Spur: Training the Beast, Part 1

Class Day 1, March 30 (one day after Spur’s first birthday)

We arrived at the facility and weren’t sure where to park or go. Doug parked alongside the building and I went to go find people to get started. We worked with two trainers, Courtney and Seth. Courtney was our main trainer, while Seth was tasked with circling us, unobtrusively, while shuffling his feet, loudly organizing the garage where we were training and stomping as he walked from area to area.

We crated Spur for a bit while we discussed Spur’s new birthday gift, the actual e-collar. It’s a Dogtra 300M. The remote has three buttons; vibration only, nick (quick tap,) and continuous (but only for 8 seconds max.) It also has a dial to adjust the level of stimulation from 0-100.

We worked on loading our “YES” with treats (trying to get him to associate the word YES with good things) and walking at a heel.

By the end of the class, we were tasked with practicing the following at home: YES, FREE DOG (have to retrain ourselves from our 5-year release word of “OK.”) walking on a loose leash, and COME resulting in a front sit without command.