kninebirddog wrote:when he reacted to it ..i hope you just ignored him and left the collar on for a while so it wasn't related to stimulate then shut down hide behind you and you took the collar off
y
just put the collar on the dog make sure it is high on the neck and snug not low and sloppy .....just leave it on the dog and go for walks ...play
then take it off
every time you go out just put the collar on the dog use the leash leave the transmitter at home
get the dog used to wearing it
I will say this your going to have to over come what happened today..it sounds like it wasn't done or handled right ...if the collar isn't properly put on it can have a jolt effect rather then a stimulation effect
so i would just put the collar on and use the leash till the dog is no longer worried about something new on the neck
do not get frustrated if the dog slugs up behind you...just ignor the dog and go do something else
until the dog is relaxed leave the collar on
but dogs can get over it if you back up and redo it the right way
He had the collar on for over 2 hours before doing anything and ever since putting it on, he had no reaction or anxiety about it. He just over reacted to the lowest stimulation and just sulked and was concentrating on the feeling of the collar rather than listening to us. The collar was on very snug and just as the DVD and instruction pamplet showed.
I personally have found that he will listen if you take a more stern handle on him or if you have treats (which I dont like to do but I can use it for one or two commands and then he will figure out what is going on). We have backed off the treats but it seems that he does have a stubborn streak and that he did not take kindly to the mental pressure of being not reprimanded but, gently encouraged by the collar, and instead of submissing to it, he fought it and was rebelious of it by not doing as he was told (sit or come, etc) and just running around and sulking. I was able to get him to sit 2 times with the stimulation but he seemed so caught off guard by the stimulation that he mentally shut down. It was on the lowest setting and he would still yelp.
He doesnt come off as a "soft" dog but after his reaction to the collar, it appears he may be. I believe it is more of he doesnt know how to react to being controlled so "completely" mentally and shut down. I know on the Perfection DVD he states that the tail will go down and the whole demenor of the dog will go down b/c they are not used to having that total control mentally over them but that it will change. I feel that is kind of what happened but to a greater degree than shown in the DVD but my husband does not agree.
My husband thinks that the physically stimuation put him over the edge. He thinks that the fact that he has touched our electric fence that is in the horse pasture has made the collar a negative experience, even though the collar was introduced like 3 months after the last time he touched the fence. But after watching the video a second time, he wants to put him back on the check cord and start over at the come command and press the stimulation once the dog is moving so hes not just standing there feeling it.
After we received negative reactions from him that night, I did a lot of work on leash, with the collar still on but no stimulation, on heel, whoa, and sit. He seemed to connect the stimulation to the sit as that was the one he would NOT do (he has been having more issues with sit in the last 2 months and unless it was involving a treat, he would NOT sit and blew us off even with the leash and choke chain). We followed the Perfection DVD and kept the stimulation pressed until he complied and like I said above, he sat maybe twice but it was only after holding the button down for FAR too long. If we moved it to 1 level higher, he jumped in the air and yelped repeatidly so I dont think it was a matter of strength of the stimulation. After being unsuccessful with the collar in use, we kept it on and went back to leash work so that we could accomplish something. He heels great, follows me through the turn with no touching on the leash, and will WHOA hard and stop great. But the sit was NOT there. I would have to tug on the leash and give the command 2, 3, 4+ times to get the sit. FINALLY after like... 30 mins? I dont know he finally was sitting with just the command, no leash involvement, like the Perfection DVD says that need to do. I would have not pressed the issue for 30 mins had he not been very aware of what the command is and what the answer is for that question (it means sit your butt on the ground). I only gave the praise when he did it on his own, and he finally did it 3 times in a row by himself and we stopped. Once he was given the praise, his tail came up, his attitude was happier, etc. So yes, it did follow what the DVD said would happen, but it took far longer than expected due to him being past the basics on the leash. It just seems that he regressed once the collar was introduced. Well the stimulation, not the collar as he did not mind wearing the collar at all.
Though it is to be said that we didnt ruin him, lol. We went to our first hunt test the next day and he found and pointed 3 quail (first time on quail and 3rd time on birds) and we got our first qualifying score in JH. But it just seems that he had a bigger adverse reaction to the stimulation that we thought and he shut down mentally when it was use rather than "thinking" to find out that by doing the command the stimulation goes away. I have a horse like that and if you press and press, he just shuts down and plants his feet and that is that. That is kind of what he did that night.
Sorry its so long!
