E collar vibration

[gwl79902]

I just got a new collar and it has a vibrate option and want to know what others use it for. My dog understands the collar and how to turn it off by doing as he is told, i.e. Collar conditioned. I was thinking of using the vibration as the catch all warning. But wanted to see what others do. I use the tone as a recall and I like it a lot.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

My last lab was really bull headed, and I used vibrate as a reward. Current lab is a big sissy. I use vibrate as a warning.

 

[HuntInWild88]

I hunted in germany for several years and they are very against shock collors. however they use the vibrate and tones for call backs or other commands.

 

[rayporter]

warning or reward
but either way you must train them to under stand what it means.

I spent a month training my pup that it meant a reward.. no zap during that period of time.

now if he hears the vibration he knows what will follow if he does not comply.

 

[Forks]

I use tone for change of direction (replaces whistle commands) and vibrate for warning/correction (dog on point that starts to relocate/creep). If they ignore the vibrate, higher levels are given. It really depends on the situation, if it's sketchy, I skip the vibrate for best results.

 

[muddydogs]

Just by using it as a warning before correction my old lab and I figured out it basically worked as a look at me message. If you give it before correcting eventually the dog is going to figure out to stop what he's doing look for the handler and pay attention or get the zap. Made life easy and quiet when all I had to do was give a little vibration to get old Jake to give me a look then I could give whatever hand signal was needed. The last 4 years I hunted Jake he didn't need a collar anymore but he always wore it for the above use and he just got so darn excited every time I touched the collar.

 

[muddydogs]

warning or reward
but either way you must train them to under stand what it means.

I spent a month training my pup that it meant a reward.. no zap during that period of time.

now if he hears the vibration he knows what will follow if he does not comply.

How dose it mean reward? By your description you give it before the correction. Did you mean if he hears the tone instead of vibration?

 

[JWP58]

I use it as a "here" command. When my britts get vibrated, they know "here"..

 

[rayporter]

near commands were given and a treat was supplied for obedience.

 

[gwl79902]

All great ideas. I think I will go with the warning idea.

 

[gadrahthaar]

gwl, just my 2 cents, but I think that any sort of warning is a slippery slope. By doing this you're basically playing Simon Says with the dog. Once a pup understands a command hey should obey, if they don't obey they get discipline. A warning vibrate adds a step and teaches them they only have to obey if they get a command AND get warned.

I run the beep=whistle, one for eye contact two for recall and I'm adding the vibrate as remote down.

Some folks I know use a trill whistle to remote down their dogs, both as a safety feature and as a timeout of sorts. You could try that, so if a dog is creeping on point you down it - a punishment by denial without electricity. But then you'll also have the added safety feature of silent remote down if they run towards a road or porcupine. I really like using this when we are pheasant hunting a discover a pond. You can down the dog at distance to try and jump shoot ducks without yell/whistle.

 

[gwl79902]

Gadrahthaar those are great points. What you say has been playing in my mind and I realy do see your point. I am going to rethink the warning. And maybe use it for another purpose like you say. So maybe another idea is tone for recall, cont. on a lower level correction and momentary has a higher level

 

[LcMoeller2]

No need to add another element into your training and definitely no need for a "warning". Dog training is black and white (as far as obedience goes) once a dog full understands what is asked of it then its either compliant or gets corrected. If you haven't introduced a vibrate so far with the dog then just don't touch that button