canine electronic collars

Our dog park is a melee. Dozens of dogs, pure and mongrel, enormous and tiny, tear around and tussle. It would be so easy to get rammed. But if I stay on the sidelines I can't discipline our dog. Our blue Great Dane, Maggie, has been going to the park since she was three months old, about 30 lbs., the size of a Cocker Spaniel with huge paws. She was floppy and awkward. Now, at 10 months, she is a tall, sleek and muscular 115 lbs. and the size of her paws fits. When she first went to the park, she was apprehensive and mostly stayed under one of the picnic tables where owners with their water coolers and the dogs gather. Now she's fully integrated.



The fenced dog park, on the edge of a river and a wilderness preserve is about three acres with a woodsy path around the perimeter and an open meadow of grasses and wildflowers in the middle. Right at the entrance is an expansive mulch-covered playground where most of the dog activity happens. Balls from "Chuck-its" and the dogs after them whip by. There are chase-trains: four or five dogs racing after a speedy leader. And there are the scuffles, the rough play.



Maggie got involved in them early on. There's a crowd of rowdy players. There's the good-natured Pit Bull, Missy, who is her favourite. And there are others: Nell, the Springer Spaniel who grabs Maggie's loose jowls and Nicky and Indy, boisterous Border Collies. There's another Pit Bull called Tuxedo and his sister Callie. And there's Sam, a massive Rottweiler/Rhodesian Ridgeback. And Amah, the bouncy Bull Mastiff. Plus there's the Labrador-cross, Alex, a purposeful dog, (like all Labs) with whom Maggie was in "puppy class". Even in that carefully-monitored group, the play seemed fierce although the trainer allowed no growling or barking or baring of teeth. She made sure "mouthing" didn't become "biting".



But at the dog park, "mouthing" does become "biting". And there is snarling and the baring of teeth. "That's how dogs play", say some. Others want their dogs to become tough, to be able to stand up for themselves. But I find it distressing.



Missy and Maggie's tussles are extremely rough. They pull at each other's skin; grab each other's necks; lunge and leap. A trainer at the park told us they play too hard, that there is too much biting although I've never heard a yelp. But the owner of Mason, an American Bull Terrier says his 9-month-old dog always gets scratched up when he plays with Missy.



Missy and Maggie and Tucker, a rambunctious Labradoodle, as well as Alex, "gang up" on shy dogs, pursuing and overpowering them into submissive position. No-one gets hurt but I think it's unacceptable, bullying behavior.



Maggie is an inherently gentle dog. She nibbles and nuzzles our cat. She plays nicely with Maisie, a 3-month-old Yellow Labrador and Noelle, a feisty West Highland Terrier puppy. But in a pack, she joins in. That's why I got an electronic collar, (or remote collar as they're euphemistically called). I couldn't control her when she was in the scrums. Usually an owner reaches in and grabs his/her dog's collar and pulls the dog out of the mess. That's not only dangerous, but Maggie is too big and strong for me to do that. And she gets so excited by what's going on, she ignores me or dodges and ducks, like a quarterback with the ball dodges and ducks an opponent, staying just out of reach.



At the specialty pet store, the owner put the two prongs of the collar against my palm and slowly turned up the sizzle with the remote. It was not like an electric shock - not like putting your hand in the socket of a lightbulb - but more like a mosquito bite. Anyway, I bought the collar and a training video.



And it works, the principle being when you "zap" and command, the dog feels a "tingle" and soon learns if it obeys the command, the "tingle" stops. I can keep the level quite low in our yard but at the dog park where there is so much distraction, I need to turn it up to 60. The collar goes from 0 to 100. I don't need it in the house.



If Maggie gets into one of her unrestrained scuffles, I simply zap her and command "Enough!" She immediately backs off. It happened just the other day with 41/2-month-old Lola, a Bull Mastiff who was terrified of Maggie's playful overtures. In fact, the collar works with digging, coming when called and leash-pulling or getting over-exuberant when we meet another dog on a walk.

I feel bad that I'm not one of those gifted trainers like Cesar Milan who appear - with a quiet "tsschch" - to be able to control a dog's behavior. But I had worked diligently with Maggie and I'm convinced that for such a headstrong and powerful dog, the "zapping" collar has helped me help her to be obedient.