Using Dog Training Collars to Train Gun Dogs By Geoffrey English At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Gun dogs need to be trained the quicker the better in order to become a valuable hunting companion. If you have a gun dog, you will want to start training him when he is about 4 to 6 months old. One way that many hunters are using to train gun dogs is to use an electronic dog collar.

Just like everything else in today’s age, dog training has also gone high tech. Do not, however, confuse electronic dog collars with their ancestor - the “shock collar.” Today’s electronic dog collars are very gentle and will allow you to train your dog with ease.

Getting started

The first thing that you need to do is to figure out which type of dog training collar you need for your dog. If you plan on hunting waterfowl, chances are that you are using a retriever as your gun dog. If you are going after game bird, you may be using a spaniel or a pointer. The type of dog that you use will determine the type of electronic collar that you need.

If you are planning on hunting around the water, for example, it is wise to get a waterproof dog training collar. This will be safe, even when fully submerged in water. If you are planning on hunting in the wide open fields with a pointer, a dog that covers a large area of ground, you might be wise to get a dog training collar that has a wide range for transmission.

Using the collar

Most dog training collars today have different levels of stimulation. You will always want to use the lowest level of stimulation as you can to get your dog to behave. You can use both continuous stimulation as well as momentary stimulation. Momentary stimulation is just a very quick little “nick” that corrects the dog. You do not want to overuse the nicks or else they will be ineffective. At the same time, you do want to make sure that the dog gets trained. The sooner that he understands what is expected of him, the better off he and you will be.

You should use the collar along with verbal commands and even the dog whistle so that he can associate the nicks from the collar with the verbal commands. If the dog decides to do something that can put him in harm’s way, like take off running, you can use the continuous level of stimulation. This will usually stop him from running. Again, you do not want to over use any training method or else it becomes ineffective. Most of today’s electronic dog collars will time out after using the continuous stimulation mode for more than 7 seconds.

When to stop

After your dog is trained, you will not need to use the electronic collar any longer. The best aspect of using the electronic collar is that when used in conjunction with dog whistles and verbal commands, you can have your dog trained in record time. Then he will associate the whistles and commands with the proper behavior. If, for some reason, he regresses and decides to stop behaving, you can always reinstate the collar. For the most part, however, you will find that using an electronic dog collar to train your dog will have him trained in one hunting season.

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