If you'd like to modify your dog's behavior in a humane way, a spray training collar is quite effective. Whether you're trying to teach her to stay in the yard, to stay out of the garden or to keep her barking to a minimum, a spray training collar like the Masterplus Pro or the Dynavet spray training collar makes dog training easier on both you and your pet. Some dog owners, however, manage to teach their dogs to only obey their commands when she's wearing the collar. In pro dog trainer parlance, that's teaching you dog to be collar-wise, and if you want to effectively train your dog to obey or behave herself whether she's wearing the spray training collar or not, you need to pay attention to exactly what it is you're teaching.
How Not to Use a Spray Training Collar
You may be eager to get started training with your new dog collar, but it's important for you to avoid teaching your dog that the collar is the source of control. You want her to associate her bad behavior with the correction - the spritz of lemon water or citronella - not with the collar itself. In order for that to work, you'll need to resist the temptation to get your puppy into the collar and try it out. She needs to think of the collar as just another part of her everyday life, not as the source of that cool spritz of water she dislikes.
In short, do not put the spray training collar on your puppy and start using it as soon as you get it on her for the first time. All you'll be teaching her is that she only gets squirted when she's wearing the collar.
Getting Your Dog Used to the Spray Training Collar
Treat the training collar as you would any other piece of equipment you want to get your dog used to. Put the training collar on her regularly for a period of time without actually using the controller. Give her plenty of time to get used to wearing it and accept it as just another thing in her life.
Get her to associate wearing the collar with pleasant things. Put it on her before taking her out for a walk or when you feed her. Put the spray training collar on before playtime, and give her treats while she's wearing it. No matter what she does, though, do not actually use the collar. It may be difficult to resist - it's natural to want to see her reactions to the spritz of water - but it really is important for her to think of the collar as something that earns her treats, not something that corrects her when she acts out.
You'll know your pup is ready for the next step when she greets the appearance of the training collar with excitement. Choose a day when you have plenty of time to work with her. Put the spray training collar on her early in the day, but do not put her in a position where she can engage in the behavior you want to correct. If, for example, you want to stop her digging in the flower garden, keep her away from the garden for a couple of hours after putting the collar on her. As a side note, always work on only one behavior at a time. If you try to do too much at once, you'll only confuse her.
After a few hours of wearing the collar, let her into the part of the yard where she has access to the garden and watch her carefully. The moment she starts digging in the garden, activate the collar so she gets a snootful of lemon water or citronella. As soon as she stops digging, go to her immediately and remove her from the area so that she can't get at the garden again. Leave the collar on her for at least another hour before removing it. You want her to associate the spritz with digging in the garden, not with wearing the collar.
It's also very important that for the next several days, your dog can't get near the garden without the collar on and you nearby to activate it when she approaches it. She must get a correction every single time she goes near the garden in order for the spray training collar to work its magic.
Continue putting the spray training collar on at other times as well so that she doesn't figure out that the collar is the source of the water spray. Once you've successfully used the training collar to modify one behavior, you'll find it much easier to use it in the future for other purposes because she'll already know what the citronella spray means.
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About the Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2011 (Tue Aug 30 2011) Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource internet marketing web site at: http://www.majon.com
