After many months of family discussion we decided that the time was right to get a dog. The breed needed to be good with kids, friendly to other dogs, and have a mild personality. As luck would have it, we found someone that just had Labrador Retriever puppies. We went to the farm, checked out the puppies and fell in love with a Black Lab. The puppy was just 8 weeks old when we brought her home. We got the house prepared prior to her arrival. Had the crate in place, a new food bowl, etc.
The first few months were great with training starting right away. Simple things like sitting, and lying down were picked up very quickly. We were considering installing an electric fence around our property, but at 1.5 acres it was a little pricey. I investigated other options and came across a remote training collar. This collar allowed me to control the correction based on the infraction by using a remote control that had nine correction settings and a tone setting.
With the Internet being a wealth of information, I set out to see how it worked and how to begin the training. I of course went on the manufacturer’s website and found that with simple commands, in conjunction with the correction collar, the training could go fast. My only concern was over-correction. Our dog is very mellow and I was afraid that the correction might make a calm dog nuts, so I planned to do the training slowly.
I decided that the training collar was the way to go, so after it arrived I read all the directions and viewed the DVD. It seemed pretty straightforward in that once the dog learns to respect the "corrections" they will listen better and obey the commands. So, at 6 months we thought it was time to strap it on for a test run.
As stated earlier, the collar has a tone, and nine correction settings. The instructions clearly state to start with the lowest setting and watch for a reaction. It should be a small reaction, like their ears perk up, or they shake their heads to indicate that it’s working.
One feature of the collar is a tone that lets you know it’s around their neck correctly by beeping once the collar is turned on. (I also found that I would need to wet her neck where the collar makes contact to assure a good connection).
As per the instructions, you use the tone first, to let her know that the next thing if she does not listen is the correction. This happened very quickly to where she would hear the tone and immediately turn back to me to see what I needed.
We would make sure the collar was on anytime she went outside, and we used it inside to stop counter cruising and garbage diving. She would get the tone and immediately back off!
We used the collar this way to show her the property lines, and for any infraction around the property such as digging and running up to bikers and joggers. The correction level has never had to go past 3, and that was used when she ran after deer!
After 6 months of continuous training with the collar, she can be walked anywhere without a leash, will obey commands on the spot and the bad behavior has all but stopped. We take her to ball games, parks, and for walks, even in new areas, without a leash! Friends and family are amazed how well she listens, even at one year old! She knows now that when the collar goes on that she needs to behave, even if the collar is not charged!
If you have the time to dedicate to training your dog, a remote training collar is a very useful tool to a well behaved dog!
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