Bad, bad Mama
Today is Olive's 2nd day of training with the wireless system. She's so scared of the perimeter of our yard that it's hard to follow the training instructions. Jake has decided that we should unleash her (the instructions say not to do that until day 9) and get her used to exploring with us since we can't get her near the flags even WITH a leash.
So far, she's broken the line twice today. Once, she realized that we were both across the yard from her and decided to bolt, only to freak out 10 seconds later when the beeping stopped and shocks began. She immediately ran back to us but at the same time was very freaked out and timid for a long time. The second time, we were visited by our neighbors who have a small dog. Olive got so excited that she ran outside the line again, only to start getting shocked and she FROZE. She didn't know what to do, then she started yelping and barking in pain. She didn't know which way was the right way to go and didn't (or couldn't) listen to our directions.
I feel SO HORRIBLE. I don't really like negative reinforcement as a training method, but this seems to be the accepted and most commonly used way to train pets. I'm sure that Olive will 'get it' in a couple days, but I just feel so bad. I think she's going to get lots of extra praise and cuddles tonight after our walk and some quiet time now.
Poor honey. :-(
So far, she's broken the line twice today. Once, she realized that we were both across the yard from her and decided to bolt, only to freak out 10 seconds later when the beeping stopped and shocks began. She immediately ran back to us but at the same time was very freaked out and timid for a long time. The second time, we were visited by our neighbors who have a small dog. Olive got so excited that she ran outside the line again, only to start getting shocked and she FROZE. She didn't know what to do, then she started yelping and barking in pain. She didn't know which way was the right way to go and didn't (or couldn't) listen to our directions.
I feel SO HORRIBLE. I don't really like negative reinforcement as a training method, but this seems to be the accepted and most commonly used way to train pets. I'm sure that Olive will 'get it' in a couple days, but I just feel so bad. I think she's going to get lots of extra praise and cuddles tonight after our walk and some quiet time now.
Poor honey. :-(