Teaching Your Dog The Kennel Command
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Teaching Your Dog The Kennel Command





 By Jennifer Broome of Quinebaug Kennels



[Introduction]

0:31 Announcer: GundogsOnline.com helping you get the most from your hunting dogs. Brought to you by Tri-tronics- rugged, reliable, proven.

0:44 We're going to do some remote electronic collar conditioning today. I know the electronic collar is a scary tool for some folks when it comes to do training, but if used properly, if used with the correct intention, and certainly if you condition your dog to it properly, it's a very, very valuable tool to have in the field.

So let's begin teaching our approximately six month old pup here some basic work with the remote electronic collar. Let's start with some tools we're going to use.

I'm going to use a simple choke chain here and my chain is just big enough so that I could wrap it around the dog's neck up nice and high and I can clip the two ends together. So I'm not even using it in choke chain form. I'm just using it as a chain up high around her neck. Clip the two loops together and that's where I'm going to use to start my pressure device.

1:40 The next item I have is a check cord. Third, we have a crate. And lastly, we have an electronic collar. Tri-tronics is my collar of choice and that's the collar that we will be using today. So again our four tools is our remote collar, our crate, a check cord and a chain fitted correctly to the pup, up high around her neck.

We'll begin now.

2:08 We have our check cord attached to our pup, attached to our chain, which I like to put up high on the neck, so I can use as my form of pressure. And the discomfort that I teach the dog or the form of pressure is what we call a pop of the leash. And I use a pop, release. Pop, release. There's some playing here; this is a puppy and they're kind of allowed to do this and be puppies.

My training techniques involve patience, persistence and repetition. So, I'm going to make that crate a good place right now. I'm going to use pressure, pressure, pressure, release of pressure. So she had mild discomfort out of there, even when she was playing, instant release of pressure in the crate.  We're trying to create a safety zone inside the crate and a place where she has no pressure.

2:59 So I'm going to repeat this a couple times so that she's comfortable with it.

Laney, here. Good.

So we're going to use a little bit of a cadence here- pop, pressure, kennel.

Good.  Laney, here. Good.

The whole idea, pressure while we're commanding kennel, release of pressure in there. Here comes our pressure in the form of pops.

Pop, pop, pop. 

Now the reason that we're doing this is the contact points that I'm creating with my chain are soon going to become the same contact points where we're going to put the remote electronic collar. And the collar is simply going to be a flick. We're not going to burn her. We're not going to try to shock her. We're not going to try to hurt her. We're going to cause some mild discomfort just like we're doing with this choke chain and this leash. We'll repeat it two more times.

3:52 Laney, here. That's a girl! Kennel. Good.

Laney, here. Good. Kennel. Alright!

So with many repetitions I first like to establish the crate's a safe place when you go in the crate. And when you go in the crate you get the release of pressure. And when I command the word kennel, I will apply pressure and it's up to the dog to alleviate the pressure, comply with the command and be in here in the crate as a safe zone. Very black and white, cut and dry method to teach them to go into the crate and alleviate pressure.

4:38 Our puppy here has had the opportunity to do many repetitions of going into the kennel on command. I've used the word kennel. I've applied pressure of pops with the lead to get her to go into the crate. And now we're going to fit an e-collar to her and we're going to teach her a little bit how to respond to the pressure of the collar.

So with the collar I like to have the light facing up so that I can see that it's blinking and that it's on. I'm going to put the collar around and just off to the side of her neck. And I do need the collar fitting snugly. So I will buckle it, pull it back on itself with the buckle, and I want it fairly tight so that the collar's not going to slip around. It's very important that it's making contact, it's not too loose, but it's not too tight.

5:29 With my transmitter I'm going to start on level one. I know the contact points are over here and what I'm going to do is start with giving her a low nick on one to see if there's any type of reaction or response. What is a reaction or a response? It might be a little flick of the ear. It might be a little turn of the head or her looking in that direction.

So here's a nick on one. Here's a nick on a one continuous. Okay, really didn't get a reaction, so we're going to go to level two.  And I'm just giving nicks; even though I might be using the continuous button, I'm just looking for nicks right here. Here's a nick on two. Here's a nick on a two continuous. Not really a reaction either. We're going to go up to three. We're going to give a nick. Get her head back so you can see.

6:21 There. That's what I'm looking for. So she looked for something. She looked for something that she felt some type of pressure. That's what I'm looking for is for the dog to feel some type of pressure. That's really all that we need to begin with our e-collar conditioning.

So I know that she feels three and the purpose is I really just want it to become a mild discomfort, just like I'd been giving her pops of the leash. So I'm going to go back and I'm going to do two more pops of the leash to get her to go into the crate on command.

Kennel. Good.

So we had pressure, pop, pop, ah she went into the crate- she was able to alleviate the pressure and go into a safe zone.

7:02 Laney, here.

Now i'm going to start to apply some e-collar pressure. And what I'm going to do now is guide with the leash, nick with the e-collar. So my e-collar nicks are going to take the place of what I just did with the pops of the leash. Brand new to her, this is her first time. Guide with the leash and I'm going to nick, nick, nick and how about if I move my hand like this just for the purposes of you seeing when I hit the collar.

Kennel. Good.

I can tell by her response that she felt that. In fact, predict that I may have to turn it down two level two fairly shortly because she may be giving an overreaction. All I really want for her is to feel the mild discomfort for right now. We're trying to teach conditioning to the remote collar in a fairly positive manner. We're not using it as a corrective device.

7:55 Laney, here.

So now I'm not popping with the leash. I'm guiding. But I'm using my nicks of the e-collar.

Kennel. Good. Here. Good girl.

You can see the dog is not stressed. She's not worried at all. Might not have an idea of what's going on yet, but she is learning. It takes many, many repetitions for the pups to learn this.

Kennel. Good! And here. Good girl.

8:29 Let's try one more time.

Kennel. Kennel. Good!

Now that time, I did switch to nicking the continuous because I feel her response is a little lazy. And instead of her getting used to just a three if it's not intense enough for her to motivate her to go in here, I'd rather up my intensity a little bit to make it a little more uncomfortable when I'm asking her to do the command. Yet she receives the lack of pressure, release of pressure when she goes in the crate.

We're going to next try something else, maybe upping the pressure just a little bit more to motivate her.

9:05 [Closing]

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