My friend, Michael, from Michigan Dog Trainer shared another video on recent success with remote dog collar training. This one titled “Five minute Wyatt” demonstrates how quickly a dog can grasp the concept of how to walk with out pulling on leash when using an electronic collar to assist with the teaching.
I want to make it clear that we are not trying to say that the e-collar is magic or that learning remote dog collar training is the be all, end all to every behavior problem. BUT, we are pointing out that the tool can create rapid results with little to no stress on the dog or the owners.
One of the biggest challenges owners of large dogs have is making sure the dog gets enough exercise. Without adequate exercise, pent up energy will manifest itself in ways that we humans usually don’t like. Walking a dog who is dragging you down the street is no fun and if taking the leash off for some free running means you spend hours trying to get your dog back…..well, the solution often becomes an increase in confinement to the house, a fenced yard or tie out.
and generally things spiral downward from there. Dog’s are social animals, they desire interaction. Isolation doesn’t fit the bill for creating a dog who is stable and well mannered. It becomes a vicious cycle of less interaction because of the challenge of walking a “wild, strong dog” and the dog becoming more “wild” because of less interaction…
People need a solution; one that works effectively, in a timely fashion and is reproduce-able by the owner. That is the thing that I and my professional dog training colleagues keep reminding people of when it comes to the topic of remote dog collar training. It works and the results speak for themselves.
Take Five Minute Wyatt for example.
Listen to the owner near the end of the clip when she says “I’d walk like 6 miles with him if he walked like this!” Now that is cool.
That is the point of training a dog…to have a better relationship and be able to do more together!
Hi Aunt Faye,
Yes, that was a strange but good feeling for Kate knowing that her dog was following her and paying attention to her.
Hi Sarah,
Robin’s correct, this was the initial training session. During the first five minutes I worked the dog with the remote collar to get the dog started on the foundation walk and to show the owner how I wanted her to walk her dog. At the five minute and through the 20 minute mark I had her walk her dog as I had done. However, I am still the one operating the transmitter. I believe it’s important to break down learning into easily understandable parts not only for the dog but also for the owner.
Toward the latter part of the session, the owner is operating the remote collar herself (although I didn’t video tape this as the walk would’ve looked similar to what was pictured at the 20 minute mark).
The stimulation that was used was “the just right level” that got Wyatt’s attention and no more.
It was very important to Kate to be able to walk Wyatt for exercise and to help him release his pent up energy. It was also very important to her to have a solid recall because she has a large piece of property with no fencing.
I noticed that a few moments before the owner says how she’d walk the dog 6 miles since he walks so nice now, that she has had to start looking over her shoulder for the dog after she turns because she is so used to the leash being tight and using that to tell her where the dog is.
One question: I can see the e-collar on the dog’s neck but the owner doesn’t appear to be operating a remote. Is someone else operating the remote in these clips, or is the dog just walking along like this without use of any stim after an initial training session? Thanks!
My assumption is that this is the first lesson and the trainer is still operating the remote. Maybe Michael will chime in and let us know for certain.
It reminds me of a client I am currently working with. After having a couple of difficult sessions with her and her big, strong pit bull mix who had never walked well on leash, we had a break-through session. Both owner and dog had a “come to Jesus” moment with the e-collar. I received two very ecstatic emails from her the next day. The first one had many exclamation points and smiley faces as she proudly stated that they’d gone on THREE walks that day because she was enjoying walking her dog so much more! This is a dog who’s also dealing with separation anxiety, so the additional STRUCTURED exercise will really help her overcome her anxiety as well.