Now that you have followed all the previous training steps, it’s time to take off the flags; you don’t want them to keep sticking out of the ground forever, do you?
If you’ve done everything correctly so far, your dog will be respecting the containment boundaries. Additionally, the dog will have learned to leave the Pet Zone under your supervision and with a leash on, when going out for a walk and as described on this page.
All that’s left right now is getting rid of the flags. Here’s the way to do it:
- Make sure up to 4 weeks have passed after the last phase of your dog training has been completed, to ensure your dog has internalized all the training completely.
- Begin to remove the flags, starting with every second flag across the perimeter; then wait 5 days.
- Remove every other flag from the ones that are left. Wait another 5 days.
- Get rid of all the remaining flags.
Congratulations, your dog can now safely play around in your beautiful yard.
What If My Dog Starts Leaving The Pet Zone After The Flags Are Removed?
If during any phase of the flag removal process your dog suddenly stops respecting the wireless fence containment boundary and starts ignoring the correction, put the flags back where they belong and do another 10 days of training, following the guidelines outlined in Step 2 and Step 3 of our training guide. However, it’s extremely rare for such a situation to occur, so don’t worry about it in advance.
Can’t I Remove All The Training Flags At Once?
While this certainly could be done, it’s always better to take things slow and incrementally where dog training is involved. Taking down the flags abruptly might confuse your dog, which could lead to unexpected results. You’ve already spent a good 8 weeks training your dog to respect the boundaries, so there is no reason you should be rushing things now doing an activity as simple as taking out the flags.
