T
he main reason that dogs don't obey all the time is that they are gamblers. "Let's see if I can do what I wanna do THIS time!"I recommend using this protocol to ensure reliability. In my opinion, either a dog is reliable or he's not. Reliability means 100%, or as close as it's possible to come to it with a living, breathing animal. My bottom line is, if the dog is off leash and he's not wearing the Ecollar, you can't give him a correction, and therefore you can't guarantee reliability. Some people think that they don't need reliability, but others, particularly those with Search and Rescue dogs, Personal Protection dogs or Police Service Dogs, KNOW that they DO need reliability. Just because you own a pet, rather than a working dog, doesn't mean that you too, can't have a reliable dog. And if you ever find yourself watching your dog chase a cat towards a busy roadway, you'll be glad that you went the extra mile.
When you start training, there's a temptation to see if he's "getting it." You'll be tempted to give a command, and to not give a stimulation, to check and see if he's understanding the concepts. Usually, if you've been following my protocol, the dog WILL perform. But you've just taught him a valuable lesson. One that may cause you grief later on, even though it's not apparent now. The lesson is that a stimulation doesn't always come when the command is given. When this occurs before the dog has the habit of performing every time, it can end in an undesirable result, unreliability. This is not limited to Ecollar work, it's common with most methods.
I recommend that people use automatic corrections for the early part of the training and continuing through the proofing. That means they give a stimulation EVERY time they give a command, for the first four weeks of their training. Do this even if the dog is in the act of performing the movement. That means four weeks of working the dog, not four weeks, elapsed time. At the end of those four weeks give a command but don't give a stimulation. As long as the dog performs quickly you're OK. Start a count, and if you get to 20 days (of training, not 20 calendar days) and you haven't had to give a stimulation because the dog didn't perform, you can remove the Ecollar. But if just once the dog didn't perform and you had to give him a stimulation along with a second command, start your count over again.
At some point later on, your dog will gamble. He'll be more interested in doing what he wants to do than in obeying your command. When he does this, put the Ecollar back on for a week (that means seven training days) of automatic stimulations. Then you can start your 20-day count again.
For those working dogs mentioned above, Search and Rescue dogs, Personal Protection dogs and Police Service Dogs, I recommend that they wear the Ecollar any time that they're "at work." Those dogs can't afford the time for a second command.
This is a question that only you can answer. If you don't mind having to call your dog three times, that's fine with me. It's not acceptable for a police service dog and can cause serious problems with SAR dogs and pets as well. If it takes three commands to get your dog to recall as he runs toward a highway, you might find that when he finally does comply, he's in the middle of the road.
If you have the dog wear the Ecollar when he's outside the home, or whenever he deploys you have the ability to correct him if he doesn't perform. If the Ecollar is back home, you can't.
I've been asked a few times if four weeks of automatic stimulations is really necessary. I've found that it's not always necessary with every dog. But I've found that all dogs respond if it's done this way. YOUR dog might only need 20 days of automatic stimulations, but then some people will assume that because their dog is working OK, that he only needs 20 days. The result of cutting this corner may be unreliability.