[Zumie05]

I feel for ya! I remember you telling my your story in another thread about how your guy hurt your knee.

My dog is very much the same way in class (no focus, excitable, not listening!). I put a prong on him last Thursday, and woah what a difference. It isn't a tool that shuts your dog down. My trainer walked him around the room with it on and even after corrections he still had high spirits (tail up and wagging, happy panting) but he was following her without tugging to the end of the lead. She also mentioned to tone down the praise, as she noticed that if she told him "good boy" too exciteably that he went haywire lol.

I also have to say that I was using a squirt bottle to help get his focus off of excitable things in class that would make him bark. But that may not be the best choice because I've been told that it gets the dog to stop paying attention to whats going on, but also to you. It is just hard for me to quit the bottle because at least while sitting in my seat nothing (not even a pinch collar correction or a treat) worked for making him look away from a distraction that was making him bark. My arena too isn't large enough to move around and the nearest dog on both sides of your seat is about 4 - 5 feet away.