by Pitcrew » April 18th, 2006, 10:04 am
After I checked out several brands, and their pros and cons, I chose the PetSafe brand. In addition to the problems and solutions already listed, a big one was the fact that the chips in many company's collars can be triggered by televisions, alarm systems, and other electrical sources, therefore confusing the dog with unavoidable, unpredictable, unfair corrections. PetSafe makes their own microchip and to my knowledge does not go off at any signal other than its own frequency.
I had it installed by the company, and felt very secure with their desire for the dogs to be trained thoroughly and correctly. They came and supervised training twice (and would have come as often as necessary), and called to check on how things were going several times. They also came out and checked the equipment anytime I had a problem, in a muddy area my horse put a foot through the buried wire and broke it, and fixed it promptly. Their customers success (and the dogs safety) was more important than the sale. This is important. Their business comes from happy customers.
The most important part of the training is for the dog to thoroughly understand the boundary, and what he is supposed to do when he hears the tone (back off or turn away), long before he EVER receives a correction. This could take a month or more. Most people rush this, and many dogs with little experience receive their first correction in only a couple of days of training, without understanding how to avoid it. The correction (shock) does NOT give them any information. The tone, and boundary line must mean, turn back. The correction comes if they don't make the appropriate choice. Care must be taken that the dogs are not off of a leash or long line, or start removing flags, until they have been successfully trained and proofed (tested with desirable objects, toys, balls or food, crossing the line and the dog still making right decision). Help him be right and make sure he is always successful. It is important that the dogs not learn that they can get past the barrier, even by accident. The flags also must be weaned off slowly, removing every other flag, a week or so later, every other again, over a period of time. Many people remove them too soon or completely before the dog understands the boundary is the AREA, and the tone, NOT the flags. Also use a long-line and wean off verbal assistance so the dog does not rely on your presence as relevant information to the correction.
This is another reason that dogs run the fence. They often think, the barrier is gone, when the flags are gone, and run it before they know what happened or how to fix it. Dog don't generalize well if not trained properly. They did not receive enough information through training. Many dogs who run IF, will avoid flags this shows they just don't understand how to avoid correction, if its not visual. They are not CHOSING to take the correction, they don't understand its avoidable. Its just an unavoidable part of making it to the next yard (or rabbit). I have seen some dogs that weren't trained properly, afraid to leave their porch, afraid of the consequences they don't know how to avoid... as well as dogs to whom the correction is meaningless.
The training can reasonably take a couple of months to do completely and fairly. Don't think "he knows" and cheat your training. Short cuts risk failure and safety.
People MUST understand, is is not the equipment, its the use and timing. It is a learned skill. Dogs CAN be uncontrollable on a choke collar, or prong collar. Does that mean the equipment is faulty? No. They weren't trained to respond to it properly. Equipment can make it easier, but used incorrectly, will not be successful.
If IF isn't good for your situation, don't use it. But it can provide a lot of safe freedom, when used properly.
"Pedigree indicates what the animal should be;
Conformation indicates what the animal appears to be;
But, Performance indicates what the animal actually is."
- author unknown