Smylinacha!  That's too funny!   Yep, we have an outdoor cat, and they eye her pretty closely!  When we walk outside on leash, our porch kitty is a GREAT training tool!  With the leave it command, they will continue walking forward past the cat, even if the cat is 1 foot away, however, they don't take their eyes off of her!   I was going to ask, when on the bike, the 'leave it' command illicits a GREAT response, they continue running forward and act like the cats or squirrels, or dogs, etc. are not even there.  However, when walking within a foot of our porch kitty, they cannot help but keep stare!  However, they DO keep walking steadily forward with no pulling.  Is this okay?  I have tried a quick tug on the leash to try to get their heads and eyes moving foward with the rest of their body, but to no avail.   I do know that off leash, the dogs would NOT leave it or even 'here'!    Oh, I forgot to state, the pups are 1 year old. They just turned on 9/20/12.

 Texas Belle,

Thanks so much for your reply.   I'm happy to hear my pups are still too young to be perfect!   Yes, I was reading, and also watched the training dvd that came with the Sport Dog collar.  It really says that the pups should be near 100% on everything prior to using the collar.   I understand that the e-collar doesn't train, it only reinforces what they ALREADY KNOW!  To use the collar prior to making sure they understand 100%, what they are supposed to do, would be nothing short of cruel.  I would never do that.    Also, I have been training them separately, one at a time in the front yard, using various size check cords.  Kaido's confidence is slowly building, and he doesn't tuck his tail or want to run from strange sounds anymore.  He also hasn't barked recently at the men that walk down our street during the training.  After I train them separately, I take them to the backyard, and train one at a time with the distraction of the other 2 running around and playing.  They actually do VERY well!    Kaido is somewhat jealous of the attention Maybrie is getting, and will often run up next to me and sit, when I command Maybrie to sit!  They are funny!    Just about the time I start to get tired of Kaido getting in the way, our little Aussie/Brittany mix will zoom past him barking, trying to start a game.......and he's off!   Maybrie does very well staying in check even with all the commotion.     I can't wait till they are ready to handle going to the large field oustide the dog park.  It's massive!   There are several people that bring their dogs out there for training purposes.  It's oustide the dog park, accross the parking lot, and yet there are still plenty of distractions, people, birds, butterflies, and Kaido's latest favorite....baby bunnies!    That will probably take another few weeks or so.

So, GSP fun days?  What are those?   Mine are not trained to hunt.....though they hunt naturally!    I know the hunting retriever trials our labs used to go to were serious business!   They had to be well trained, and were not allowed to be neutered or spayed to enter.   I'm assuming "fun days" are not the trial days, but what happens?  Do they run around freely?    I don't trust mine outside the gates yet!   They respond to 'here' well.....unless they're eating bunnnies or chasing prey....but only 'inside' the gates!   Or on a long check cord!   Just curious.  It sounds like it would be a lot of fun!  

Thanks again for all your suggestions and words of advice!!  GREATLY appreciated!  I feel  just like a new mommy!  Some days I have it all together, and I feel  that I know what I'm doing, and other days....I'm CLUELESS, but afraid to admit it to myself!!

 Lol!  Pixie Bee!! 

I just watched a couple of the Mike Ellis training videos and the free 88 minute training video on his site!  Amazing!!  There is an awful lot to absorb!  He makes it look so simple, and the principals seem simple enough, yet it's not easy!!  Again, I love this forum and al the wonderful ideas and helpful hints everyone offers.  I take all of them to heart!  

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience at the "day camp".  The place you went to is definitely a lot fancier than where I go!  The place I go to has a huge warehouse and then outside they have 3/4 acres for them to play.  They divide the warehouse with fencing so that they keep them in groups based on temperment, size, age, etc.

I think separating Archer from Zoe in the beginning and taking him to a trainer to work with him and socialize him with other dogs really helped - he seems so much more well balanced now then when I first got him and he isn't as dependant on Zoe. He now focuses on me instead of her.

Here's an example of how they are after a day of camp:

 AWWWW!!!!  How sweet is that?  They are SO adorable!!  I'm so happy you found a great place.  There is a place like yours that I could take them, but it is 45 minutes away.    I was hopeful that the place I took them near my home would be as nice as yours.  Trust me, the pictures on the website are only 1/10th of the picture.  They don't have many pics because the rest of the place is a dump!    I looked at Urban Tails too. It's where I took our labs just for temperament testing.  They have webcams in every room, so you can watch your dogs daily.  The thing I don't like or agree with, is they just let the dogs pee in the room they play in, and then clean it up.      I am tempted to use a trainer, like you did, DLord, but I'm so worried about finding the right trainer!  The trainer has to be SUPER sensitive.   Kaido could so easily be ruined.    I trust my breeder/trainer, but then again, he came from there a big chicken.  More than likely it's genetics, but his littermate is completely different.    Kaido and Maybrie have both been doing well over  the last couple of days.  I have been using Michael Ellis techniques, but the reward is not food.....it's "bubbles!" We will use food too, but they LOVE bubbles more than food! I am reluctant to use food......just due to formal training with our labs.     I have found I can give them a command from far away, give an immediate  "yes" and then release the bubbles and allow them to chase the bubbles!     Maybrie is my "slow" sitter........but when she figured out the bubbles released after "yes", she sat faster than our labs ever did!  She is HIGHLY motivated!  Kaido is a bit slower, or more stubborn.  I have to definitely train them separately with this.  If I just say "sit" in the air, neither of them respond, but if I call Maybrie by name and give her a command to sit, she sits SUPER FAST.  Kaido just watches the air for bubbles.  If I address Kaido "only", Maybrie will also sit!!   I now train them separately, because the bubbles work VERY well for motivation and reward, and they know it's coming from me!  It's also great because I can get them to the bubbles faster than the food if they are 20 yards away.  Wind does wonders at allowing bubbles to travel!    This has also worked for recall, but right now, I'm just concentrating on "sit."   It is SO wonderful to see her sit and wait for her reward to come from me!  Training was SO different with our labs 12 years ago.   There was no rewarding, it was all in the game of retrieving.  This motivation reward is all new stuff.  I like it, but I'm happy that Michael Ellis uses both correction and reward, and trains how to eventually drop the food rewards.   

Thanks again for that picture!!   They are SO CUTE!!

Glad to hear that the techniques are working for you. Sounds like you have a plan and are progressing.
 
I mix my rewards with food/play/or touch depending on the circumstance and environment - choosing the best treat at the time that will motivate them.

I especially like using play - it's easy to mix commands in with the play, helping them to perform while in a play/excited mode (and under pressure). When we do use play, I mix in a few commands, then a longer duration of play, repeat - this is what I refer to as a session, and most of our sessions last about 5-10 minutes. When I he starts to lose attention/enthusiasm, we stop.

Over the last year, we've been gradually increasing his level of excitement and adding distractions, then mixing in commands.

Hubby saved me a coyote tail to use for such purposes.

If you haven't seen them already, great examples of using play as the reward are at 

http://youtu.be/XpjCAJ7wghY

and

http://youtu.be/Em57CqUZ2bE

Too bad about the heavy selling in the videos, but there is good content there. Guess thats the price of free. (I am however tempted to one day get the focused heeling dvd!)

Good luck to you, I'm sure you'll do well with the initative you are taking.

 Thanks so much Rose, for the links!  I will definitely have fun watching!  Yes, the play technique is working beautifully!  I was afraid Kaido  was just being lazy or stubborn yesterday when he didn't want to sit immediately.  Today, however, he sat just as fast as Maybrie!  I was actually able to get them both to sit very quickly today in the first Sit command!    The wind was up so the bubbles were blown far away.  I knew better then to ask them to sit from that far, but I gave them both the 'here' command and they eagerly ran towards me... I said 'yes' and released more bubbles!   It is nice to hear you are still working with mixing commands a year later!  Wow!  What do you do with the coyote tail?  Put it on a stick and allow a chase after they follow commands?  

Thanks again for the sites!  I'm super excited!  I still mix some leash work so they can learn to work through some stress.  This way when I start e-collar corrections, they won't freak out!

thanks again!