Public service announcement: Small pups and Ecollars

[JLS]

A lot of people get an Ecollar in their hands and forget all about the best training tool in the world - their legs!
 There is nothing wrong with chasing a dog down to get your point across.

That cracks me up.  My lab took off last year running pheasants and my e-collar wasn't working.  You can imagine the look of shock and fear on his face as I caught up to him a 1/4 mile later and the wrath of Dad descended on him in the best Brian Urlacher imitation I could muster.

[Stilly bay]

A lot of people get an Ecollar in their hands and forget all about the best training tool in the world - their legs!
 There is nothing wrong with chasing a dog down to get your point across.

That cracks me up.  My lab took off last year running pheasants and my e-collar wasn't working.  You can imagine the look of shock and fear on his face as I caught up to him a 1/4 mile later and the wrath of Dad descended on him in the best Brian Urlacher imitation I could muster.

 :chuckle:Yep! I like to chase them down every now and then to remind them that I can!

Also, what are you going to do when they misbehave and they don't have the magic collar on? Just yell their name over and over again until they are fully reminded that dad is nothing without the Ecollar? Just shut up and chase em down!

[jetjockey]

I stopped being able to chase my dog down at about 2-3 months old.  And I almost killed a horse trying to do it when she got older.    Thankfully, she learned to go with me.  At that  3 months old, the dog should be on a check cord.

[JLS]

I stopped being able to chase my dog down at about 2-3 months old.  And I almost killed a horse trying to do it when she got older.    Thankfully, she learned to go with me.  At that  3 months old, the dog should be on a check cord.

How does as pup learn to range out on a check cord?

[CoryTDF]

If you are going to take your puppy out to a pheasant release site or any  place that is full of new and confusing situations, I think it would be in your puppies best interest if you strapped the E collar around your own neck instead of his.
Then you could press that red button every time you call his name over and over again and you might just learn something and NOT screw your dog up in the process.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

[AspenBud]

I stopped being able to chase my dog down at about 2-3 months old.  And I almost killed a horse trying to do it when she got older.    Thankfully, she learned to go with me.  At that  3 months old, the dog should be on a check cord.

How does as pup learn to range out on a check cord?

A wise field trialer once told me the following.

You can reel in a wide ranging, high drive, dog but you can't teach a dog to run further from you if it's not genetically hardwired to do so.

You keep that check cord on the dog and in your hand until the dog comes back to you reliably when called. Once you have that down the check cord can be dropped and you can let the dog learn to hunt.

[jetjockey]

Not to mention a lot of trialers will keep a dog in until they are ready to let them go.  Many a dog had started out as a gun dog before moving out to an all age dog as they gained confidence.   They are like kids, as they grow older, more mature, and can handle adversity better, you give them more rope. 

[JJD]

If I have learned nothing else from training retrievers (not pro) over the past 35 yrs, its that not all dogs train the same.
You can say "generally", but never say never.  Many pros espouse e-collars prior to force fetch,  Many Force fetch as soon as the pups adult teeth are in, often before 6 months.
I have been witness to several pups who were mentally ready for the e-collar in the 4 month time frame.  Can't say I've noted any ready in the 3rd month though.

If the trainer is pissed off and yelling at the pup, and the pup is being even nicked multiple times, there IS something wrong.  Proper training has not proceeded the collar reinforcement.

Also keep in mind that no matter how well you try to simulate real hunting in your training scenarios, real hunting is a different animal, dogs sense it and can react differently than in training.  A point of great frustration for many hunter/trainers.  Used to see the same thing happen at tests quite often.  If you are ready for it and have preplanned what to do in the event pup does not behave properly, you and pup will both be better off.