The Wireless Fence and the Bike

Jozy has had a few breakthroughs recently that I have been remiss in not reporting to the Jozy fans out there. You know who you are. So...Where to start?

The Wireless Fence

We have been training Jozy, slowly, on a wireless fence system in our backyard. Over time, it has been an up and down experience. Wireless fence system training works in the following way:

1. Place a unit in your house that broadcasts a signal in a specific radius from the central point.
2. If your pet leaves the defined radius (which occasionally fluctuates...not helping with consistent discipline), she starts to hear a beeping noise.
3. Your pet hears a beeping noise because the collar that you placed around her neck is starting to lose the signal from the base unit.
4. After a few seconds of losing the signal, the collar you have placed on your pet's neck delivers a "static correction." This is a euphemism for an electric shock that scares the shit out of your dog and sends her running for the back door. Soon, any beeping noise generates this reaction.
   
5. For 1-2 weeks, your dog will not leave the back porch without being offered food, even if she has to go to the bathroom.
6. Ask your wife to experience the "static correction" to make sure you are not being unnecessarily cruel. Ruling: It's not that bad. Apologize to your wife after finding this fact out.
   
7. Slowly rehabilitate your dog and start to associate the "static correction" with a perimeter of white flags around your yard. Wave the flags in her face every time she hears the beeping noise.
8. Slowly, your dog learns where she cannot go and stops urinating on the back porch.
9. Eventually...success. Evidence documented by playing 1 v 1 one with your dog in the back yard. Quickly, you find out she is better then you.
   

This past week, we are starting to let Jozy go out to the bathroom with no leash and we let her run around the back yard, fetching a frisbee and soccer ball, and she stays within the perimeter of white flags without incident. It is really a huge breakthrough for her. I am almost as excited about this as I am about the Giants winning the Super Bowl.

All that said, I am more excited about her most recent accomplishment then the Giants beating the Pats.

Check it out, Jozy is now going on bike rides with us. This picture is worth a thousand words.