03/07/2026
āļøLong Postāļø
If youāve already demonized the use of e-collars, I encourage you to read this post with an open mind. Certain tools are 100% necessary for certain dogs.
E-collars are truly life-changing. We have had our foster dog, Kodie, for almost 3 months now.
First Month Goal ā Make the experience as positive as possible. That being said, a positive experience doesnāt mean zero pressure.
Kodie exemplified serious anxiety, reactivity, and very clearly lacked structure. The first 6 weeks were extremely stressful for Kodie, yet we made progress. We were able to get him to eat, to open up, to get him to be comfortable. He has been one of the slowest progressing dogs Iāve ever worked with, then we introduced the e-collar.
Remember the goal, a positive experience. This meant positively condition the e-collar.
E-collar = good things are coming.
Every time Kodie ate, went for a walk, got treats or played, he was wearing the collar before it was ever even turned on. Positively associating the collar first allows the dog to better recognize their behaviors as causing this discomfort rather than the collar. This process, along with layering/pairing leash pressure with the e-collar essentially gives us the ability to create an invisible leash.
We are now about two weeks into using the e-collar with Kodie and the improvements we have seen are indescribable. He no longer pulls on leash, obeys a verbal recall about 95% of the time and has truly begun to show the ability to self soothe and settle without intervention.
I donāt know what Kodieās life looked like before is, but Iām confident he spent his first 2 years of life practicing anxious behaviors daily with no direction: pacing around the house without settling, whining to no avail, barking at any sound/ trigger/ or novel item in sight or even out of sight, chasing reflections, attacking shadows, attempting to scale walls in pursuit of said shadows or reflections, and essentially no obedience or communication system in place to provide clarity to wanted and unwanted behaviors. Kodie has a lot of work to do, but the e-collar gives him a real chance at making consistent progress with clear communication.