▪️A QUESTION:
“Why does the level on the [e-collar] go up to 100, and will it still feel like a fly landing on the nose? I mean, if a level 5 works so well on the dog ... wouldn't it be fine if the max would go up to ... let's say 20 or so?”
▪️MY ANSWER:
My working terriers weigh 10-12 pounds pounds and are well trained (conditioned) to the collar, which basically is used to ‘tap’ them on their shoulder to break through their attention deficit disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder.
Think of the collar as a bit like a police car behind you in traffic.
If you have been “conditioned” by a half-dozen $50 tickets, you start driving better, and pretty soon you never roll through a stop sign, always put on your turn signal, and never speed.
Over time, hopefully you become a better driver out of habit and muscle memory.
That said, after the first two tickets, everyone drives better when a police car pulls up behind them!
Everyone.
Always.
Might the police have to remind the inattentive every once in a while with a $50 ticket — or a $200 ticket? Sure, but at my age, it’s been at least two decades since I got a moving violation.
That said, the police have a whole panoply of tools to use for the young, the drunk, the out of control spouse, and the un-conditioned, don’t they?
The police will tell you different people have different levels of willingness, brains, understanding, and self-control.
They will tell you that the younger the person, the less training and socialization they have had, the less consequences for bad behavior they have experienced, the less control they have on their own actions (due to excitement, alcohol, drugs, rage), and the less consistency they have experienced in their raising, the more “instruction” they may need when encountering a police officer whose essential message is a simple NO.
When the police say “put your hands behind your back,” it’s a commandment, not a suggestion.
Sometimes that’s what’s needed in the world of dogs too.
Have you ever trained a dog? Several dogs?
When you start them off as puppies, you can use frayed bailing twine for a leash and a pocket full of kibble.
A dog that will be twelve pounds at Age One, and a dog that will be 80 pounds at Age One, are the same at 7 weeks, and twine is fine as a leash, at least for a few weeks.
But suppose these two dogs — the exact same dogs — are age two and have been rewarded for bad behavior their whole lives?
What if these two dogs have been rewarded with food when they knock over the trash, rewarded with attention when they charge the door, and rewarded with the excitement of a good chase when the neighbors cat appears?
Is frayed twine going to be a good enough leash at age two?
Will you be using the same slight tug-pressure on either dog as you would on a 6-week old pup?
Will food alone stop a Pit Bull or a Jack Russell from chasjng the cat in this situation?
You see? Different tools and tactics are used in different situations.
The e-collar has changeable consequences for the same reason a crescent wrench has a knurl to open and close the wrench throat; you want a tool that fits all nuts, as you find them in the field.
The tool widths are not the same for a bicycle as they are for a car, and the common tool sizes used on a car are often not right on a John Deere Tractor.
But try it yourself.
Take a bicycle tool kit out to a John Deere S7-600 combine and see if it works.
No?
Why not; the principals are all the same, right? It’s still “lefty-loosey, righty-tightey”.
But not only is the scale (size) different, so too is the metal and the likely condition of the equipment.
My bicycle has parts that do not rust or corrode, but a John Deere is going to have bolts that rust up and lock up, requiring not only a larger wrench, but perhaps heat and penetrating oil as well.
Of course, whether it’s a bicycle or a John Deere combine, everything is easier and cheaper if there’s regular and consistent maintenance.
Machines get conditioned too.
Or, as my mechanic puts in, “Grease is cheaper than parts,” to which I reply, “If you do less sooner, you don’t have to do more later.”
And then we both laugh, and he presents me with the bill.
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