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One question I receive a fairly frequently from reluctant dog owners is when they can phase out the e-collar or remote collar from their dog's life, or if their dog will need to wear the remote collar "forever." When it comes to deciding to take your dog off e-collar or not, my response is almost always the same: if you have a tool that's helping you bring about great things and give your dog its best life as a result, why would you want to remove that tool? I think there's an understandable disconnect there because I am so comfortable with e-collars now as a part of training and daily life. With each dog I train, there's always new things to learn and new situations to respond to, and so having that tool in my toolbox is valuable to have for most dogs even after their initial training period. That said, I do...

This is a question I get fairly frequently, along with it's many variants, during my consultations. "Is my dog old enough for a remote collar?" "Is it bad to put an e-collar on a puppy?" "Can I use a remote collar on a dog that is * months old?" This post sets out to answer these questions. The short answer is that there's no definitive answer regarding the proper age to start a dog on a remote collar, but most trainers are going to use six months as a guideline. From experience, I've found that the ideal time to start is going to be between 6 and 9 months, for the following reasons. What age do dogs normally start on a remote collar? The reason I usually start at 6-9 months of age is not that I think any older or younger is incorrect. At the end of the day, every trainer has a different idea...