Pavlo is famous in the dog training world for explaining classical conditioning on a simplified scale.
Watch your dog salivate when meat is in front of them. Repeat the process. Pair the salivation with a training word. Then pair the training word with a desired response. And the meat as a reward.
This is all great and an excellent way to teach a dog a new skill.
The problem with this method is when you attempt to crossover this skill from a treat training discipline to purely an e-collar discipline and you are moderately skilled at best. Or below that.
Treat training behavior signals do not equally crossover to e-collar behavior signals.
Not at first anyway.
That’s why so many R+ dog behaviorist and social media R+ dog trainers who took some dog behavior classes but have a small body of work, sound extremely uneducated when they try to tell you the behaviors signals displayed at the end of a dog’s e-collar training program are bad. They say things like;
- A wagging tail with R+ training is good. A wagging tail with e-collar training means they are stressed out.
- Dog panting could mean stress or they are tired using R+ training. Dog panting is stress related with e-collars.
- A dog jumping on you is a happy dog with R+ training. A dog not jumping on you or jumping on you while knocking you over is all fear based if you use e-collars.
- A dog pulling on the lead, dragging you around, running back in the opposite direction when something scares them, jumping on and off of you out of fear, and sniffing everything around them is still very much a super happy dog as long as R+ training methods are being used. BUT! A dog walking next to you with their tail wagging and head help up is a super fearful dog that’s only doing that because they feel intimidated wearing that e-collar.
Super silly right? And they still have people applaud and follow their lack of common sense approach to “understanding dog behavior”.
This is relatable when talking about Pavlo’s research when a person uses the beeping sound that’s available on an e-collar. Some people use the beep sound as a precursor before delivering a correction. Most non-working dogs panic when they hear that sound. They duck for cover. They move in circles hugging the ground. What they’re really doing is trying to escape a punishment of what comes next. Balance, Teaching, and Fundamental reinforcement is needed to accomplish this higher skill level. There is a great way to build that beep sound into your training if that’s a function you want. I’d leave it up to your professional e-collar trainer that is in your area.
A side note.
The beeping sound or vibrating option is a great function found on an e-collar! It’s a great way to check and see if your device is turned on. If it’s used for any training correction, you better be sure you are great at teaching and conditioning or else you’re simply using a function that serves no real purpose aside from stressing out your dog whether you correct them or not. And you’re making it difficult for the e-collar industry to advance past the very biased views of some failing treat trainers who can’t argue a position with tact and fairness.
Professional e-collar trainers and self-taught owners have done amazing things to elevate their skill level.
We can still do more!
