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1. How much time did you spend on Leave It, Heel, Free, OK using Phase 1 and 2 methods before you began Phase 3? In other words, are you sure she understood this stuff under less distracting conditions before you started e-collar training. Stormy’s paying you a lot of attention, but at times she seems genuinely unsure about what you want her to do.
2. Several times (e.g., around 5:15) when you tell Stormy to Heel she doesn’t get into position, so you use the long line to help her. Have you tried Theresa’s and Mike’s (see the vids) method of prompting her bytaking a step back while making a backward down-up-down circling arm motion as you say ‘Heel.’?
3. I think you over-use your ‘Good Girl!’s. That might sometimes be distracting. You also mix in some other words, which can also be distracting. For example, at around 4:00 and 5:00. What’s more, IMO too much praise, especially if it’s not for something very specific, devalues the value of your praise. Praise should be information. Use it too much and it becomes noise. If my dog’s been real good for a while, I just stop and love her up and then continue the walk, or whatever else I’m doing w/her.
4. At around 4:42 you ‘Free!’ Stormy and then, as soon as she goes for the plate of goodies, you tell her to ‘Leave It.’ I’m wondering whether you might not be confusing her, because she still seems to be having trouble with ‘Leave It.’ + ‘OK.’ and now you ‘Free.’ her but shortly thereafter you tell her to ‘Leave It.’ I guess that’s OK for training purposes, but if I understand it correctly, ‘Free.’s are generally of longer duration. I think of ‘OK’ as recess and ‘Free.’ as school’s out. Of course, if I’m out w/my dog off-leash and she’s ‘Free.’ and goes for something in the distance that I’m not sure of, I tell her to ‘Leave It.’ But if I see there’s no problem as I get closer, I tell her ‘OK.’ so she knows she can go for it.
FWIW
