I agree with you that 100% reliable may be over stated. You never know if a dog will make a mistake in a dangerous situation. The reason why I want to over come this is that she is fine with the collar at home. Something about leaving our home triggers this loss of drive with the collar on. I had this almost completely fixed and recently she got worse again. For three weeks I did nothing with her because she cut her foot open pretty bad. Once we went back to work she was awful, worse than ever. I am out in public a lot with her and I do a lot of trade shows with her so having a collar on is a good idea just in case that 1% happens. I am confident that I will get her confidence back up, but i always welcome other opinions and ideas from other trainers. Any trainer who thinks they know it all is sadly mistaken. My dog's well being is more important than my ego to me.

Hey Larry, how have you used the collar with her?

Larry,
Have you tried putting the collar on her after you've arrived at your destination?
Maybe, take her out, do a little work and fun, put it on.....more work and fun. Anyways, something like that.

Hope it helps.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

I have not but I like that idea. I will give it a try.

If you had this problem before, and you fixed it.......cool......what did you do and would the dog benefit from
going back.....never a mistake to go back and work on something.
Fun challenge......and maybe make going places just the 'bestest"
thing to do for awhile,lololo.
Happy Training,
Roni

My Dutchie is improving quickly. She has the collar on a lot more now. Because she is so reliable I was getting lazy and not putting it on her everyday. Now when we go somewhere first thing we do is hit the bite sleeve. Sometimes I just have her chase it at the end of a line. This gets her going and then her drive is through the roof when we stop. Also while she is biting and tugging I am tapping constantly on the remote. Getting to higher levels with no problem and then back down once she shows any sign of even feeling it. We will keep working. Thanks for all the advice guys.

Larry to tell you the truth, I would have never come up with this. I would stop tapping on the collar now. I don't want her to become neutral to the stimulation and it sounds like you have accomplished what you set out to do. Remember, you need to be as fun as that bite object, better said, the bite wedge is just the mode to playing with you,,,,that ultimately is the reward.
Happy Training,
Roni

Thanks Roni.

Larry I noticed that your web site said "Formerly of Sit Means Sit". If exposure to Fred and his methods/tools are the only things you have used it might be time to just go back to marker training. Shelve the e-collar for awhile and go back to basics. If you haven't gotten the marker training dvd's Ed puts out they are fantastic. Even the podcasts and e-books are great if you don't want to spend the money. Having your dog go from a reactive dog to a dog that is actively engaged in the training process is an awesome experience. If you're nervous about using the dog you use to promote your business maybe a close friend has a puppy or new dog to practice on. The shelters are always looking for people to teach basic commands and that would force you to keep it positive as correction collars, especially ecollars, are rarely allowed in such places.

I say this because all the Sit means Sit trained people I've met know very little past escape/avoidance training using an e-collar. That has it's limits and really is not fair to the dog. You don't have to constantly stim a dog to get an obedient partner.

Cathy, I trained dogs at a high level before SMS and continue to do so today. I do prefer their method of e collar training than others. I am not saying that all SMS trainers are at the same level just because they work under the same name, but I will say that I was fortunate enough to work with some of the best trainers I ever met through SMS.

ED'S COMMENTS EDITED IN:

Larry - if you are a serious dog trainer I would strongly recommend that you go out to California and attend Michael Ellis's course on REMOTE COLLARS.

It will open your eyes on the correct way to train with a remote. Hassen and his Sit Means Sit BS is such old school out of date avoidance training. In my opinion he runs a franchise scam with poor training. The only thing Hassen is good at is self promotion.

If you want to learn the correct way to train with a remote – make an effort to learn from the best trainer out there.