Vibrating Collars, can you use them on dogs that can hear or only def dogs? How do you get your pup used to it?
My little pup behaves and I don’t want to use it to discipline or punish her, but I’ve become a weekend warrior dog trainer (I don’t get paid, but I’ve really love working with dogs and I’ve always got people asking for my help). And now someone has asked me to help with their older dog that’s going def, my pup knows lots of hand cues, but without getting her attention, of course, she doesn’t see commands to follow the cues.
So, I did some digging and see a lot of people with def dogs A) keep the dog on leash all the time, or B) use the vibrating collars, so the dog looks for the commands when it feels the collar
So, this guys 10yr old jack russell has way to much energy to be kept on leash & is well behaved when it knows what you want from it, but its been having trouble, as its is almost def now, you really have to yell at it to get its attention and its getting jumpy, probably gets startled not hearing things come up on it.
So, I’d like to use my dog as a Guinea Pig. She already knows the hand commands for many things like come,down,sit & stand, so we’ve got head start & I can focus on getting her used to the collar & following commands with out verbal cues. The Jack Russel already has to start learning hand cue’s for the commands, so I don’t want to jump right into a collar too to just compound what it has to learn or get used to.
So, my question is, how do you desensitize the dog, so it doesn’t see the vibration as a punishment, but as a cue for ‘look at me’ & even tougher, how do you get the def dog used to it?
Is their any negatives with using one of these things? The cheapest one we could find is a combo shock/vibrating one…I do think their is some cases where you might need a pinch or shock collar, but both my pup and this other dog are good dogs & we are not interested in punishing our dogs, but we want to improve the quality of life for his def dog and we are both short on extra $$, so cheep is good on the collar & my free training is all he can afford….trainers at petco are no help & the only experienced trainer who he found to help wanted 150$ an hour..phhh, whos got that kinda cash.
Anyone with a def dog? Anyone use one of the things in any context, for corrections for fun? I need some input!!
THANKS!
Mutt for the Truth –
That is exactly want I did NOT want to do, that lady is just electrocuting dogs left and right!!!
She’s got little puppies who she wants to teach their names to and she’s using the collar (maybe only the vibrate function) as a negative reinforcement tool. She is lazy if not cruel, those poor thing. Nothing should EVER be taught with negative reinforcement.
Somehow for someone who endorses that the backyard breeder who is zap happy lady, you seem to get it right, you can use negative reinforcement to PROOF things that have ALREADY been taught…like you did.
But it sill doesn’t help me turn something the dog may find negative as yours did (though you used that to your advantage) to something the dog finds positive .
I never said “positive only”, I just said you don’t teach an exercise using negative methods… Like teaching a puppy its name by scaring it with a vibrating collar until it responds to its name like in one of the videos I watched of that lady who is trying to sell puppies on youtube, def BYBer and an awful looking one at that.
I was the one who said I WAS going to use a pager collar, but instead of what you did, using it as punishment when your dog pulled or broke a heel, which I again, completely agree with and endorse, and its great you did it with a vibrate not a shock,no different than restraining with a flat collar I’d say, I was looking for comments like what you followed up with, vibrate treat, vibrate treat, like you’d teach a hearing dog to come to a dog whistle..or the ‘come’ command.
I was just looking for someone who had done it or had another idea as I can find testaments about people who say how great it is…but not walk through the steps of how they did it
Ena
Mutt for the Truth
13 May, 2009
Jeanie
It’s a normal e-collar with a vibration or PAGER function. I’ve used it to successfully train my own dog (not deaf) to respect the leash and boundaries.
Here, a link to some YouTube videos – you can contact the woman in the videos for more tips:
The thing people don’t realize is that she IS NOT using the “shock” button much at all – the vibration/pager feature feels like a cell phone vibrating. It does not hurt the dog, it just gets their attention. She has a few videos that explains the pager and nick features, as well as other stuff.
You can use it as just the pager or pager plus nick – it’s best to spend a little extra on the good brand collars so you KNOW you aren’t getting ripped off (some pager collars are useless POS that don’t hold a charge or don’t have near enough vibration to work effectively.) I spent $175 on mine (cheapest i could find, on amazon) and don’t regret it.
You can put the collar on and jut go right into training. She has videos outlining basic training and training for deaf dogs – also has an e-book. I just used to videos.
I recommend her and this method – wish i found it when we first started. We had previous training so my dog knew loose leash stuff and heel, but i used the pager feature to proof it.
Within a week i had my dog perfectly walking on loose leash OR heel. Within two she was going down on command with NO correction around other dogs (her big downfall was her excitement around other dogs and kids – on the Prong she always needed a small correction but on this collar she needs two seconds of vibration and the command.)
Add – Anything physical (vibration, leash pop, nick, you name it) could be seen by any dog as a “negative” thing, especially if the dog cannot use one of it’s senses.
A sudden vibration to a dog that cannot hear you call it’s name or use a command (such as “come, get a cookie”) in addition to or along with the vibration may be just as shocked or startled/scared by that vibration as any dog could be by a nick.
You would have to take weeks to associate the pager with something fun or yummy – like *page*, give a cookie… *page*, give a cookie so the dog sees the vibration as a precursor to a treat – you certainly wouldn’t be able to start on a long lead or no lead.
BTW – “Positive only” is something made up by do-gooders who baby their animals. Animals cannot learn through positive methods alone – how else would they learn NOT to do something if they never get corrected for it? With puppies you want to make experiences GOOD, but when proofing as they age you don’t want to let them get away with things (such as pulling on a walk, or jumping on a guest.)
I know of MANY dogs who learn to do the wrong behavior JUST so they can do the right one to get the reward (such as barking for no reason, then stopping when the person gives the command… or jumping on someone then sitting down immediately to get the treat they KNOW is coming.)
Personally, i don’t believe there is a way to train a deaf dog to recall or be safe off lead WITHOUT using something physical like the pager. Especially when you’re doing it yourself without the help of a professional.
mauveme49
16 May, 2009
Antonette
I have never heard of this before but I think it is fantastic. I have finally actually learned something very useful on here. Thanks, I have a couple of friends with deaf dogs and will pass on the info. They are just young too so it will be a great benifit.