Oh, I don't know if I think they're EVIL. (Though I was pretty peeved at the guy who thought I needed to put a training collar on a 12 week-old puppy.) At this stage in the game, I feel like getting a training collar would mean accepting defeat-- that I was not able to train my dog properly, and therefore I'm somehow "less" of a good owner.
Wow, that made a whole lot more sense in my head.
And as a matter of fact, I did have him on a closer heel in Petsmart -- and the cart blocked him from getting in front of me (which he will usually do, very sneakily). But even when I'd walk away from the cart to look at the chew toys, he sat by my side as if to say, "Ooooh, I'm gettin' a toy! And if I'm good, I'll get a REALLY GOOD ONE." We were even able to walk around the aisle with the beef knuckles and pig ears, and a simple "leave it" worked like a champ.
Another "command," that never started out as a command was, "this way." As in, "follow me, we're going this way." I've always used it, and by this point he seems to know what it means. I worry that this may come back to bite me in the ass whenever we DO start agility. :)
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Wow, that made a whole lot more sense in my head.
And as a matter of fact, I did have him on a closer heel in Petsmart -- and the cart blocked him from getting in front of me (which he will usually do, very sneakily). But even when I'd walk away from the cart to look at the chew toys, he sat by my side as if to say, "Ooooh, I'm gettin' a toy! And if I'm good, I'll get a REALLY GOOD ONE." We were even able to walk around the aisle with the beef knuckles and pig ears, and a simple "leave it" worked like a champ.
Another "command," that never started out as a command was, "this way." As in, "follow me, we're going this way." I've always used it, and by this point he seems to know what it means. I worry that this may come back to bite me in the ass whenever we DO start agility. :)