I’m glad to know those are common mistakes, because they are certainly two I have made! # 2 is the primary benefit of using an e-collar. The dog associates the electric stimulus with the bad behavior rather than the trainer. Like any tool, these can be overused. I have tested a friend’s collar on myself, and while its effect is unpleasant, it’s certainly better than some other “discipline” I’ve seen that borders on abuse.

The 2 Most Common Mistakes Made When Training A Dog

1. Wrong behaviors get rewards: You probably don’t really think of it as a reward when you do things like let him in or out when he barks or even giving him a severe talking to when he misbehaves, but attention of any kind when a dog acts up is sending a message to the dog that what he’s doing gets attention. It may not be exactly what he wants, but it’s still attention.

2. Making your dog come to you for punishment: When you call your dog to your side so that you can get mad at (discipline) him, you’re asking for trouble. Every time you call him to you in order to do something unpleasant, you’re punishing him for returning to you. Ergo, it cements in his head that he doesn’t want to go back to your side because you’re gonna act ugly towards him.

Think about it. Makes sense to me.

Pete has grown into a fine looking young dog over the past year. Look for updates on “Pistol” Pete and his training in the coming weeks.