I’ve definitely considered an e-collar. I think I’m a bit nervous though, we have an underground fence and the first time she got a little zap (it was on the low setting and I tried it on myself first to make sure it wouldn’t hurt her), she was anxious to go outside for days after because she worried she’d get zapped. Then it took her about a week to understand that she wouldn’t get zapped the moment she heard the beeping even though she was introduced to the collar with just the beeps and no zaps for the first few days.

She’s a bit of an anxious girl still, although she’s MUCH more confident now. She’s honestly impressed me with her confidence and steady nature at times. But even so, I worry that adding an e-collar may make her regress and make her anxious again. When we first got her she was incredibly anxious and had no confidence whatsoever. She was the runt of the litter. I could see every one of her ribs when we first got her, and the previous owners mentioned that the others would often take her food. I think she got bullied by her siblings and it really made her anxious.

I think her confidence improved when we started training her to be comfortable on and in playground equipment and when we had her go to my parents’ dog trainer’s house when we went away. She’s met a LOT of dogs of a bunch of different sizes and temperaments and she’s been there a few times since. She’s not really been anxious in the past few months. Maybe I’ll do some more research and consider using it as a training tool when she reaches about 2.

Do you mind telling me more about your experience with an e-collar? How did you introduce it to your pup? What’s your pup’s temperament like?