Teaching A Quick Response To Commands

Dear Adam:

I have read the first 125 pages of your book.

You reference, "training collar" several times. I have probably overlooked this, but what do you mean by training collar? Is it a pinch collar or one that delivers a shock? So far I have used your techniques with a great deal of success. We use the "get busy" command to make the dog relieve himself. After three days, it works very well. The dog sits well, too. He still needs a hand signal from time to time. We're currently working on the down position. Your book has been an inspiration. One other question: We recently had an invisible fence installed. The dog is 15 weeks old. How soon should we start to use this? He is a 33 pound "English" yellow Lab.

Thanks,

Brian

Dear Brian:

Thanks for the e-mail.

Yes, in general I'm talking about the pinch collar when I refer to the training collar.

In regard to the to sit command: You should first issue the command THEN the correction. Don't wait to see if the dog's going to do it or he'll learn to WAIT to see if you're going to correct him. In other words, you end up teaching your dog that a slow response to commands is okay. And this is not our goal. Our goal should be to teach the dog that he should respond quickly and immediately.

Once he's 100% conditioned to respond fast every time... and he consistently beats you to the correction... then you can stop.

As far as the electronic fence... I'd probably wait until he's 6 to 7 months.

That's all for now, folks!

Adam