CGC Exam and Collar

[Maria]

Dear All,

Ack! I just got a message from our obediance trainer, and apparently, dogs aren't allowed to wear harnesses for the CGC exam. That means I have to get Luciano used to a collar within the next couple of weeks. I don't plan to make him wear one unless we're training. Can anyone suggest a brand? Can anyone suggest how to get him used to it? We do clicker training, so I plan to click and treat for all good behavior on the collar. He really doesn't like any collar I've ever used on him, so this is going to be an interesting process....

Take care,

Maria

[ViralMD]

It's not a big deal - I did it with Cyril and he HATES collars. I've never used a collar since his exam because he hates them so much! Good luck - just practice, practice, practice on the street with him!

[Ling]

I used a nylon buckle collar with Mai Ling for training and her CGC test. It actually worked to our benefit because she knew when the collar was on we were in training mode . She behaves like a gem when it's on cause she knows she gets lots of treats for watching and listening.
The thing that worried me was that you can't use treats during the actual test, so I practiced for 15 minutes before we went into the test with treats, and by the time we actually got tested, she sailed through it!

Good Luck Luciano!

[Pugasaurus]

It's usually not a big deal to get a dog used to wearing a collar, especially if you use the clicker. Put collar on for a few seconds, C/T, take collar off, put collar back on, increase duration, C/T, take collar off. With several more training sessions over the next couple of days, your pug should be happy about the collar.

My dogs know different leads and collars mean different things, flat collar w/o tags means obedience ring, show lead means conformation and regular flat collar with tags is for day-to-day stuff.

Gotta love +R with pugs, I can turn the dremel on and pugs come flying out of everywhere to get their nails done!

Karen and the Pug Posse