Dear Mr McDowell,
I  have been training American field bred Retrievers since the early 1980’s. I believe our field bred retrievers are much more high strung and have a single minded drive than those from England from the breeders that I have met from the U K. In that a time I have trained 10 retrievers with numerous national professional trainers, attended countless seminars and practiced the use of the e-collar.

From the late 1970’s until the late 1980’s the e-collar was a single intensity level of correction. Abuses of the collar in the hands of amateur or uneducated trainers happened. The method of training was so complicated that only the developers, animal physiologists understood the timing and intensity that should be used. Plugs to change the intensity of the collar had to be changed manually, so that the correction was the same level until the collar was taken off and a plug changed. Many dogs were ruined with e-collars in the hands of some trainers. Mine included. From 1983 to 1988 I was trained by older trainers that used the collar for punishment rather than conditioning. Fortunately, I had a very stoic dog. He recovered to be titled as a Master Hunter in 1991, regaining his natural hunting style.

I believe the current attitudes against the e-collar are based on those old experiences. Since the early 1990’s and the influences of top trainers like Mike Lardy in Minnesota, Jim Dobbs in California and trainers that have come up with their training methods ,the e-collar has evolved.
Now:
-they do not reach the same intensity levels of the early models.
-levels from vibrate (like a cell phone), sound, then 1-10 intensity levels that are controlled     -   immediately with the hand held control.
-various levels at your finger tips allow the correction to meet the situation.
-Dog is mildly distracted ignoring recall – vibrate or a 1 level to remind them to listen.
-Dog is frantically searching in the wrong direction and ignoring whistle sit- wounded fowl is getting away .   Level  2-5
-Dog is chasing the neighbors cat, skunk, porcupine 5-10 
-Dog is running into on coming traffic, chasing a moose, bear, life is in jeopardy Level, 10
I can put my hand on 1-5 with out too much discomfort and feels like a static shock.

Some misconceptions about he collar are:
-They burn the dog. The modern collars do not inflict a physical burn.
-They are stronger in the water. They are not, I tested it on myself.
-They can not be used in a dog fight. This depends on the conditioning again.

   I have broken up a fight or intent to fight, with the e-collar.

   The dog knows where the  correction is  coming  from.
-They make the dog aggressive.

   Conditioning again. When the dog knows the correction is coming from the handler,

    it knows that the prudent thing to do is return to the handler.

In the case of bark collars and Invisible Fence the pre-conditioning training, level appropriate corrections, and careful consideration of the dog is the same. I have seen dogs corrected with cattle prods or a hand held tazer type device and do not believe they have a place in dog training.

All the manufactures supply training material outlining that the conditioning for e-collars involves positive basic training so that the dog knows what is being asked prior to the use of the collar. The E-collar is not a training collar, it is a conditioning collar. Unfortunately, too many people use it for training and punishment. Training supplied with the packaging is not sufficient to train the handler. Experienced handlers, books, tapes and experience are needed to create the correct use of the collar.

In short the electronic collar can be abused just as a crop, choke collar, stick , end of the leash or even a boot. It’s not the tool, it’s the handler that abuses or enhances the dog’s experience. I am not employed by any training equipment company. My opinions are based on careful consideration of the training I have learned and practiced for almost 25 years. I have  given training with an e-collar a lot of thought and changed my training over the years. When I had big, strong headed male retrievers I trained at one level. Now with girls and a sensitive Lurcher I have altered my training. I think the dogs are my best teachers now. 

I have kept a blog regarding the training of our new Lurcher. I did not have any experience with these dogs and have contacted many groups in Europe to gather information. You can see at at www.aklurcher.com click on Daisy’s Blog.

I commend you on a thoughtful search for information regarding this method of training.