re: Dog training help - teaching a retriever to hold after retrieve

Will never use a shock collar. If you can't get close enough to your dog that you need a shock collar, you probably don't need a dog. Just go get the mfer yourself, and let your wife have a crumb snatcher for the house. Spending time with your dog, training or not is necessary for him/her to bond/trust you. Soon as this occurs is when they will do anything for you without the use of shock re-enforcement. He or she (pet) will know what no means, and the louder you say no, the more the dog will no its unacceptable. That's why most retrievers that live inside the house make better gun dogs. I don't have a robot for a dog, but of the 122 something ducks we killed this year, he brought in over 80, and it was all swimming water. Sometimes dragging 3/4 decoys with him with 3lb weights on each decoy. And he's about as papered as the toilet paper I use to wipe my arse. Electronics are a viable tool in training dogs, I will agree. But in the wrong hands are more harmful than helpful.