Premier Manners Minder Remote Reward Behavior Training System for Dogs

I've had this gizmo for about three weeks now. My trainer sold me on it and though I haven't had a chance to fully utilize it, based on my initial experiences with it, I strongly believe it will work very well for the training I'm attempting. That being said, I am disappointed at what I discovered to be a very simple but important engineering flaw. I noticed that at random times, the machine would grind to a stop during maintained dispensing (sit-n-stay mode as they call it). I tried the different size dispensers provided no luck. My kibble is hard and oval in shape, fits well within the hole size of the dispenser, so it was ideal for the machine but was still jamming it. After further inspection, the holes in their dispenser rings had a ridge around the opening which was sometimes trapping my kibble against the edge of the main unit as the dispenser ring spun around. The kibble, pinned against the main unit, caused the dispenser to jam and fail.

To fix this, I took a dremel tool and carved out the side of the edge which was trapping the kibble and now it works like a dream. No issues. I still can't figure out:

1. why they built the ridge out in the area i had to remove

2. why they never caught this issue during the product testing

I recommend purchasing this unit, but if your kibble jams the unit, don't switch your dog food to meet the machine's poor engineering find a friend w/ a dremel or other tool and cut away the outside part of the ridges on the dispenser rings. If for some reason you foul it up completely, you can always buy a spare dispenser ring.

This is a great product. It dispenses treats when a small keyfob type activator is pushed. The dog's focus is not on the treats in your hand but on the machine. This frees up your hand(s) for other training activities. The dispenser works flawlessly and is very well designed.

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I love this product. Remote treat dispensing allows a whole new angle for training all that much better for your dog!

Check out the Yahoo groups online there is a lot of help available for how to best use this product if you need it. It also comes with a great DVD and instructions.

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Note: this unit requires two sizes of battery four D size batteries for the main unit which you'll need to provide, and a 23A for the remote which came included with my unit.

The first day will probably the hardest part of training your dog with the Manners Minder so that's what I'll describe here:

I read the quick start instructions which briefly outline how to set up the unit. I added some kibble and placed the base unit on the floor within my arms reach. I pressed the remote and a couple of kibble dropped into the bowl. The dog and the cat had been sniffing from about a foot or so away both jumped back several feet when they heard the noise the motor makes. I patted the bowl where the kibble was and reassured my pup it was okay, that he could go get the treat from the bowl. Took a minute or two of coaxing but he eventually, timidly approached the bowl and took the kibble. When he backed away to look at the bowl I pressed the remote again sending more kibble into the bowl. They had the same reaction to the motor noise but they didn't back up quite as much this time. I verbally reassured him that it was okay and encouraged him to take the treat. I repeated this several times and after about ten minutes or so my dog lay down in front of the bowl waiting for the treat. I told him what a good boy he was. At this point, each time he stood up to get the treat he'd then lay back down in front of the bowl. I started to wait just a little longer after he lay down so he'd eventually get the idea that he had to lay down before the treat would be released. Within 20 minutes he was in down/stay mode, waiting for the treat and no longer afraid of the motor noise.

I had read many of the reviews here on Amazon and had a good idea of what to expect; I must say I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly my pup became acclimated to the sounds and function of the Manners Minders. I didn't exactly follow the instructions to the letter from the manual but it was just that quick and that easy to get my dog to get comfortable the sound of the unit without fearing the noise it makes to lay dow and stay to get the treat. This had been my biggest concern but in seeing how well day one has gone, I am looking forward to seeing how the results with my dog will continue to improve over time .

The cat on the other hand just sneaks up on it, snatches the treat and runs away with it. We'll work on that :)

Now that I am confident that the Manners Minder will work for my pup I will follow the training method outlined in the full manual. I'll continue to update this review as our training progresses.

UPDATE: Day Two

My dog is raw fed. I am having a little trouble finding treats that work with this unit *and* his diet. I am looking for a dehydrated, close to single ingredient, meat based/grain free treat. In the meanwhile I have been using Zuke's Minis which works very well with the smaller plate of the MM, giving out only one or two tiny treats. The company makes Premier Liver Biscotti Dog Treats, Dog Treats,Wheat/Egg Free Recipe but when I called customer service to obtain the ingredient list, they did not have it and suggested I request it by email. It's been only a day or so since the email request and I have not heard back from them just yet.

I followed the training manuals steps to introduce the "beep" sound which is supposed to give that Pavlov response that a treat is coming but it seems he already figured out that the motor noise means a treat is coming; on low the "beep" is pretty loud and I would rather LESS noise involved with this process so I am not using the "beep" at this time.

Since treats need to remain in the unit even when we aren't practicing, I was concerned that either the dog or cat would try to tip this over and/or figure out how to get the lid open by fussing with it; so far it seems that they cannot get it open or flipped over.

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Though I was a little skeptical because of it's original associations w/ Sharper Image, I decided to give this a go.

The only thing wrong with it is that the "dispense" button on the remote doesn't work consistently. It's too bad that that is one of the most important parts of the product(!!!). What a bummer!

I'm unable to use the product at this point, because timing is everything with this training system and I don't want to confuse my pup. I'll have to now order a replacement from Primer.

I do think that once I get my replacement remote, this product will be great; I just wish they had better QA procedures at Premier to avoid these disappointments.

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