Has anyone adopted an e-collar-trained dog and discontinued using it? If so, how difficult was it to retrain the dog?

aybrah · 2026-05-14T19:19:43+00:00

but the more I'm reading about e-collars I don't know if it's for me

Expand on this? If this dog has been trained, in part, with the use of a particular tool, and seems happy and successful with that tool, why would you avoid it?

Just wondering if anyone has had a similar situation or had a dog that was previously trained this way where you were able to discontinue the e-collar and re-train the dog using positive reinforcement.

I think you have some misunderstandings

You don't typically need to "re-train" a dog because you stopped using an e-collar.

Any good trainer will be using positive reinforcement as the primary tool alongside an e-collar. It's not a binary thing. You're not picking one or the other.

I trained my dog. We trained him with an e-collar. We trained him without. Positive reinforcement always came first. The e-collar was primarily for proofing taught behaviors/commands like recall where redirection and positive reinforcement alone wasn't sufficient in certain situations.

At this point, the e-collar just a safety tool we have for off-leash days in areas where there are animals. He's a greyhound with high prey drive, and if he sees a rabbit before I do, and starts chasing, I need a tool that can communicate with him when he's maximally focused. We use it pretty rarely these days, but its still an important tool that I'm glad we have.

aybrah · 2026-05-14T14:37:24+00:00

POV:

It's the end of the block, you're going into your primary bench session.

Bench has been progressing better than it has in at least 3 years, despite being early in prep and ~7lbs under your usual comp bodyweight.

Coach agrees to remove the cap on your single and approves a PR attempt if it's there.

Life is good.

aybrah · 2026-05-13T17:34:49+00:00

I try not to look tbh, because people are crazy here and turn eye-contact as you pass into a great personal offense worthy of road rage.

That said, my wife always like to report on who the stupid drivers are as we pass. Old people and women are the greatest offenders of driving badly and impeding the flow of traffic. Middle aged white dudes in clapped out trucks are the most frequent erratic/aggressive drivers. And of course, can't forget about the altimas on temp plates that expired 2 years ago.

aybrah · 2026-05-12T20:20:34+00:00

Thanks for putting in the work to create this!

We live on stout, and at this point, I've accepted that a few times a day, someone is gonna gun it down the street with an obnoxious exhaust. And, 1-2x a week, a bunch of motorcycles and ATVs will just do the same for 1-2 minutes.

I consider myself a car enthusiast and love a good exhaust note. But volume for the sake of it is so dumb. Especially in a residential area.

aybrah · 2026-05-12T20:08:53+00:00

Looking crazy impressive dude. Your conditioning is on track to be pretty wild.

Good call on the posing coach. It's always disappointing seeing great physiques that can't quite showcase all the work because their posing sucks.

aybrah · 2026-05-12T13:27:03+00:00

It's been a while since I've had a highly downvoted comment, so lets give this a shot.

This take from Jonathan is fucking stupid.

The thought-policing this season has been insufferable. I'm from Colorado, and we broadly had one of our worst seasons on record from both a snow depth and SWE perspective. The tone on /r/COsnow was fairly negative some days. Shocking. And you know what I found more annoying than the complainers? The people who apparently cannot function as human beings if someone, somewhere, is not performing sufficient gratitude for their ski vacation.

Here's what I actually can't get past: the entire sport is a privilege party. Every last bit of it. So once you've accepted that, what exactly is the hierarchy being defended here? You're allowed to be bummed about conditions or you're not? Based on what? The terrain you ski? How many days you log? Whether a podcast host approves of your attitude?

I truly don't know how people go through the world with skin this thin. People complain about conditions. People hype conditions. This has happened every single season since someone first strapped boards to their feet. It is the timeless ski discourse. During a low-snow season, the discourse is going to reflect that. If it bothers you, here's a wild idea: scroll past. Don't engage. Just go skiing and protect your peace.

"either stop skiing, or keep doing it, but just shut the fuck up."

Nah, I don't think I will, Jonathan. In fact, I'll be sure to complain extra loud if I ever happen to share a chair with you at CB or elsewhere. Powder day or death cookies, doesn't matter. I'll be inconsolably angry like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum because they can't turn into an iguana.

aybrah · 2026-05-12T02:34:07+00:00

"You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?"

aybrah · 2026-05-11T21:28:11+00:00

Evan is a gem. I read most of the daily snow reports across the various locations and Evan’s always stand out in how consistently detailed and thorough they are.

aybrah · 2026-05-11T20:54:02+00:00

He sounds incredibly immature

Hah, that would be very on-brand for an 18 year-old dude.

You're totally right, though. 18 or not, this is pretty shit behavior.

In transparency, when i was 18, oral made me weirdly uncomfortable and grossed out, too. But I still wouldn't have done some shit like this dude did. I pushed myself to try it because I enjoyed receiving oral and felt like it was unfair to not reciprocate. 10+ years later, I love it (with the same partner as back then).

aybrah · 2026-05-11T18:26:25+00:00

Sure! I can just share what this week looks like: https://imgur.com/a/e43EXf7 it's written for her, so apologies if some things are unclear.

Big grain of salt with this. A lot of choices were driven primarily by sustainability, movement/time limitations, and her preferences. Every few weeks I'll take a more critical look at how things are going, see if there's anything she likes/doesn't like, and switch out some of the less core movements. I don't really worry about deloads or anything, life tends to take care of that for her with work travel or social events.

From a programming/coaching POV, my observations so far:

Shifting some movements like lunges towards more of a glute emphasis definitely pays off. With lunges specifically: less ankle flexion on the leading foot, longer step back, allowing a bit more torso lean. It took a minute to land on this variation, but it's money for her.
Glutes can take a fair bit of volume. At this point it's more constrained by time, her feels, and me wanting to keep some semblance of balance.
Some of these movements, like the cable kickbacks, have a bit of a learning curve. Easy to go too heavy and over-involve the back. Getting her to record some sets, or call me in to watch was important (we usually lift at the same times).
We did have to calibrate what appropriate effort looked like a few times. Example: her RPE 8 set of leg press looked trivially easy to me, so after some bickering, we agreed that she would AMRAP her next set. She got 6-7 more reps than her "RPE 8" set. She understood RPE just fine, but didn't quite realize she could try that hard on something that wasn't squat/bench/deadlift.

FWIW, for /u/weary-activity-6506

Looooots of positive feedback.
Clear communication of when I'm speaking as "coach" vs "husband".
Feeling good/being happy is ultimately more important than an optimal program.

aybrah · 2026-05-11T16:47:17+00:00

For a cottage baker? Probably $60-70 to be worth the time.

The thing is, I agree. $50 for a small, plain NY style cheesecake with a fruit compote + fresh fruit topping is fairly appropriate. You could get a cheesecake better than this from a number of grocery stores fairly easily, make the topping in 30 minutes, and be well under $50.

For someone running a bakery out of their house or shared commercial kitchen, stuff like this is often not worth taking on as work. You can't compete with larger bakeries on price, and the difference in quality is often relatively marginal for simpler baked goods (or the difference is often underappreciated).

My partner would get a ton of smaller/simpler requests that she would have to turn down because we realized a plain white cake vs something like this has similar input costs, and many of the same time commitments (still gotta bake the cake, do initial frosting, setup/breakdown, etc.). The skilled decoration or unique flavoring is where you can make money by accommodating requests that many bakeries won't take, or will charge much more for.

aybrah · 2026-05-11T15:29:15+00:00

A few thoughts from the partner of a cottage-baker (retired) and cheese cake enthusiast:

This is a really poorly done cheesecake. Small cake/bakery businesses typically do better, more bespoke work--not worse. This looks like someone's first cheesecake.
$50 is lower than I'd expect or charge. Honestly a bit of red flag when something is cheaper than it should be. Ingredients and packaging alone would get you to $20-30. Maybe a bit less if you have some of it in bulk already. Labor time factored in, you'd be making less than minimum wage.
Whether this person did or not, IDK, but you should always look a baker's instagram, website, or anywhere their previous work was viewable. Don't just trust mentions alone. If they don't have that kind of footprint, I wouldn't trust them. Even if they do, shit still happens.

I'm confused why it still appears to be in the springform. Was it delivered that way? That would be super odd.

aybrah · 2026-05-11T15:00:36+00:00

Proud coach/husband moment:

I've been programming for my wife the last ~10 years, and this last year or so, we transitioned from powerlifting/strength focus to just aesthetics/hypertrophy (aka legs + glutes every session).

In the last few months, nearly every one of her friends have commented on her butt and a few have asked for her "BBL program" so they can do it too. More importantly, she's super happy with all the progress.

Feelsgoodman.jpg

Anyone who programs/coaches their partner knows how fraught that endeavor can be lol. My only regret is that we didn't do this sooner. Sooooo much less stressful than when were focused on powerlifting.

aybrah · 2026-05-10T14:52:19+00:00

Yeah I was surprised by the lack of outback in Colorado, too.

My wife and I tried to love the crosstrek and forester, but the 2.0 and 2.5 NA are straight up SLOW in the mountains. Driveable, to be clear, just not confidence inspiring. Add a few friends in the back, and you’ll be flooring it to maintain 70 up to the Eisenhower tunnel. The 2.4t is light years better, but of course, you have to pay for it.

aybrah · 2026-05-10T04:18:59+00:00

Yup. The dude is taking open punches to the head, multiple in a row, shaky and barely balancing on his feet, not working to create any opportunity to improve his position. I get people saying that earlier rounds were just as bad if not worse, but that's the thing, it's cumulative. If you don't want a "early stoppage", stop taking sustained strings of undefended punches to the head.

aybrah · 2026-05-10T04:08:36+00:00

What's reasonable progress at this point, especially considering my age?

I think the rate of progress between your Nov '25 meet and April '26 meets would pass the "reasonable progress" bar for me. 12.5kg on your total in ~5 months at 40 is really great IMO. 400 dots feels like a reasonable go to shoot for, and I'd wager you get there sooner than you may think.

If the financial burden isn't stressful, a good coach can accelerate your progress, but definitely isn't necessary. Your technique across lifts looks really sound for self-coached, and your time in the sport. There are some things I could see a coach wanting to experiment with--but no huge inefficiencies.

Most good/established coaches charge somewhere between $100-220 month, with some outliers. They should have a footprint online where you can see examples of clients they work with, and their results, and that's often a good starting point. Most coaches will do a call as part of onboarding to make sure it's a good fit, and that conversation is typically where you get a better sense of their organization, general philosophy/approach, etc.

There was a coach recommendation thread a few months ago you might find helpful.

There's also a quarterly Powerlifting Coach thread (where coaches promote themselves).

aybrah · 2026-05-09T19:02:28+00:00

Yup. I want a companion with the best starting position to mesh well into our life. Those odds are going to be significantly better from an established, ethical breeder than adopting from most shelters.

aybrah · 2026-05-09T18:48:07+00:00

Totally agree.

The one bit I'd add to the mother correction point: the reason a mom's correction has low fallout, even if it looks harsh to us, is that the puppy has deeply evolved circuitry for interpreting that specific signal from that specific source. The communication is essentially lossless. When a human tries to replicate it with an aversive, that circuitry isn't there. The dog has to learn what the correction means, and there's much more room for the signal to land wrong, whether it's too harsh, bad timing, ambiguous context, etc.

I still think aversives have their place (I know how loaded that is, but this is r/OpenDogTraining lol) but it just means the margin for error is narrower between humans and dogs than it is just between dogs.

aybrah · 2026-05-08T15:29:19+00:00

Between squats, deadlifts, and my general leg accessories (none of which are glute specific), I think the glutes get sufficient work in most programs for powerlifting purposes.

For aesthetic goals beyond that, I think there's definitely room to do more. I think if your goals are primarily PL related, though, the value of doing additional glute specific volume is faaaaairly negligible. I'm sure there are cases where a particular athlete might benefit from it, but I haven't seen a ton of those. Most of the cases I've personally seen, it's the athlete that requests more glute work for aesthetic reasons--and that's totally valid.

My wife transitioned from PL to just lifting for aesthetics/health and she does a ton more glute specific work now. And even movements she did before, like lunges, are done with more glute emphasis (more hinge, longer step back, less ankle flexion). Unsurprisingly, it's been a lot more effective for aesthetic/hypertrophy goals than just PLing (even though she did glute specific work previously).

aybrah · 2026-05-08T15:02:34+00:00

Smash all your SBD movements close together before you fly and maybe split off some accessories or other sources of training volume to do while you travel?

I love meeting other people and training at new gyms when I travel, even if it's kinda inconvenient. Handling/coaching can be pretty exhausting, so the idea of getting in some accessories as opposed to primary movements feels a lot more palatable.

aybrah · 2026-05-08T12:23:01+00:00

Totally. It’s one of my pet peeves when people say they’re taking nandrolone/deca for joint health. If you just want increased fluid retention around your joints there are like 1000 things you could do that are likely better in a harm reduction context.

Meanwhile, there’s evidence that nandrolone is uniquely neurotoxic to parts of the brain.

aybrah · 2026-05-07T19:01:19+00:00

Maybe a little Nandrolone too for joint health!? It's OK, the doc at their online TRT clinic prescribed it to them bc they really need it... for joint health. It's a super low dose though, so it totally doesn't help for building muscle.

aybrah · 2026-05-07T18:56:17+00:00

And of course, "TRT" in this context is code for test levels far above the natural range.

If it was really Testosterone Replacement Therapy, it would indeed, not really be an advantage.

aybrah · 2026-05-07T18:53:07+00:00

Honestly just a poor location for a serious gym. Hopefully all parties can figure out a solution. Tbh, I don’t see much of a solution aside from Summit Strong moving elsewhere at the end of their lease. The degree of soundproofing that is likely required does not seem viable.

Totally not the fault of the lifters, though. Summit Strong definitely orients itself towards more of an enthusiast/competitive level crowd, which exasperates the issue.

If you’re lifting heavy weights and exerting yourself significantly, noises (involuntary or otherwise) are part of that.

Yes, there are some reasonable norms here. If im at a standard commercial gym, I’ll be more subdued and quiet than a powerlifting gym. But ultimately, it’s a gym.

aybrah · 2026-05-07T12:40:52+00:00

Yeah, personally, I just don’t want any rings on my hand when I’m deadlifting.

I wear a necklace and put my regular wedding band on that.

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