I guess I'm just an old fool, but I'd try to train the dog with good old fashioned love, encouragment, swift verbal and mild physical correction when necessary.I have found over the years, if correction becomes very physical, whether it's an e-collar or a muzzle squeeze and tap, to much much worse, it's a failure of the trainer, not the dog, and the results are diminishing returns, requiring more and more stimulation to less and less effect. Best scenario is never put you dog in a position to fail, or create a situation where the dog can supply an action or response you can't predict. Mistakes will be made, but can be accidental, like a bumped bird, and ignored, unless becoming a pattern, once is an accident, twice on consecutive days is a pattern. Yes e-collars can be described as gentler, as apposed to beatings. Especially since we have no way of measuring mental stress accurately in a dog. No marks, means no harm, that's why the black ops guys use rubber hoses on the bottom of feet, and electrical stimulus. Quick is not always best, if we train all dogs with e-collars, then those dogs who survive and become successful when trained by e-collar, are subsequently bred because they were successful and trained with an e-collar, pretty soon, we have ONLY dogs which can be trained by e-collars. Some breeds are pretty much there now. Are we better off. So my advice is choose your pup carefully, use correction of any kind judiciously, expect perfection in your dog, when your capable of the same. The methods described are developed by pro's who mow through dogs by the numbers, get fast results, not some individual who is training a life partner. I think I'd rather have Barbara Woodhouse train my dog. The art of dog training is to make the dog do what he'ssupposed to because he wants to, based on his relationship with you! Not because he has to, or has been forced. you can train a lion or tiger to do that, but take off the collar and put away the whip, and ask Ziegfried and Roy how that works.
