways of communicating with your dog, when used properly & introduced positively. This collar should be sized correctly for the dog and correction pressure should be adapted.

Educator Off-Leash Training Collar-
Uses a wide range of pressure correction on the neck to simulate the mother’s “bite”. This is the best tool to use from fearful to aggressive dogs. This is the most non-invasive way to easily communicate with your dog. The purpose is to get a desired reaction/outcome while using the lowest amount of pressure correction necessary. This is also the ONLY tool that can accomplish an off-leash recall, boundary training (besides a pricey electric fence), off-leash in home training and off leash heeling combined.

We are not limited to these tools strictly and have used various tools, in combination, with our standard tools such as:

  • Gentle leaders

  • Harnesses

  • Muzzles (always for any type of aggression, for safety)

  • Bark collars

  • Clickers

  • And more

These training tools are used depending on the dog (example; a dog with heavy visual fixation, we have used a gentle leader to guide the head/snout) or if there are any medical reasons (example; a dog with a collapsed trachea from previous pulling, we have used a harness).

Limiting your thinking and education is limiting your success

(Information from Hidden Fence)

Why the term “shock collar” is not accurate and propagandized.

Often electronic pet containment systems and electronic training collars generically are referred to as “shock” collars.

This is not an accurate description of the way the electronic containment systems function and bias’s public opinion about the devices preventing careful consideration of the value and the costs of using these systems for animal welfare.

At low levels, the term “shock” is hardly fitting to describe the effects produced by electronic training collars, since there is virtually no effect beyond a pulsing, tingling or tickling sensation on the surface of the skin. The word “shock” is loaded with biased connotations.

 Electronic collars utilize electronic stimulation (ES) not electric shock. ES is the artificial stimulation of a living tissue by means of an electric field or current (IEC). The ES delivered by modern electronic collars is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), which artificially stimulates nerves and sensory receptors. TENS has no injurious consequences and is often used to manage chronic pain in humans. Typically, the ES travels through tissue between two electrical contact points, which are applied to the skin.

The difference…Electric shock is the sudden application of electric current to a living organism with sufficient strength and duration to produce a convulsive or thermal effect (IEC) with injurious exposure consequences (Reilly 1998).

 Typically, electronic shocks occur when mains electricity accidentally travels through an animal’s or human’s body to earth. This is a completely different effect of what is distributed via an electronic training collar. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation has no injurious effects, cannot “burn skin” and do not act as “electric shocks” to the epidermis.

On many websites concerning animal welfare consequences of electronic collars, there are multiple uses of the words “shock collars” when describing electronic training collars. These websites often use such words to enhance their position on why not to use electronic collars.

Often the written material deals in absolutes and frame the use of an electronic collar such that it “will” cause harmful effects such as “burning skin” and “convulsions”, “detrimental behavioral distress” and that the electronic training collars are “ineffective” overall. These descriptions […]have been proven scientifically to be false.

Most anti-collar propaganda is both inaccurate and opinion only. Research investigating the effectiveness of electronic dog fences and electronic training collars has shown repeatedly that the devices do not cause injury and when used with understanding of operant training principles, are very effective teaching tools. 

Electronic collars were created to enhance animal welfare by maximizing clarity and speed of an animal’s incentive learning. Over and over, they have proven to be effective tools when other techniques or protocols have failed. The welfare benefits of them need to be considered as some organizations object to them on welfare grounds. These objections are philosophical only.