I truly do not wish to criticize any person here, but it is such an important issue, I felt compelled to write this post. If you have decided to follow an established, proven and documented retriever training program which uses an e-collar, it is an absolutely terrible idea to ever train without having the dog wear a live e-collar. If you do, you are teaching the dog to become collar-wise. This is a very, very bad thing to do. Intermittent use while training is a proven recipe for huge problems.
Once a decision is made to follow an e-collar training program for your dog, why in the world would you train without using an e-collar all the time? It’s fairly expensive, takes a lot of effort to condition the dog for it, and is a very effective and humane tool. People teach dogs to be “collar-wise” by saying they are using an e-collar training program, but then sometimes train without using one.
I know it’s tempting to see “how the dog will do” without the collar. Well, you can see that at the hunt test or trial. But don’t use your training sessions for that. You’ll just give the dog more opportunity to learn that the e-collar causes the correction.
It’s not logical, that dogs trained with an e-collar become trial-wise because they have been trained with an e-collar, and dogs who haven’t been trained with an e-collar become trial-wise for other reasons. Trial-wise dogs are brought about by running trials before the dog is ready to run. With both types of dogs, the cause of the problem and the solution is the same. Training with or without the e-collar has nothing to do with it, unless you have made the mistake of teaching the dog to become collar-wise by not using it occasionally.
If your dog, in training, performs significantly more difficult tests than you’ll have to run at the HT or trial, and has done so with little or no need for correction for a significant period of time, he’s ready to run a trial; not before. Dogs get “trial wise” by running before they are ready. Dogs trained with or without an e-collar get trial wise for the same reason. But e-collar program dogs get “collar-wise” when people teach them to be “collar-wise”.
It was mentioned that you don’t get an opportunity to correct the dog while wearing the e-collar in training.
Be creative and think of ways to create fair opportunities to correct your dog for something
every training session. Obviously at different ages and ability levels this will change. Using the derby level as an example, do lots of triples and even easy quads. Set up severe water cheating tests with multiple entries, utilize channels lengthwise also. Do severe switching tests, utilize more heavy cover etc., etc.. Get the dog in the habit of having to really think and analyze how he’s going to have to do the tests you set up in training. This will curb the uncontrollable enthusiasm in a constructive way. Any correction you make serves to enhance everything else a minute amount. For obedience coming to line and at the line, give your commands very quietly, under your breath, don’t repeat commands, but back them up with correction. Absolutely insist on 100% compliance on all obedience commands in training. You want your dog to be listening to you first and foremost; get the dog in that mode by training that way. Your standards must be higher than what you expect from the dog at a trial. You will never get more than you require in training, always less, so keep that in mind. Don’t ever treat your group training sessions as some kind of a trial. Never forego an opportunity to correct your dog even if your buddies dog did the test correctly and you want to show that your dog can do it also. You’re there to accomplish something, not show off.
You will get opportunities galore if you use the e-collar constantly and consistently, and proceed to train and advance the dog through a progression of more difficult tasks and set-ups.
Finally, there are certainly dogs and trainers who own and occasionally use an e-collar for some types of correction, but who are not following a complete training program utilizing the e-collar. If your experience has been with those dogs and training methods, it doesn’t matter if they sometimes train without the collar, those dogs are already collar-wise; no harm done.
), but a blog I read spent a majority of this past year dealing with trial anxiety with her Malinois. 
