This is an old photo of Shannon, she's about twice as big now, but this is pretty much what she's doing this evening. Very unusual.Himself and I are racked with guilt.
We installed the InGround Petwire today.
Apparently, now that I know, what you do is, you buy the pack, you read the instructions, you install the wire, you hook it up to its electrical charger, you place the collar on your pet, you read the instructions again, then you take two weeks to train your pet.
We are a household that does not read instructions.
Why would we?
Most things that come in a box can be stripped down and put back together in thirty seconds flat by one member of the household and the other can't wait long enough to read an instruction manual because she wants to GET STARTED RIGHT NOW!!
Anyways, our neighbours had installed one for their dog and it was working really well for Simon, so we drove into Crappy Tire today and handed in all our C Tire money ($27 in 5c notes) and brought the device home and got to work.
We had discussed the best layout for Shannon. We laid out the wire in a nice big square that included lawn (to dig holes in), garden (to dig muddy holes in), bushes (to hide, lie, poop, hunt, stalk birds in), trees (to check for squirrels in), the deck (to view the world from) and under the deck, etc etc, then we hooked it all up and set the perimeter warning and laid out the marker flags and checked the perimeter about six times and thought it was okay.
Shannon was crying and whining on the deck because we were walking around the yard without her so we popped the collar on and walked her round the flags a couple of times.
According to the manual, which I have since read, you are supposed to walk your dog around the flags for 4 days before you put the collar on.
Ooops!
It went well for a while. Every now and again, as she veered past a flag she'd get a little Beeep beep beep.....
This means she is in the 'danger zone' and has a few seconds to get out before she is zapped.
It was all going really well.
I think she's getting it, dude, I said, let's see what happens.
I took her leash off.
She gave us a long look and then crouched and sailed over the wire and down the road.
While Himself got the car to go look for her, I consulted with the neighbours.
Put the collar on tighter, she's so furry it probably isn't affecting her.
And turn the charger up a bit, she's so furry it probably isn't affecting her.
Okay.
I'd just like to point out that in no way do I feel the neighbours are in any way responsible for what happened next.
Caught the dog. Took the collar off. Walked her through the zone. Put the collar back on really tight.
Turned up the perimeter setting.
Himself checked the collar against his hand and said, that's a bit of a jolt.
Walked her round the flags again.
I could hear the beeper going but she didn't seem to be getting any shocks so we kept wandering round and round (like we were supposed to apparently, according to the recently-memorized manual).
I noticed at one point that Shannon's fur was undulating. Ever so slightly.
Was it the wind?
Somehow I didn't think so, but she was acting fine. And we were pulling her away from the flags if the beeper went off for more than a few seconds.
She's one tough dog, of course.
We decided that if she walked very close to the wire we would let her have one shock, just to show her what it was like.
Sort of fast-forward training.
She walked over to the wire and kind of jumped and then walked back.
Poor puppy...
We decided to finish that round of the flags, and that would be it for today.
I'm standing by a flag waving her squeaky ball at her.
C'mon Shannon, good puppy, come over here....
Our poor dog kind of sighs, then jumps into a juniper bush, buries her head in the middle of it, and cries.
Sobs her little heart out.
Jesus, we are the worst puppy parents on the planet.
Later, much later, collar off and hopefully forgotten about, and Himself tries to take Shannon out for a pee.
She refuses to leave the deck. Legs planted. Immoveable.
Anyhow, a pig's ear and some chicken fillet pieces later she's still playing me like a violin, but at least she's sitting up eating her squeaky ball now.
Tomorrow we are doing it by the book.
1 comment:
Oh god. We went through this a few years ago with Putney, our 80 lb black lab.
Even though I likely don't seem like the type I read the manual.
Walked him around the perimieter a few times. Seemed to get it. A few days later, we went put the collar on him and did the same, Our instruction manual said to walk him into the 'zone' a few times and let him feel it.
He walked in, winced and moaned and walked out. I felt pretty bad. So, I tried the collar on my leg. Note to self, it's probably better on your hand. Instead, I attached it to my leg and walked into the fence. The manual said it was supposed to be like a 'strong static shock'.
No shit.
My leg was still twitching when I forced my wife to do the same. I felt it was only fair.
In any case, Putney is long since trained and as long as we remind him every once in a while where the fence line is, he enjoys the freedom of the back yard.
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