– If you correct a dog, show him immediately afterwards what is right and then praise         or reward in some way.

For me the e-collar is a tool which helps me with a methodology, philosophy and approach I have developed over the years and am still developing. It is not an end in itself. E-Touch is not a magic method it is a catalyst which you can incorporate within your own training approaches to train even better. Whether you are a foodie, a clickerite, a Koehler based trainer, a redneck gundog (dummy) trainer (like me at times) or whatever, the e-collar is a tool that can be added to the mixture to create something special. BUT the main principles of good training do not disappear, we stay creative, we do not depend on the e-collar for everything, there is no one best approach, it is not a race to see who can train the fastest. And most of all we work within the temperament and pace of the dog – reading the dog and maintaining a true companion relationship is essential. I have to say although I do gundog competitions and want precision stuff I want a dog that will be a dog, will make decisions, and basically acts as a dog while remaining my partner.

Although I originally started off using the collar in gundog work, I quickly realized the advantages with pet/companion dogs. I also found that by incorporating the collar with `traditional' (whatever that is) approaches I could get good results fairly quickly and pass over the controls to owners. I could also, because I mixed it with leash work, treats, tennis balls, hand manipulation etc that I could use quite low levels for the majority of the time. My main income is now from training using  the collar. This was the start of “E-Touch”.

 It is difficult to compare and sometimes quite incorrect of us as proponents and teachers of the use of the e-collar to do compare different approaches and methods in case it is taken as highly critical of others. My own feeling is that the collar is a tool that we use in conjunction with our own training approaches. Although there is a technique to using it as there is with a leash and certain other collars, it should not detract from our use of other teaching and training approaches or even other equipment that would help us in our training of any specific dog. Unless you have worked with the other proponents and teachers of the collar it is difficult to come to a conclusion as to what the main differences are. My own thoughts are that it does not matter what others do provided I am confident in the method and approaches I use and they achieve the results with the least possible stress on the dog.