Great moments in dog training. #2 in a series

Otter-bug, my wife’s Mississippi mongrel, has been giving us the finger a lot lately. Mostly on recall out in the yard and in the field, so we finally decided to introduce her to the e-collar.

Kermit, my bird dog, has been collar trained for years. He rarely wears it anymore except when he needs a refresher or is learning something new. He is fairly sensitive to the zap when he is relaxed, but when his drive is engaged, you had better bring the lighting. 

I need to learn Otter-Bug’s levels for both rest and when she is engaged so we know the right level for any given situation. So, for the last couple of weeks, I have been getting Otter-bug used to the e-collar. I let her wear it around the house while it was not turned on for a week or so. Then I put it on her when we went out to play fetch in the afternoons. After a few sessions, I turned the collar on, so it would blink, and she could get used to the little flashing light. We told her she was wearing her “blink-bling” when she went out and she got all excited to play.

The point here is to make sure she never associates the collar with any stimulation she receives. We want her to think that disobeying us brings the wrath of an omniscient god, albeit, a gentle one.

Finally, she was acclimated to wearing the collar and it was time to test her sensitivity to, El Zappo.

Step one, get the dogs to calm down before we go out for our daily afternoon fetch session. Easier said than done. They are both very excited to go out and play and are bouncing around like a couple of kids at Disney for the first time. Eventually, with both dogs finally sitting in the kitchen, mostly quiet and looking at me, and with the transmitter behind my back, I give Otter a nick with level one…Nothing.

Not surprising. I can barely feel level one myself.

OK, let’s try level one, with the button held for a few seconds of continuous stimulation…Again, nothing.

Allrighty, Level two, nick. Again, No reaction. Level Two is pretty weak. Kermit only feels it if he is totally relaxed. Level two, continuous coming up!…nothing. Huh.

OK, Level three, it is. A quick nick, and …

Nothing. Tough little bitch. She’s just staring at me like “when are we going out?” Kermit, he just lay low, with the fidgets. He is whining and inching towards the door.

“Kermit!” I growl, “WAIT.” I need to move this lesson along. They’re both getting antsy.

I don’t really want to go to level four too soon. It is fairly hot.

Soooo, level 3, continuous…otter doesn’t even blink, She just looks at me like a cow looks at passing traffic.  Kermit, on the other hand, yelps and shakes his head.

Fuck. I put the collar on the wrong dog.

Lesson over.