So Tessa has been wearing her (uncharged) e-collar for about a month now and we want to go "live" this weekend.

What is the best way to find her baseline (minimum level of stimulation the dog feels)? I have 6 levels of momentary and 18 levels of continuous stimulation. I think the first levels of the 18 are very, very light, as these settings can be used for sensitive dogs, and I thought I start there.

Bev once said she didn't have to go any higher than level 2. Out of how many levels? What settings?

Q: I assume you look for the baseline by using the lowest level after the dog fails to respond to a known command? If no response, repeat command and go one level up and see if dog gives any indication it felt the collar? Or do you use it when the dog is neutrally out there? Surely NOT when the dog is doing something - anything - that is a desired behavior (such as being on point, coming towards handler, etc)?

One other thing is she might be clingy when you use the ecollar the first time. Don't make a big deal about it, just continue doing normal stuff and she will get over it. Halo was never clingy. She was more ok I know what mom wants now lets get moving again. Ringo (which surprised me) got clingy at first and just wanted to walk with me. He got over it pretty quick as he naturally inquisitive, happy nature took over. Just a warning so you are not surprised. You will be putting allot of pressure on Tessa and she may react to the pressure.

One thing you need to be careful of is to never use the ecollar around birds (at least right now while she is young and learning). You do not want her to ever associate bad and bird. Later it is ok, but not right now or you could ruin a good dog. So, my next question is where are you going to use the ecollar? If it is a training day, I would say leave the collar off for now. Train your recall separate from the bird work.

Ok, so that was two other things.

First, if you work with her at the park this weekend I am betting the problem of the recall will be resolved by the time you get back to field work.  That has certainly been true for me with both Halo and Ringo for the most part.  Once I used the ecollar, the recall became rock solid no matter what they were doing (except for chasing deer or rabbits in Ringo's case) or where they were.  If, however, it does not I think you could probably use it without any issues.  Just make sure there is no way she can associate the stimulation with a bird.  That is the concern and why I suggested you use the collar for the first time in a totally different setting. Also, right now you don't want to use the ecollar if she is chasing a bird, even if she is not listening to you.  My advice in that case is don't keep calling her while she is chasing as you know she won't come, just let her get it out of her system and once she is done chasing the bird then get her attention and call her back to you. 

And yes my laid back boy became the drama king the first time I used the ecollar on him.  That first time, once I got it high enough to get a reaction, he went from not noticing to high drama.  Pretty funny actually. Now if I need the ecollar with Ringo I use the nick to get his attention.  We are working on breaking him from chasing jack rabbits and deer (in this case I do not call him, just nick him to remind him that chasing deer, rabbits, etc is a no no and he gets back to the business of hunting birds).  He is pretty good now, but needs a reminder once in a while.  His recall is great except with the above mentioned distractions.  He will even leave deer and rabbit poop when I call him.  LOL

One thing I learned from my trainer is to not play any kind of retrieving games with your pup until they have been force broke on birds. He says you want them to be reliable on bird retrieving before you start throwing tennis balls and things for them. What I do with mine is if they want to play keep away I will turn my back and just ignore them,  this seems to work for them. Good luck with the collar conditioning.

 These GSP's certainly have a natural instict to retreive. FF is a reliable tool for people who compete their dogs in the field and also a hunter who would like to have reliable retreives. In field competition I would say you need to have no doublt that your going to get a good retreive. Once these dogs have been force broke on birds, they know the difference between a tennis ball and a bird. Both are fun but one is a job.