I never tried using electric on Aiden because I found another way that seems to be working for us (compulsion/-R), but he also used to have problems with taking a correction too seriously or shutting down on me. I went through lots of different training methods that were sugegsted by different people, but this seems to have worked best.
It was the same person that suggested adding a little compulsion to our training that also told me that Aiden has got ME trained, and I never thought about it that way before. For example, I couldn't get him to come into the blind clean. He was filthy dirty unless I had the leash and popped him every time he went in. This trainer's method was to send him in on his own and make the decision to stay clean and guard or get dirty and mouthe the sleeve. If he was dirty, the helper marked it with a "NO" and I would walk up, grab the leash that was on the ground, and correct him. Well, every time I tried to correct him before, he'd act like a big baby, so I figured that he just can't take a correction. This one trainer saw right through it and told me to ignore him and just give him a correction. Of course, he tried to act like I was killing him, but I remained neutral and ignored all the drama and I made him keep going. I sent him in again and he was still dirty, but a little less. He got another correction, but this time the drama was even less. I sent him in the blind a third time and he's been clean ever since..
I think he realized that his "act" wasn't fooling me, and now I barely even get a reaction with a good correction from a prong collar. I think I fed into the idea that my dog was sooooo sensitive, that I was making him worse. He's 85lbs and relatively aggressive in the bitework and I know better than to think that I can really hurt him with a prong collar.
After that seminar, I noticed a whole change in Aiden. He was taking corrections in obedience without losing it and the little bit of compulsion paid off for us.
My trial anxiety is out of control. I don't know why, but I literally feel like I'm going to die as I walk out onto that field. Couple that with a handler sensitive dog and you have a recipe to fail. But after that seminar, I felt like I had more control over remaining neutral to my dog, and when we trialed for our IPO2 the second time, I could really see the difference. He got a 91 in the IPO2 obed before we were DQ'ed from protection, but either way, that score was literally twenty points higher than in his IPO1. And at home, he seemed much less up my butt and anxiously pacing around, etc.
Of course we've recently reverted to being a big wimp in the protection because the first time he trialed for the IPO2, he got stepped on in the drive. So now he anticipates the drive and starts to freak out before it even happens. We are starting a similar approach to this problem by just ignoring it. I know that he's capable of being driven and that he's just afraid, so we work on some confidence building stuff and some fun stuff and then we just slowly work into the drive. He has to learn that he's going to live through it and will not get stepped on again. But by letting him freak out and start screaming and pitching a fit, he is learning that it's his easy way out.
Reading all that now looks like a lot of unnecessary info, but I think that the training that I implemented had a huge impact on his home life. I've struggled with anxiety myself in the past and I'm ok with Aiden checking in on me and showing me a little love, but I learned that at home, I really cannot feed into him blowing things out of proportion, or it crosses over into training (and vice versa). If he starts to act like an anxious freak at home, I can put him in his crate or tell him to go lay down on his bed in the other room, but I never act concerned for him or baby him or feed into it anymore, because I know what he's reacting to.
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