Picking up from the comments for an open thread …
Since we’ll be around a bit longer, I’d like to know: What are your all-time favorite posts here?
I have a few. Off the top of my head I like this one of mine:
If only people knew what good breeders do
And this one of Christie’s:
Poop in food: What’s up with that?
I’m going to go through and pull some others to put in the comments, but I bet those two are the ones I’ve linked to most often.
You?
***
And you want controversy? OK, here you go:
Faith is wearing an electronic collar in the picture below. Doesn’t she look miserable? This is about 30 minutes into a two-hour ride this morning, poor thing. (And yes, I bought a horse. I’ve desperately wanted my own horse since I was three years old, and now I am kicking myself for having waited 5o years. He’s an 8-year-old gaited trail horse gelding, name of Patrick. Well-trained and well-mannered. An absolute pleasure to ride. I love him.)
No, I’m not training Faith with an e-collar. It’s there to remind her of what she knows, if she needs to be reminded. She knows “here” perfectly well, and responds to it 99.99 percent of the time. But when we’re on the bridle trail, that’s not good enough. A failure to come when called .01 percent of the time on a bridle trail that’s 500 yards from a street could be deadly. So …there’s an e-collar on her and it’s turned on to a very low setting. She understands the command “here,” and she had been nicked a couple of times in the last two months for not responding, but not recently, and not since I started taking her out to ride with me.
Choices:
1) Leave her home. Sure, but she loves going out on the trail, and she really, really needs the exercise to stay sane.
2) Put a long line on her. That ruins the ride for all three of us, and it’s dangerous: It could get her, me and the horse hurt or killed when Patrick trips over it or gets otherwise tangled.
3) Use a very low-level “nick” from an e-collar to remind her if I need to that there are consequences for ignoring a command she damn well knows and knows well.
Seems like a no-brainer to me. But then, see, I am one of those people who believes an e-collar is a tool, not an instrument of torture that should be banned and its proponents sent to jail for animal cruelty. I believe that someone who knows what she’s doing with this tool is perfectly fine in using it. And that someone who doesn’t bother to learn how to use it or who uses it incorrectly is not.
I also believe that someone who uses a head halter and a reel-type leash — which I see all the freakin’ time and no one ever says a thing — is putting a dog at more risk of pain or injury than I ever have or ever will. Tools used incorrectly are dangerous, no matter now well-intentioned their design or intended use.
This morning the three of us were on the trail for two incredible, beautiful hours. We had the greatest time ever and not once — not once — did I need to do anything more than ask Faith “here” in a normal voice one time and one time only when she ranged a little too far afield. She turned and happily raced back every time I asked. I’m not even sure she remembered after a little while that she had an e-collar on, although she knows what it does and when it does it.
She also responded beautifully to “sit,” “down” and “heel” — and I do not use an electronic reinforcement on any of those behaviors. I’m prepared to get off the horse to follow through with her, if need be. I never had to.
The e-collar is on her to keep her alive if I need to use it by insisting that she immediately come when called.
I’m sure if you’re dogmatic about this issue, you’d tell me I need to train her “better” in some way or leave her home. And I’m thinking that since she comes when called the very first time 99.99 percent of the time, I’d wonder how much better she could be trained. That means you’d rather her stay home and miss such a joyful outing than wear an e-collar.
And then, I’d be wondering why you think it’s better to deny her the pleasure of the ride and the exercise she needs because some think an e-collar is evil without exception.
Or maybe you cool with what I’m doing. Or maybe you’re seeing this in an entirely different way altogether.
There you go … now discuss.
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