Off Leash Dog Training (No Dog Collar)
This is a video shot of me with my rescue malinois ‘Trell’ doing a demonstration for a local rescue agency here in Las Vegas. This was done in a public park with some distraction evident. I mainly wanted to show off here for a bit and show people who may be wondering at home, will my dogs work without a Sit Means Sit Collar on? The answer, in short is “Yes!”.
I think this a a huge point that a lot of people assume that the dogs will work well with the Sit Means Sit Collar on, and yes if trained properly with work wonderfully with a collar on, but for me that’s not the end of it. I want my dogs to listen to me, not just to my remote dog collar. Realistically I’m not always going to have a collar on my dog, or a remote in my hand to press a button, and even if I did, there’s no guarantees that my dog will instantly respond. Dog have good and bad days, even highly trained obedience champions.
Ask any seasoned dog trainer who competes their dogs, and they will tell you that having food in your hand and a leash on your dog is no guarantee your dog will listen 100%. I see this as being true to remote dog collar training as well. There are no guranatees. What separates the Sit Means Sit approach from the rest of the pack, is that because the main goal of our training is to teach the Art of Attention, our dogs learn to filter out distraction which takes a lot of variables out of the picture for the dog. They learn to focus more of their attention and energy into the task that is desired instead of spending it on external stimuli.
The key is time and repetition. Knowing how to control your dog with a Sit Means Sit Collar is only half the equation. The final and most successful part is to have a dog that wants to listen and is motivated to do so. The above video is a great example of what can be accomplished with some dedicated follow-through.
