T
he two cases that are linked here are extreme. In the first case, Roma was a highly fearful dog. She'd bite anyone who came near her. She was so reactive to any stimuli in the environment that she tried to bite me, because someone nearby closed a car door, and the noise startled her! The owner, Jen Mackler was a successful dog trainer who had trained and certified a SAR dog using +R methods. Yet, she'd had little success on dealing with Roma's issues even after trying for two years. During that time she'd tried those methods, and when they'd failed, she had gone to such things as head halters/gentle leaders, clicker work, Tellington Touch, and herbal sedatives. When those failed she tried standard OB classes that used choke chains and then a pinch collar. The dog's basic OB improved, but they had little effect on her fear-driven aggression.In the second case, Simon had bitten at least one person, and had they not been wearing a heavy jacket, he would have drawn blood. He was taken to a shelter and was scheduled to be put down that same week. There was no time for methods that took longer than that. A shelter volunteer who knew me from some Email lists and had read my posts dealing with such dogs, phoned and asked if I thought my methods would help this dog. They did.
Both dogs were rehabilitated with the Ecollar. In Simon's case, instructions for the use of the Ecollar were given on the phone! The person doing the work had only very limited experience with the tool before this incident. In both cases dramatic changes in behavior, a diminishment of the aggression, were seen within one day.