Roxy learned much quicker than Oliver. And for quite a while we really thought Oliver was never going to get it! But while he was wearing on our patience we tried to persevere and gave him lots of treats and praise even if he didn't really deserve it but the next day he would forget it all and continue to go through the "beeping" noises. After a few more days of that, I had it (because by this point Roxy was already running freely in the yard) and decided to put on the shock prongs! It may seem mean but we really were at an dead end and after threatening Oliver for a week that I was going to do it I finally just had to! I thought if he knew the consequence of continuing to go through the beeping noise he may finally get it!
Of course within minutes that day he shocked himself [and yes, I felt awful]! And surprisingly enough he turned around (well it was more of a leap in the air with a mid-flight turn) and ran back to our "safety spot" which made me feel good because that meant all that training wasn't a total waste of our time! After I hugged and kissed and praised him, I calmed him down and we continued to walk around the yard and wouldn't you know the dummy shocked himself again on the exact opposite side of the yard (there's not even anything interesting over there - just some big weeds that have grown into a boundary between the neighbors yard)! So we went through the same hugging and kissing and holding routine because it was just as sad for me the second time as it was the first! But by this point he really just wanted to get inside but I didn't want to take him in thinking the yard is a terrifying place so I got him to play a little bit and then tried to get him to walk around some more but he'd rather just go inside so we did.
After that day's training I changed the collar back to the rubber prongs because I figured he was going to go back to shocking himself all over again the next day and I wasn't ready to go through that again so soon but to my surprise he'd FINALLY GOT IT!!!! I even threw his favorite toy out of the boundary and of course he ran to get it but the first beep he heard he ran back and sat down to wait for me to get it! And after that he wouldn't even try to get anything that was outside the boundary! Ahhh, such relief! So we continued training them separately for a couple more days and then decided they should be ready to be out there together.
And boy do they LOVE it! It's so nice to see them running around chasing and slide tackling each other! I'm still not really sure if Roxy is just faster than Oliver or if he just likes trying to herd her!
Roxy has yet to get a shock herself, none of our trickery works on her! But it is bound to happen and it's going to sound really bad because she's a big drama queen (you should hear her when she goes to get her nails cut - it's embarrassing!) Yesterday she was the closest she's ever been to being shocked, I'm still really not sure how she didn't get a zap since she let the collar beep 3x before she backed away!
Of course within minutes that day he shocked himself [and yes, I felt awful]! And surprisingly enough he turned around (well it was more of a leap in the air with a mid-flight turn) and ran back to our "safety spot" which made me feel good because that meant all that training wasn't a total waste of our time! After I hugged and kissed and praised him, I calmed him down and we continued to walk around the yard and wouldn't you know the dummy shocked himself again on the exact opposite side of the yard (there's not even anything interesting over there - just some big weeds that have grown into a boundary between the neighbors yard)! So we went through the same hugging and kissing and holding routine because it was just as sad for me the second time as it was the first! But by this point he really just wanted to get inside but I didn't want to take him in thinking the yard is a terrifying place so I got him to play a little bit and then tried to get him to walk around some more but he'd rather just go inside so we did.
After that day's training I changed the collar back to the rubber prongs because I figured he was going to go back to shocking himself all over again the next day and I wasn't ready to go through that again so soon but to my surprise he'd FINALLY GOT IT!!!! I even threw his favorite toy out of the boundary and of course he ran to get it but the first beep he heard he ran back and sat down to wait for me to get it! And after that he wouldn't even try to get anything that was outside the boundary! Ahhh, such relief! So we continued training them separately for a couple more days and then decided they should be ready to be out there together.
And boy do they LOVE it! It's so nice to see them running around chasing and slide tackling each other! I'm still not really sure if Roxy is just faster than Oliver or if he just likes trying to herd her!
Roxy has yet to get a shock herself, none of our trickery works on her! But it is bound to happen and it's going to sound really bad because she's a big drama queen (you should hear her when she goes to get her nails cut - it's embarrassing!) Yesterday she was the closest she's ever been to being shocked, I'm still really not sure how she didn't get a zap since she let the collar beep 3x before she backed away!
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