Properly Fitting an   E-Collar on Your Dog

When it comes to e-collars, an improperly fitted e-collar is a leading reason for training problems and frustration with it not working on the dog. Putting an e-collar on your dog is not like putting a normal flat collar on them, there is a particular way your dog must wear an e-collar to ensure that the collar is functioning properly for both you and your dog. 

When choosing an e-collar for your dog, it can be a daunting task. There are so many different brands, models, shapes and sizes. On top of all that, there is more to consider and one of the most important things is how the e-collar will fit your dog. Before learning how to properly fit an e-collar on your dog it is important to understand why fitting it properly is key. Having a correctly fitted e-collar is key for decreasing its miscommunication with your dog. It allows accurate and consistent communication between you and your dog. It also ensures that your dog is safe while wearing the e-collar by not causing injury to their skin, fur, and throat.

Having accurate and consistent communication between you and your dog decreases frustration on your part and confusion on your dog’s part. The e-collar communications between the transmitter (remote) that is in your hand and the receiver (collar) that is placed on your dog’s neck. The receiver in turn communicates with your dog through an electronic stimulation from contact points that rest on the dog's skin. All the contact points on the receiver must be in contact with the dog’s skin in order for the stimulation to be sent. If those contact points are touching the dog’s skin intermittently they may only feel the stimulation sometimes. Also, this can result in you turning the stimulation up too high because of the intermittent contact and causing your dog to yelp and become scared when the contact points do touch the skin properly. 

When picking out an e-collar that will fit your dog, it is important to take into account the size of the receiver that will be around its neck. There are various sizes of receivers and collars that specify the size of your dog by weight, each brand of e-collar has different models that cater to the weight of your dog and your specific needs for the e-collar.  It is also important not only to look at your dog's weight but their neck size too.  E-collar’s weight is usually a range of 5 pounds and up or 15 pounds or up, which doesn’t account for the physical size of your dog. Even though your dog might weigh 50 pounds there is a large difference between the neck circumference of a German Short-hair pointer and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. 

Once you get your new e-collar home, you have to fit it on your dog. Your dog’s normal flat collar will remain on when they are wearing the e-collar because if your dog is on a leash you will attach the leash to the flat collar, not the e-collar, and normal flat collar usually has the ID tags and rabies attached to it. The main reason you don’t want to attach a leash to your e-collar is it will disrupt the placement of the contact points on your dog’s neck. The e-collar will be placed above your flat collar, usually high on the neck just below the ear and jaw bone. If the collar is too high it will make contact with the bone which will not give your dog the proper stimulation. Depending on your dog and its sensitivity there are a few locations around the neck where you can place the collar, but those placements are still located along the side and back of the neck. It is recommended that the contact points are placed on the right or left side of the neck in the muscle area. When looking at the side of the neck, you can either place the contact points more forward on the side or more towards the back of the neck. Some trainers prefer to place the e-collar lower on the dog's neck to allow for better contact with the flat part of the dog’s neck muscles. The e-collar receiver is never placed in the front of the neck, or across the throat. The front of the neck does not have much muscle and thin skin. That area also has a lot of folds and movement compared to the sides and back of the neck. The electric stimulation provided by the e-collar acts much like the electric pulses for a TENS unit, a small electronic pulse to the muscle area that the pads cover. The less muscle in the area the less the person will feel the pulse the TENS unit gives. If the contact points are in the front of the neck there is less muscle and more skin making your dog less affected by the stimulation and that is one of the reasons the e-collar receiver is not placed on the front of the neck. If placed on the side of the neck the contact points will be sitting on muscle groups and will provide a strong stimulation to the dog 

Even with the proper tightness, you can still struggle with proper connection of the contact points depending on your dog’s fur. If your dog has thicker, more dense or long fur it may make getting the contact points onto the skin more difficult. Depending on the e-collar you purchased you have several options to help deal with your dog’s fur. Most brands of e-collars offer long and short contact points for the receiver. Some brands include the different length while other brands you have to purchase the longer contact points separately. Another trick to help with connection is physically moving the fur to the side and placing the contact point on the skin while you put the e-collar on. If moving the fur away still doesn’t work, you can shave a small section of fur in the area where you place the contact points onto the skin of your dog. The shaved area just has to be big enough for the contact points to make contact with the skin and should not be noticeable when your dog is not wearing the collar. Now if your dog has the opposite problem and has very fine, thin or no fur there are special contact points that are designed to help protect the sensitive nature of their skin. Along with different lengths, you can purchase alternative contact points for various reasons. There are also 6 or 4 point contact options compared to the standard 2 contact points. The more contact points doesn’t mean that the stimulus is increased, it just allows for the stimulus to be spread over a larger surface. Also there are different contact point materials to choose from if you find your dog’s skin is sensitive to the provided contact points. Some of the different contact points include plastic tips, metal tips, and flat pads. 

When speaking with Professional Dog Trainer Matt McKeown about his regular use of e-collars on his broad and train dogs along with many of his private lesson dogs, he explains that his preference to use the e-collar over the prong collar and other training tools for the off-leash convenience and versatility of the e-collar. Matt has been training dogs for almost a decade with a well-rounded background in working dogs and pet dogs. Matt regularly uses the Dogtra 280C on his clients' dogs. 

When asked about his experience with different brands of e-collars Matt explained he preferred the Dogtra brand, “I have tried other e-collars but I have come back to the Dogtra” because of the build quality. “I can use and abuse, and I do abuse them on a regular basis.” Matt recalled a time when another trainer ran over his Dogtra 280C transmitter remote twice when he had dropped it stating, “it still works fine, it has some dents from being pushed into the ground.” Matt stated that in his experience with other brands “none of them have lasted more than months really.”

Matt uses his e-collar on an average of 4-5 dogs daily, while he is training. This has allowed him to become very versed in the different contact points that are offered. He explained that while working in the kennels and during the conditioning phase, he uses thick fur contact points, from E-collar Technology on the Dogtra 280C, for every dog because he is using it on multiple dogs throughout the day. “I can have trust that it is making a good connection especially when I am in the early days of finding out the working level in those first couple sessions.” Matt explained “I can trust the connection and therefore I can trust my abilities with the e-collar, and not second guessing myself wondering if this connection is good or does this particular dog works this high or this particular dog works this low.” However he does warn “you can’t leave them on for an extended period of time” because they have a quite aggressive nub on them to push through the fur and can cause hot spots if left on too long. Matt recommends those contact points “just for training sessions opposed to leaving it on all day.” The contact points that come with the e-collar are adequate as well and are not as aggressive in nature. When addressing hairless or very finely furred dogs, Matt explains that he uses Dogtra’s comfort pads, “it is essentially four little nubs or contact points that spread the surface area out so that it is more comfortable because it wasn’t necessary to penetrate through fur”

To fit an e-collar on a dog, Matt prefers to place it a little lower on the dog's neck, “because that is where, on most breeds, the meaty part, the muscular part of the neck is where it is going to make contact rather than up under the ear.” He explains his reason is that high up on the neck you can struggle with concaves of the neck and the “contact points can enter gaps and disconnect. Matt stated he recommends lower on the neck to the right, left, or top. He discourages the use of on the front of the neck because it is going to be “more uncomfortable there but also because as the dog looks up and down, left and right it is going to create creases and gaps and concaves that affect that connection.”  When addressing the recommendation to place the contact point in the center on the front of the neck for more sensitive or softer dogs, Matt still recommended the same placement, low and on the sides or back of the neck so you can ensure the connection is always consistent and trustworthy. When using the e-collar on more sensitive or softer dogs, Matt utilizes the 127  working levels of the Dogtra 280C, “so you can work in those single digit numbers.”

An accessory that Matt uses daily when training dogs on the e-collar is the bungee collar. He is drawn to the bungee collar because of its versatility and ease of use. “It allows you to get a tight connection without it affecting the breathing of the dog, the elasticity of the bungee can expand and contract with the breathing of the dog and the buckle strap doesn’t do that.” Especially with thicker and longer-furred dogs, it provides more comfort because of how tight the buckle strap has to be to allow the contact points to penetrate through the fur. Matt also explains that the bungee seems to be more comfortable for the pet owner to use as well. “It is more comfortable especially for the pet owner to use and cinch it up that tight, which means they are going to consistently use it and it is going to be consistently making a connection, they are going to be sending consistent information to the dog which is going to create consistent behavior.” Matt does admit that the bungee does have its drawbacks because they do come loose and the bungee can break or lose its elasticity but he would rather replace the bungee collar. Matt also warned that the bungee collar does create more of a choking hazard if the dog is left unsupervised with it on, so he recommends never kenneling or leaving them unsupervised with any training tool on, especially a bungee. Matt’s biggest recommendation for new e-collar users is to invest in an e-collar training class whether it is a group class or private lesson. The e-collar “can be the most profound training tool for the mental health of your dog or it can be the most crippling destructive training tool for the mental health of your dog.” Matt describes the e-collar as a great way to build confidence when used as a communication tool at the lower levels of stimulus.