Treating Aggression with an Ecollar

It has come to my attention that someone who runs a popular forum is in the habit of recommending brute force with an Ecollar as a means to stop dog-to-dog aggression. Contrary to every Ecollar manufacturer's recommendations, he says that when your dog shows aggression towards another dog, you should press the button with the Ecollar set on a "high level of stim" and that you should hold it down "until your dog looks away from the other dog."

Just about every Ecollar trainer in the world uses the word "stim" to mean the electrical stimulation that's applied to the dog when the button is pressed. But this trainer uses the word "stem." He's been asked why he does this and has never provided any kind of logical response. He's (in)famous for his misspellings and I think that this is just another example of it.

This same trainer brags that he once stopped a dog from "fence fighting" (where dogs, on opposite sides of a fence, run back and forth barking at each other) by hitting him THREE TIMES in the head with a shovel. Yes, that's right, a shovel.

A shovel may be reasonably used in self-defense from an all out attack by an aggressive dog that's trying to kill you. But for fence fighting? No one and neither dog is in danger. They're just making some noise! Hitting a dog with a shovel for this is abuse, pure and simple. He can call it "training" all he wants but it's still just abuse.

On the topic of using an ecollar to correct a dog-aggressive-dog Dogtra says, "Dogtra does not recommend using the e-collar to correct dogs that are aggressive towards other dogs or people. In many such cases the dog will associate the stimulation with the other dog or individual and become even more aggressive."

TriTronics says, ". . . In some cases aggression can be successfully treated with a Remote Trainer, following the proper procedure. In other cases, however, correcting the aggressive dog with a Remote Trainer is not appropriate and will not be successful."

To anyone who understands the Ecollar, simply using it to "correct" aggression in this manner is a monstrous misuse of the Ecollar that can create an extremely dangerous situation. This isn't just theory. It's commonly known among Ecollar trainers.

If you press the button and hurt your dog while he's showing aggression towards another dog, several things can happen. One is that he'll learn that the other dog can hurt him from a good distance away. Your dog can learn to shut off the display of aggression without you ever affecting the aggression itself. That is, he'll stop the display, the barking, lunging, growling, lip curling, showing hair, showing teeth, and the accompanying body language that signals to the other dog and to you that he's becoming aggressive.

You have stopped the display of aggression, but you haven't stopped the aggression that's inside the dog. He's still aggressive but now he won't give you any warning that he is, or that he's becoming aroused and focusing on the other dog. He may not even look at the other dog. He'll remain calm and seemingly unaffected by the other dog, but inside he's seething. You can easily get a dog that goes from calm to murder without any warning whatsoever.

Most dog to dog aggression comes from fear. Occasionally it's based on dominance but that's very rare. It's a basic tenet of dog training that "you can't punish fear." Imagine trying to stop a dog from showing fear at the approach of a thunderstorm by punishing him!

Instead of this head-on approach that can actually create a highly dangerous dog, I suggest that you use my protocol for "Crittering." It also works for dog to dog aggression. You just substitute another dog for the prey animal in the protocol. Crittering and Dog to Dog Aggression.

 

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© 2007 Lou Castle