Another two cents:

If you have a crate, it might be a better thing to bring when camping than staking the dog out with the line.

And you often do not have to activate an ecollar once the dog has been familiarized with it. The mere wearing of the collar is often more than enough to let the dog know it needs to be in a working, attentive mode.

A third cent. I'n not sure you should be too quick to use the ecollar to condition the dog in every situation. If it undertands 'no' and 'come' and 'down' and 'stay' it is probably not necessary to use the ecollar to keep it away from backyard areas or the garbage.

The objective, as I am sure you know, is to have the dog respond to your command and not the ecollar stimulation. If it goes near the garbage command 'no' or 'come' or whatever gets its attention and response.

Good luck.

Mike A.

Mikki,
A few things you can try but I am not an expert, so take this for what it is costing you. (nothing that is, just another dog owner trying to help out)


1) I would try my local walks with your dog on his long line, that way he does not always see the long line as a tie down. A pain for you I know always wrapping that line back in.
2) I like the lengthing of the line, here is what I understand though, if you are going to be increasing the lenth of the long line, it should be made of the same materal that your current long line is made from, in most cases if your long line is cotton (mine is), then you can get that materal from your local materal store. I would also stay with the same color that way the dog does not know the difference of a longer or shorter line. Dogs do know colors, so that is why color can be of some importance, heck you may even try buying another long line of a different color ( just thought of that... LOL)
3) have him wear his long line around the house, I know this may be a bit long for house use but you are trying to let him know that the line does not mean he is being tied down. I would also think he feels safe in the house, so the line should not bother him there, maybe at first but he will warm up.
4) Have him play with you and your kids in the back yard on the long line, the more play time he gets with the line on the better.
So what I am saying is no training on the line until he see the line as just another part of his day to day life. It will take time and from what Ed says dogs never forget, so your best bet is to get him to begin seeing the long line as just another part of his day to day life and not as something that is going to confine him or restrict his movement.
YES something must have happened to him while you were away, if that was his bark collar or something that may have gotten into your yard and scared the heck out of him. If you are planning to be in a place that you feel like you may need to tie him down, get a creat and train him that it is a safe place. Not sure what happened but something did and now you have the fun of trying to reverse this.
Good luck!!!!
Jay

Thank you all for your responses, I feel like I have a working goal now, to recondition him to the long line and hopefully get him over the connection he has made between the long line and an unpleasant experience.

One more point that came up was the thought that I do not want him to respond to the ecollar, but my command. I agree to a point, and that is if he ONLY responds to my command, then he will get in the habit of sneaking around when I am not in sight. I want him to go into avoidance of that garbage can, and not make any connection between me and the garbage. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> However, I DO want him to respond to my commands when I give them...I firmly believe this dog is smart enough to be able to handle both concepts.

For another example, we allow the dog up on a chair or the couch ONLY if we are sitting in it, then he can lay in our laps. If we get up off the chair or couch, the dog gets down, and I have never seen the dog jump up an any of the furniture without us... <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I apopreciate all your help, I knew this was the place to come if I ever got in a jam with training, and I was right... <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />