I have watched the dvd on training with the remote collar twice so far. We did two weeks of putting the collar on and off a few times a day, actually ended up being three weeks. About a week and a half ago I worked on finding the correct stimulation level. Kayla responded much like the dog on the video and was looking around and sniffing the ground trying to find what was getting her. She had no response on 0 to 35 levels (Dogtra collar). At 40 she started looking around and at about 45 she would move her head similar to the dogs in the video. So a week later I decide to try and work a bit with her using the collar. I pulled out the transmitter, she only saw/heard it that time we tested for starting stim level, and she reacted just to the sight and sound of it. She went away from me and laid down, even head resting on the floor. I had trouble getting her to come near me while I held the transmitter and didn't want to play. Now when I did give her a few nicks while testing the stim levels she still played right after that. Did this happen to anyone else? She must associate the transmitter with the stim. Is this okay? I turned off the collar after seeing her response, no nicks/training at all with it, and then just kept picking it up and trying to get her to sniff it, let me go near her with it, etc. Should I continue to do this for awhile just like conditioning the dog to the collar? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think dog's act like this for a couple of reasons. why would she even know you have the transmitter? I keep mine in my pocket, and don't advertise the fact that I even have it. I have seen people point the transmitter at the dog when they use it, like they are changing the channel on a tv. This is a sure fire way to teach your dog to avoid you when you have the transmitter.

Also, I think people feel uncomfortable on some level the first time they use the collar, and feel apologetic to the dog. By taking the collar and/or transmitter and making a big deal about getting the dog to sniff it you have inadvertantly caused this to be a suspicious item.

Think of putting on the dogs collar every day, like you put on your wristwatch. It really means nothing but it's there if you need it.

I also hope you have been putting the dog's collar on every day, not only on the days you have used it since conditioning her with it initially.

Thanks for the reply. The first time (and only time so far) I used the transmitter to test stim levels I was probably a bit nervous and she would pick that up, but I didn't do anything with the transmitter other than hold it in my hand and use it (had to have it out to work with the levels, since I was just figuring out where to start). I didn't bring it to her attention at all, but she would have seen it and heard it (the noise is from the metal clip that holds a strap to it). I thought that now since she is leary of it, if I had it out to be seen and heard without any use for awhile she would forget about it just like the collar. I guess tonight I could take her out of the room and put the transmitter in my pocket and try to keep it hidden from her and do our first training session with it. But based on this other experience I think she will notice my hand in the pocket and then start to associate that with the stim. I thought she was to associate my verbal commands with the correction and thus eventually listen better and better to me, not think the collar or transmitter or my hand in my pocket was the correction. What are your thoughts on this?