While running the dogs today we were able to get into some mule deer. It worked out perfectly, the deer were crossing the road right in front of us and Abby couldn’t resist the chasing. She began to bark and give pursuit and when I knew she was focused on nothing but the deer – I gave her some stimulation with the e-collar. I didn’t shout any commands or pay any attention to her, I just continued driving down the road. Abby got the message loud and clear – Deer are not fun to chase. I will test her on it in a few days and see if she needs a gentle reminder.

Lately, I have been running the dogs seperately for about a half mile at a time. They always have the e-collar on when we are working, they have come to learn that the collar means fun times ahead. I tried running all three dogs at once for a few weeks but they got distracted too easily and would often range too far. Now that I run them independently I let them roam free but stop every few hundreds yard and call them back to check in. This has been working nicely and they are in the habit of coming back to me when they hear the ranger stop.

Another thing I work on daily is the “Wait!” command. I make the dogs wait when I let them out of the kennel, the door doesn’t open until they are calm and quiet. When we go into or out of the door to my shop, I give the wait command and make sure they are calm – then I go first, they follow. When I have them loaded in the ranger I make them wait even after the tailgate is down, until I give the command “Unload”. Abby is getting better and waiting for longer periods. Today she struggled even more because she could see this herd of elk on the ridge above us.