Akeisha wrote to me with some very good questions. I’ve included her letter (and my responses) below:[Akeisha] Hi its Akeisha again. I do see what you mean if it is on all
time dog will soon forget it is on and then will behave regardless. Ok, so dog never wears a buckle collar again? This is what irks me. I want to be able to control dog regardless of what collar is on not just pinch or it could be no collar at all and dog still behaves. What if owner for some reason takes off collar then they put buckle collar on for ID but then forget pinch collar? Then there is no control.
[Adam] WRONG! The dog gets conditioned. Take off collar for awhile. Doesn't matter.
[Akeisha] Do you ever in training go back to buckle collar after months of what you recommend with a dog that is happy with doing commands?
[ Adam: ] Yes, dog does command because he is happy and he likes it. But eventually, there will be something that tempts him. This is where conditioning comes in.
Think of it like this: You’ve lived in same house for 10 years, right? You get up in middle of night and you reach for light switch that is to LEFT of door. Pretty soon, you get conditioned to reach out to LEFT of door.
One day you travel and stay in a hotel. You wake up in middle of night and reach out to LEFT of door for switch... even though you cognitively saw that switch is on RIGHT.
In fact, you may wake up for several nights-- perhaps even weeks or months-- and still reach out to LEFT, even though switch is now on right. Some people will continue reaching to LEFT for rest of their lives. Some will begin reaching to right.
Those people need to be reinforced. Get it?
[Akeisha] Motivational corrections if on right dog won't frighten them or make them hate you I know but aren't there other ways except using collar that will eventually be established thought training that will allow you to take collar off and have control?
