I have been advised by a behaviourist to buy a spray collar .They seem a lot of money so i was wondering if anyone had used one before and if it had worked.Any views on this would be appreciated

I'd be suspicious of a behaviorist who advised BUYING a spray collar - the whole idea of the spray collar is that it is a short sharp shock to the system, prolonged use will eventually have little or no effect.  Some dogs even bark and bark and bark until the collar is empty, then bark at will.............  Why does your behaviourist feel you need to buy one?  And are they offering to sell you one??.........

I agree, they are very expensive and have known people who used them with success but the big problem was that they clogged and therefore wouldn't work at crucial moment :(
They recommend that the device is put on 20 mins before training(or more)before starting but the dog still worked out that the stuff came from the collar and therefore  behaved with it on but not without, then when it clogs you are back to square one as the dog is then not being punished for want of a better word.
Im sure others will be along soon to advise but IMO there are plenty of other alternatives that aren't as expensive and much more reliable in the long term. You can 'borrow' them from some places, basically you buy it but if you return it in a certain amount of time you get some of your money back-good idea but sometimes the training would need a 'top-up' requiring you to use the unit and remote again.
Hope this helps
Emily

You don't say what the problem is but most can be solved with training rather than the use of a "device" :) however, i feel it can depend very much on the individual and their dog so i would never say never.

Again depending on how and why they are used they can have positive results, ideally the owner is working in comjunction with someone "au fait" with the collars so that they can use them correctly; usually they are used as a distraction/punishment and then the dog is rewarded for doing the correct thing. For instance, if a dog was chasing something and would not respond to a well taught Leave, the spray may be activated and then the dog would be rewarded for stopping and returning to the owner so it does understand what is the right thing to do. It should be used in a manner similar to this anyway; emphasis being on teaching the dog what to do rather than punishing it for doing the wrong thing.

Lindsay
X

The problem is ralphs fear based aggression,when anyone walks past my house or if anyone entered he would be barking and nipping. The behaviourist did give me a detailed report of other things like training we could do but said his aggression was quite acute and did offer to rent us a spray collar and told us how to use it,but was just wondering if they had been used with success by anyone on here

I may be wrong here but if a problem is fear based then something like a spray collar will only make matters worse by giving the dog something else to be scared of rather than solving the issue??

Please be VERY careful using a method like this on a dog with fear based aggression - it can make the fear worse or even provoke the dog into actually attacking.  I'd be very interested in the qualifications and experience of a 'behaviourist' who recommended this sort of training programme (please feel free to PM me if you like with the details - I suspect we are talking about a possible franchise organisation........)

Excellent idea.  I am sure that when you are afraid of something getting punished makes you less afraid of it yes?

If you were afraid of tarantulas and everytime you saw one, you got a nasty smell up your nose, how would this affect your view of them; would it make you like them more or less?

It may make you want to stay away from them more, in fact you could become arachnaphobic so that you never went out in case you met one; or perhaps you would want to destroy all spiders, even nice harmless money ones.

I think you need to change your "behaviourist", the only ones that you should be consulting are those that are accredited with a professional body such as the APBC who will only see on vet referral.

Remember, anyone can call themselves a behaviourist; even you!

Distraction can work on fear-based aggression, but the distraction needs to be positive or neutral.   Each time a stranger walks past the house you reward the dog with a treat or a toy - before the negative behaviour begins.  Gradually you increase the time to reward.  You are extinguishing the unwanted behaviour by introducing a new stimulus which illicits a positive behaviour from your dog.  Eventually the dog associates a stranger with something positive.

Agree with everyone - punishing a dog with a noxious smell will only make this situation worse.  It's highly likely that what you would end up teaching your dog to do is not to bark/growl or whatever - and end up with a dog that attacks with no warning whatsoever.

Find a new trainer.

Stacey

Thanks for all your replies,think ive gone off the idea,Just a question is tohme always this sarcastic to first time messagers or is it to everyone ??.Anyway thanks again,im sure ill be back

Tohme sarcastic? never. ;)  Tohme is one of the most knowledgable people on this forum and I find her plain speaking quite refreshing, a spade is a spade. Also dont you think that some of her replies actually make you think for yourself, see an answer that was possibly there? Yes, I have had a couple of sharp replies from her but have never taken it out of context and all her replies have been extremely informative and helpful.

Many of the most effective dog trainers I have come across are very blunt, not 'suffering fools gladly'! Most of the hopeless ones tend to be very nice people indeed!

When you have done a bit of training you can usually tell the people on here that are speaking from experience and those that are getting their ideas from a book or out of their trainers / behaviourists mouth. Whilst I don't always agree with Tohme's answers & methods, I am pretty convinced that they are spoken with experience and concern for the dog involved. She also regularly seems to put herself out to provide information for people.