Scott,

You ar probably right. My male seems oblivious to anything but a loud voice - a personal characteristic I am said to posess.

Mike

My Mal liked to jump on the unsuspecting, that is such a no-no. I got him to chill out a bit by just walking through him, not stopping. I tried the knee and he bashed the crap out of me then started to pinch me. I figured I didn't want to see what was next. I have seen my friend try the knee and he likes it so i have to get him out of that situation. Mals are weird for sure.

To reinforce this faster and make it clearer to the dog what is supposed to be happening *because this is a learning phase* carry some treats with you.
If he sees something on the groung and goes for it, give the correction, then offer him a treat from your hand, at first he might be hesitant to take it, but you can reassure him and soon he will learn that if it didn't come from you or his bowl, or you give him the command to eat it,...its not even an option he'll want to go for. Its just so much easier to go the safe route, and the safe route is getting is food from #1.

The discussion about using the collar on yourself first (which I did, too, by the way) reminded me of what hubby's friend did the other day. He is younger than me, and still acts like a high school kid, but that's ok I guess. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, he was over at the house the other day and saw the e-collar (I have the Dogtra 200NCP) charging and asked if that was a 'shock collar.' I explained to him that it was not, but that's what some people still call them, etc. etc. and he wanted to try it on himself. I was like, ok, what the heck. It was fully charged anyway LoL

So he gets it and does it on his hand at level 20, then 30. Of course hubby was trying to get him to go higher (you all know how men are!) and he said he would if he got to hold the remote. He turned that puppy all the way up to 100, and had it on his forearm and hit the nick button (I wouldn't let them do constant). His whole arm seized up and he, of course, thought it was funny.

The idiot did it like, 5 more times. LOL


I later explained that you do not use it that way on the dog, but rather, you find the level at which the dog can just feel it and work at that level. He seemed to understand, but who knows.

QUOTE: If he sees something on the ground and goes for it, give the correction, then offer him a treat from your hand, END

That's exactly what I find works great. My hand or his bowl, and that's it. The mailman knows he has to give me the treat first, after a couple of times when my dog, who wanted the darned thing, refused it from his hand. And the e-collar (or the prong collar) ---- great tools, for after you have done the basic training and walking to establish pack order. If you've put in the time and done the basic training right, and the dog sees you as his calm source of direction, you'll see how infrequently you'll need those tools (good tools!) in basic obedience.

(I hope I walked that fine line ok! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> )

That's funny. I think everyone with an ecollar has tried it on themself at some point. My wife won't attempt it though, not even on really low. I can't blame her though, she won't use it on the dogs either.
I used to have an innotek system, now I have a DTsystems collar. On the innotek I used to be able to put it on myself on the highest level and tolerate it untill the automatic shut off kicked in. Of course this was a great source of entertainment at parties.
Or you get those idiots saying "that is so wrong, how you would like it...bla bla bla"
The DTsystems collar is a bit more powerful than my old one though. It has 20 levels and I will not shock myself past 10. I've tried to get some drunken friends to try it past 10 but so far, no takers. I have never used it past 10 on my dogs either. Its not even nessecary. Usually somewhere between 3-7 is just fine depending on how charged the battery is.
Sometimes I use my ecollar for back pain and stuff like that, it works kinda like acupuncture.

 Quote:

Sometimes I use my ecollar for back pain and stuff like that, it works kinda like acupuncture.

OMG how funny! When I go to the chiropractor, sometimes he uses 'electroshock' on my lower back. It kinda feels pretty good. LOL!!

The Dogtra 200NCP has 100 levels. I wouldn't go past 40 on myself. That was too much for me - it's like a really hard pinch, and I could feel it for a second afterwards. I've never used it any higher than 40 on a dog either, though I have used it AT level 40 for Gypsy's dog aggression. Her normal working level is between 20 and 30, but when she was focused on another dog, she didn't feel it, so I bumped it up to where she could feel it. It worked. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />