SUMMARY: Not sure whether I'm making progress.
The deafdogs.org training suggests that you keep your dog close to you (with a leash) all day and periodically hit the button and give a treat so that the dog learns to associate the vibration with you and will eventually look at you if you don't give the treat, so then you give a big jackpot, because that's what you want to do.
I haven't been keeping her close to me with a leash, but when she's been near me, I try to wait until she's not looking at me, then hit the button and give a treat.
Yesterday, because I was still never seeing a reaction from Tika, I handed the collar to my renter and walked around the house hitting the button. He reported a vibration every time. So then I felt more confident that Tika's getting the signal.
DeafDogs suggest that, on the 2nd day, I try hitting the button and waiting to see whether she looks at me. So, at one point when I was behind her at the breakfast table, she was lying on the floor facing the kitchen, and the renter was in the kitchen, I hit the button--her head popped up and she stared at the renter! Dang.
This morning I put her collar on her and periodically hit the button/treated as I prepared and ate breakfast, and a couple of times she even looked at me when I did that, so I gave her a big jackpot.
Then I discovered that I hadn't turned on the transmitter, so there was no vibration the whole time! I'm sure that set me back by a couple of days. Dang again!
I'm puzzled by the charging time for the transmitter. Before the first use, the collar took over 12 hours to charge; the transmitter I think 15 or 16. After the first day, when I used it quite a bit, took the collar a few hours to recharge and the transmitter about 15 hours. After the second day, when I didn't use it all that much, collar took a couple of hours and the transmitter still wasn't fully charged this morning after 14 hours. I hope the recharge time improves.
I spent no time yesterday working on hand signals, but today is still young, so we'll see what transpires.
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