Should I use a shock collar or positive reinforcement for off-leash?

Shock collars such as the SportDog work well when used properly. The key is you have to train them on a leash to know what the response is before letting them off leash to use it. This brand come with several shock settings and a beep. Some people use the beep as a praise and reward when they are far off and do well, other use it as a warning beep to listen or the shock is next. When you have them on leash, tell them a command. If they do not do it, you shock them and make them do it. This teaches them the consequences. When they do right, you praise them. AS they get better you can start with longer distances until they fully understand--which doesn't take long. Once they get it, some just need the collar on to keep paying attention without using any buttons

I'm so glad that you found a good training method for Timber. The problem with shock collars is that often people do not use them correctly. If you are shocking your dog inappropriately, they will get confused about what is going on and everyone will be frustrated with training. When used appropriately, shock collars can be a very effective training method. I'm so glad that it is working well for Timber, so you must be doing it right. Congrats! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Zoey is a very pretty girl! :) No, it shouldn't be necessary to use a shock collar to teach her this. If she has a habit of bolting out the door, you can teach her to wait nicely when the door is opened for permission to go out. Practice first asking her to sit just inside the door. Then say "wait!", and immediately reward her. Once she is happily sitting and waiting for her treat, try saying "wait!", touching the door knob, and rewarding her. Work you way up to turning the knob, opening the door just a crack at first, then wider and wider - make sure to reward her at each tiny step so that she understands what you want. With a few days of practice, you should be able to say "wait!" and open the door all the way without her running out. Make sure to keep her on a leash for this exercise, just in case she makes a mistake and tries to run out the door while she is learning! It would also be a good idea to teach her to come when you call her, so that if she does happen to slip out the door at some point, you can easily call her back. To teach this skill, start in the house with a handful of extremely tasty treats - small bites of chicken or roast beef work very well for many dogs. Say "Zoey, come!" in a happy voice - as soon as she comes over to investigate, praise her and feed her your handful of treats. Do this 2-3 times a day, every day, until she happily comes running as soon as you call. At that point, you can start to practice outside in more distracting environments - I recommend using a long line (a very long, light-weight leash) for safety while you are teaching this. With practice, she should come to you right away whenever you call her - just make sure to reward her every time, since this is a very important life skill. :)

Yes, unfortunately a shock collar is cruel and should not be used on a dog. Some humane alternatives are boundary training or teaching Piper to come, without fail, every time you call her so that she remains in your yard. Another possibility is to explain your situation to your neighbors and ask that they not throw food into their yard. If they are doing it to feed squirrels, possums, etc., that is their right and there's not much you can do about it. If it's any other reason, you might try asking them to load the food up with sriracha, tabasco or other unpleasant flavor to deter Piper from going after it. If you have some friends in the subdivision who are not near your neighbor, how about asking if you can use their yard? Good luck with this. If you need further info, you can click on the prompt to initiate a consult.

This is a lot of questions, and talking with one of our experts in a consultation may be useful for figuring out the basics of puppy training. Another good option is to enroll in a puppy training class together where you can learn to train with positive reinforcement, better communicate, and both get on the same page about house rules and basic obedience. I do NOT recommend shock collars at all as these are likely to just frustrated or even scare your dog. They work to stop problem behaviors by causing pain or fear, instead of figuring out how to turn a "bad" behavior into a positive one through redirecting or stopping the behavior before it starts. As for potty training, without knowing your puppy's age or what you've tried already, it is hard to give a good answer. Making sure to take your puppy outside frequently (every hour if needed for very young dogs) and especially after waking, playing, eating or drinking can help provide opportunity to go outside successfully. Inside, when you are not at home, looking into crate training or blocking off your puppy's access in the house to only an easy to clean kitchen or laundry room with potty pads can help prevent accidents and encourage good behaviors.

Shock collars, bark collars, and clicker training are all acceptable ways of training pets. The down side is they are ineffective if not done properly. They are great modalities in the correct hands that know how to implement them and do it correctly to where the dog understands what is being asked of them. Consulting a behavioral/trainer that is experienced is the best way to achieve positive results.

I personally recommend against them. Most bark collars work by delivering a shock to your dog, in an attempt to "stop" them from whatever behavior they are doing. However, this often either causes pain to your dog, or starts an association of the shock with other things, such as you, or a nearby child or person, which may cause redirected aggression instead. Instead of shocking your dog when they bark or do something they shouldn't redirection through positive reinforcement is a better option. it can help build a bond with your dog without resorting to pain or fear, and while still stopping the problem. If your dog likes to bark, say, when someone walks past the house, you can instead get your dog's attention with a favorite treat or chew toy, moving them to a different room and refocusing their behavior on that, instead of the person causing them to bark. If they are distracted or upset, refocusing them into a sit or down (far enough away that the stimulus causing them to bark isn't as distracting) can help change the behavior from "bad" (barking) to "good" (sitting), which you can then start to reward if they present that behavior instead of the bark in the future. It does take longer to work with positive reinforcement and redirection training, but the overall result is a change in your dog's underlying behavior, rather than just a band aid that can lead to fear, redirected aggression, and at worse severe injury. If you're curious to work on more positive reinforcement behaviors, speaking with a local dog trainer or animal behaviorist (specialists in behavior training specifically) is best as they can work with you in person on any specific problems you're having.