I agree with Angdres and Selena on this. I start my dogs between eight months and one year. Depending on thier maturity and drive.
I use the three action introduction. Remember, you do not teach the dog the command with the collar. He should already understand the command you are telling him. You are simply reinforcing the command.
I start out doing recalls without distraction. I introduce distrations slowly. I then move onto using it to reinfoce the release of toys. I then teach him to down from a distance with the collar. I then finally use it in bitework after he has a clear understanding that the correction is coming from me and not the decoy. It is very important that you do not begin collar work with a decoy. The dog will associate it with the decoy and you will create more problems then you solve.
Also, when he is learning the collar you should use a level that gets a light reaction. The dog should not be vocal. There is a good video called "Out
for the patrol dog". You can get it through Ray Allen.
I use the three action introduction. Remember, you do not teach the dog the command with the collar. He should already understand the command you are telling him. You are simply reinforcing the command.
I start out doing recalls without distraction. I introduce distrations slowly. I then move onto using it to reinfoce the release of toys. I then teach him to down from a distance with the collar. I then finally use it in bitework after he has a clear understanding that the correction is coming from me and not the decoy. It is very important that you do not begin collar work with a decoy. The dog will associate it with the decoy and you will create more problems then you solve.
Also, when he is learning the collar you should use a level that gets a light reaction. The dog should not be vocal. There is a good video called "Out
for the patrol dog". You can get it through Ray Allen.
