Remote Collars and Search Work
Saturday, June 30th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Categories: Dog Training Articles
By Fred Hassen and Behesha H. Grist
Remote collars for dog training are a great idea and they’re here to stay. They are great for both daily obedience training, and for those who are serious about their working dogs. More and more informed dog handler/trainers are recognizing and accepting the excellent place of the electronic remote dog training collar in the world of modern dog obedience.
Despite this increasing level of acceptance there are still handlers and trainers who believe that electronic collars are verboten. The field of Search work in particular seems to be one of the last bastions of remote electronic collar phobia.
Search dogs must be willing to leave their handlers to follow a scent, and the fear of using remote collars for search work is based on the possibility of a search dog being reluctant to do so. With propaganda like this floating around, it’s no wonder trainers and handlers have been so afraid of using an e-collar.
Those of us who understand the electronic collar know it to be a positive means of training and we are troubled by the popular attitude that it’s merely a corrective device. Using the e-collar for curbing unwanted behaviors does do the job, but it’s important not to limit one’s view as to its effectiveness in other areas. For instance, we have seen proven results when it comes to productive search training with e-collar training.
Finding the Right Trainer
The key to mastering the successful use of the e-collar for training your dog in any discipline is to obtain your own training from skilled professional remote collar dog trainers. Remember, regardless of your training methods, problems can and do arise and canine search work is no different.
Seek guidance from dog trainers that are capable of helping you and your dog to work through any dog training problem that may arise. And make sure you choose someone who is experienced and patient. Some dog trainers who lack experience in problem solving with the e-collar may become frustrated and believe the technique is failing. If you have a dog trainer who is enthusiastic, focused, and rock-solid in their understanding of their work, you’ll get the results you want.
One very good measurement of a reputable remote electronic collar trainer is their dogs. You should consider asking to see the work of his/her dogs and to watch trainer and dog in action. Their dogs should be tremendously confident and fearless about send-away type exercises, be social, and have a diligent work ethic that can carry them through lengthy tasks without distraction.
We would not consider holding a seminar or other demonstration without having one of our own dogs, (or at least a dog that we have worked closely with) as an example of our work. There is much to be learned when a trainer is ready, willing, and able to show the work of their own dog(s) under a variety of distractions and conditions and for a considerable amount of time.
Extended Search Ability
One primary concern of search dog trainers, is the length of search a dog can complete. Stamina in search situations can only be achieved with a lot of hard work, whether you use an electronic collar or not. Also, once you choose a trainer, we emphasize working the dog for a long period of time because in reality, a handler will never know how long a search may last.
If the dog has only been conditioned to search for short bursts of time, he will not suddenly become capable of maintaining attention and possessing the stamina to search for extended periods just because the demands of the search require it. A good trainer must be able to show that their dogs are capable of maintaining attention to command.
Crittering
Another issue that is raised consistently is something called “crittering.” Crittering is basically the unwanted chasing of game (rabbits, raccoons, etc.). This behavior is a consistent challenge for search dog handlers because the dogs must be trained to focus on following the scent and not getting distracted by anything that crosses their paths. Over time, the electronic collar has been accepted by some for use in eradicating, or at least inhibiting this frustrating behavior. If you learn from a trainer how to stop your dog from chasing a rabbit, (or have had the trainer demonstrate their corrective method for crittering), that is excellent, but you need to make sure they can take the next crucial step.
The trainer must follow up the corrective action with a send-away exercise or some other type of search work and see how the dog goes out. In some cases, the dog may be reluctant to go. Can that dog obedience trainer work the dog through it and have the dog rapidly returning to active, enthusiastic obedience to the commanded task? It is essential that the trainer be capable of bringing the dog through the correction and back out the other side and into another behavior because you will need to be able to put your dog back to work once you’ve addressed his wayward crittering behavior.
Attention to Command vs. Attention to Handler
The biggest fear of dog owners who want to use their animals for search is that the remote collar will make them fearful of leaving their handler. There is a huge difference between attention to command and attention to handler! If you ever hear a trainer issue warnings about a search dog becoming too attentive to his handler as a result of e-collar use, let this serve as a red flag. This means that they may only be able to train dogs to be attentive to their handlers, as opposed to being attentive to the command that has been given. Attentiveness to command is the operative concept and dogs of any discipline or working capacity, including search work are capable to focusing on command rather than handler. The true difference between over-attentiveness to handler and attentiveness to command is the skill of the dog obedience trainer.
It would be very understandable that a dog fearful of being shocked at high levels, or even low levels, will be afraid to leave his handler, for any reason. However, it would be unreasonable to believe that any dog that has learned to enthusiastically perform any range of commands such as retrieving an object, obeying a bite command, downing from a distance, (or any other command taught with the e-collar), would then, upon hearing his search command, suddenly think, "I can’t obey this command – I’m too afraid of leaving my handler!" The simple fact is that when the dog becomes collar literate, obedience, focus, and attentiveness to command take on a whole new meaning in the mind of the dog.
In the search world, we know that producing a reliable, capable and confident working dog is of paramount importance. By learning effective training techniques from competent trainers, your dog can learn that his drives to hunt and search will be satisfied every time as a result of remaining focused and attentive to command. How gratifying to see a dog with an abundance of confidence and style, intently carrying out a focused search. The only thing better is knowing that this happy dog is accomplishing his tasks eagerly and virtually confusion free.
All good search dog handlers hope that they will produce a reliable working dog. All good search dog handlers fear anything that might inhibit their dog’s abilities. But when it comes to learning the facts about remote electronic collars and their role in training the search dog, we learn that knowledge is the real power and that there is truly nothing to fear.
