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LIKE WOW. If I had know 5yrs ago what I know now I would never have dissed the prong collar. Talk about a totally different reaction. Here is todays adventure.
Put the halti on Ajax to drive to Lethbridge to get the prong collar. As soon as we got outside he started to drag me around. Which is what he has been doing since he discovered he could. All happy and so on. Anyway get the big lug into the car and go to one of the pet stores in Lethbridge. Get there and fit one of the medium collars for him. We had to take out on of the links to get it to sit properly. Which is fine since it means we have an extra link to add if his next gets any bigger(hope not). Anyway he gets up from his sit and attempts to pull me over to the puppy snacks(they have a ton of open bins at this store at his level.) As soon as the slack went tight and the collar tightened a bit he got the strangest look on his face and backed up to my side and looked at me. I didn't have to correct him or say a thing. Talk about shocked. So when I went to walk forward he tried agian to take me to the snacks. Same thing happened. I couldn't stop grinning. As soon as he sat at my side he got a ton of praise and treats. It was like magic. I know no training aid is magic but you all know what I mean.
I walked him around the store and any time he would got to sniff or inspect anything I would give the quick correction you all describe(probably not as good as you prong experienced people are but as fast as I could. Just a quick flick and release). and say leave it and he would instantly leave it and LOOK AT ME. WOW. My almost 10 month old bone head puppy was acting smart. I kept walking him around and praising him till I didn't even have to hold the leash(attached to me at my waist). He walked besided me and looked at me almost all the time and esspecially when I praised him. And was doing the automatic sits when I stop.
Well I then took him out to the side walk and walked him out there for a while. After a few corrections when people would walk by or he wanted to sniff something he was back to being just as good in the pet store. SHOCK here. So then we took him to a mall that is across the street. We didn't go in the businesses just walked the mall and went into the bathroom. Agian same thing. Taught him what a bench was. So within 15 minutes I could say Ajax Bench and he would look for one and take me too it and sit next to it. YIPPY. Success. He walked the mall with a few corrections at first and then after that he was great. Walking on a loose lead and not attempting to sniff things and so on.
From there we went to a big warehouse petstore and bought some treats(I ran out). There were lots of dogs in there. So he at first tried to do his excited LETS PLAY barking. So a few corrections and it was down to some whining and then he was ignoring them except for watching them. WOW. We stayed there for about 30 minutes letting people pet him and training him.
From there we went to another mall. Agian only walked through it not going into any businesses. But the fun part there is they had a S&R booth up. One of the ladies there just retired her white Shepherd form S&R and wanted to know if we would have any pups in about 2 or 3 years. I get her my website and then hubby signed up to be a part of them. They suggested being on ground crew for a few years before getting a dog. Which is perfect timing since it will be a few years till we get anymore dogs or have a litter. They all loved Ajax and he stayed in his sit the entire time we were there tallking which was a good 20-25 minutes. Even with all the people stopping to pet him thinking he was a S&R dog(even though he was wearing his Service Dog In Training bandana). They had another S&R dog there too so they just assumed he was one to and the public gave him a ton of attention which he soaked right up. THen we finished walking the mall and went to a park. Agian he was well behaved as we walked the park(mainly so he could potty, we were out and about for a good 4 hours) hen we went home.
He slept all the way home. The collar is off and he is happy as can be. But even with the collar on he was still his happy self wanting attention, wagging his tail, always wearing his huge happy grin. I am in heaven. We haev a lot of work to do now with this collar but I think it is the aid we needed with him.
Ajax is now on his way.
Nicole
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