Using An E-collar For Re-Call

Hey Tribe,

I’ve received a great many inquiries about how Fly is able to be off leash and not run away, so I thought I’d do a little write-up about re-call, since there has been more than a little interest on the topic.  Life off leash is wonderful!  It is also safer to have off leash training under our figurative belts, because I know that Fly will listen to me in an emergency.  The peace of mind is beyond worth the cost of an e-collar; Fly and I can enjoy each other’s company and our time outside together without the limitations of a physical leash.

Freedom is fun for all!

  

It is true, Karelian Bear Dogs are independent and generally more concerned with their own thoughts than they are of yours: pleasing the human is a low priority.  I approached off leash training like I would with any other dog and then added an e-collar.  If you’ll notice, most photos of KBDs on the internet are usually attired with some sort of e-necklace.   Karelians are smart – they know that you have no power over them if they are out of physical reach and/or not tethered to you somehow – so they can get away with ignoring your “come” command.  Whatever they are sniffing is often way more engaging than the human, so it isn’t in their interest to listen to us when called.  The e-collar is a tool we use to break Fly's concentration briefly enough for her to pay attention to what I want.

Four of the five KBDs here are wearing e-collars.

So, as the human wanting my KBD to come to me, I must have two things going for me: power and interest.  I must have the ability to “make” the dog focus on me and I must be interesting enough for the dog to want to come back to me.  Enter the e-collar and treats and a relationship.

I love you; you love me.

I think we will work backwards through those three things, starting with relationship.  Fly likes me.  We do fun things together.  I try to be fair and consistent with my behavior towards her and what I expect from her, as well as standards for myself.  So we build trust and respect together.  This, in theory, makes her more willing to listen to me and want to be with me (come to me when called).

Fly successfully re-called to me when we saw this moose momma and baby. 

She REALLY wanted to go chase the moose though.

Treats.  We have tried a variety of enticing and tasty treats and she has some favorites.  Maybe I’ll share her favorites in another post!  In the beginning, I used canned dog food (I literally popped the lid and put the can in my jacket pocket) and would dole out bits of her dinner by dipping my finger into the can, like a spoon, as her reward for doing something correct (see the video at the end of this post).  She loved it!  Now, we use bits of treats, so she doesn’t get full too quickly, as a reward.  Find something your pooch really, really loves and use that as a motivational reward.  Toys work too, but they take more time, because you have to stop and play each time you reward.

Fly is currently loving freeze dried salmon and halibut.

Now, the e-collar.  Disclaimer: I’m not an expert trainer, so read this post with the knowledge, that what I say has worked for me and you can probably youtube actual training advice from experts.  You get what you get here with me!  We don’t use the collar as punishment, only as a correction or redirection, or, primarily, as a re-call tool.  I’m only going to discuss the re-call in this post.  It is what calls Fly back to me.  I don’t even have to speak.  Really.  Here’s how…

You're going to start noticing her collar in all our photos from now on, aren't you?! 

Baby steps, yo.  First, Fly got used to the leash.  I taught her to come with a short leash, so I could quickly pull her toward me.  Then, when she would reliably come to me on that, we changed to a long lead.  She could get further away, but I could still reel her in if she didn’t immediately re-call.  Important: never, ever, ever, ever call “come” if you cannot make the dog do what you say.  As stated earlier, they’re not stupid, the dog will learn you can’t do anything and may choose not to obey; then you’re just teaching it that it can do whatever it wants, not what you want.  Get a good re-call using the long lead before moving on to the next step.

All about that (foundational) base.

It’s a good idea to get the dog used to wearing the collar, maybe around the house, or outside, but don’t turn it on yet.  Just get everyone familiar with its presence and feel.  We use this e-collar to train.  Fly loves seeing her collar, because it means we’re going outside to have fun!  Then, with the long lead still attached, or maybe move back to the short lead, turn on the e-collar.  We will be using either the tone (beep) setting or the vibrate setting.  Some dogs do not like one or the other, so you’ll have to experiment here.  I had one who would startle at the beep and another who didn’t like the vibrate.  Choose whichever one doesn’t cause your particular dog to be alarmed.  This setting will be your “come” command.  Give your verbal command and simultaneously beep (or vibrate) the collar.  Here, we are linking the two, so the dog can learn to understand that the word and the sound (or vibration) mean the same thing.  Practice, practice, practice.  Make sure to reward each correct re-call with treats or other marvelous incentive that you had been using for all the previous training.

Jack (left), not a fan of the beep.  Baby Fly (right), not a fan of the vibrate.

Finally, when consistent re-call is happening, use only the collar feature to call the dog (not your voice) and hopefully the dog will understand and come running to you for it’s reward.  Yay!  No more hollering “Fly, come!” across the countryside.  A simple beep at the dog’s neck will tell it that you want it to return to you.  Then, when the dog is coming every time when beeped, you can remove the physical leash that tethers you together and you and your pal will be left with a mental leash.

Running back to me for a treat!

Do all this in the security of your yard or somewhere with minimal distractions.  Then, when reliable there, practice in an area with some distractions.  Practice each skill step by step, in a variety of settings and situations.  Dogs do not easily carry knowledge and skills from one setting to another, so it must be taught and practiced.  They are smart and it will not take long for your dog to learn that the beep at the park means come, just as the beep at home means the same thing, but it must be practiced.

This is a very different learning environment than the backyard.

  

Lastly, the stimulation features of the e-collar can be used to reinforce your commands, but that is a different topic for a different post.  Fly’s current collar doesn’t even have prongs for stimulation: it’s the beep and vibrate features that we use so that we can both enjoy the freedom that comes with living an off leash life!

See, the prongs have been removed.

P.S. Fly learned to re-call off lead when she was 4 months old, after I had owned her for only 14 days.  Hopefully, you can watch this video clip of her shortly after she learned this valuable skill.  Isn't she cute?!

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