Anybody heard of these guys?

[youhavenoidea]

www.sitmeanssit.com

I don't know much about them, except that they seem to sell a "gimmicky" e-collar as the crux of their training.

This is one of their videos, but I fail to see what's impressive about it. The dog likes to fetch? Oooooooookaaaaaayyyyy . . .

http://ca.video.yahoo.com/watch/1958235/6368542

[Sch3Dana]

Fred Hassan is a purist- he thinks you can train everything better with an e-collar and that every dog needs one

He posts a lot of strange videos to a lot of forums and only involves himself in conversations about his training. He is all about promoting his business and making money and he's pretty good at it, I think. Honestly his training is not terribly abusive (from what I've seen), but also not terribly effective. He uses the electric as very low level guidance (like a leash pull) IMO so when the collars come off the dogs gradually stop performing (not an opinion- I've seen him trial). He's also not using rewards in a way to get the dog working with the handler so it's certainly not the sort of training I am interested in learning more about. We finally kicked him off our malinois forum- people just get sick of someone who only wants to talk about himself.

The video link you found really is totally unimpressive. I have seen other videos of Fred's that were actually a little interesting to watch and the dogs were doing impressive stuff (with the collars on, never off). But I also know many trainers who could video their work and it would be much more impressive. They just aren't the sorts to constantly promote themselves online by videotaping every little thing they do. But, here's a sample of something that actually impresses me, this is a friend of mine in LA who is one of the most amazing trainers I have been around:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3T3sYZ9eBk

[Zoom]

Dana, now THAT is cool!

I've heard of SMS and frankly, I'm not impressed. They just opened up a branch here and I've seen a rise in the amount of shock collars present, though of course the rise in competency is nowhere to be found.

[Dekka]

I often find his videos are great for showing examples of stress behaviours in dogs. I have had ppl send me his links to 'show me' how happy e collar trained dogs are. They don't see that the low wagging tail and stress panting are signs of anxiety.

[Sch3Dana]

Did you think the video youhavenoidea posted showed a stressed puppy?

[release the hounds]

Originally Posted by Dekka

I often find his videos are great for showing examples of stress behaviours in dogs. I have had ppl send me his links to 'show me' how happy e collar trained dogs are. They don't see that the low wagging tail and stress panting are signs of anxiety.

to be fair, i see stress in lots of videos that ecollars aren't involved in either. I see stuff in videos that people have posted that dispise ecollars and leashes or collars in general.

[Zoom]

RTH, true, perhaps, but on the flip side, you'll see more stress behaviors in videos with e-collars than you will with dogs who are being clickered.

[dr2little]

*deep breaths*...I made a post and then erased the entire thing. I don't know what happens to people who NEED to strap these things on to train everything. It just boggles the mind.

Take emotion/feeling out of training when dealing with any animal and this is what you get.

We all know what can and is accomplished WITHOUT these crutches, without pain, fear..why????


I'd best not get started on this...