Customer Reviews

Premier Manners Minder Remote Reward Behavior Training System for Dogs

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

The MannersMinder is a must have for dog training. We do agility, and it helps the dog understand what you want from him. It has helped with contacts, weaves & direction. We have had problems with him pacing in front of the TV (he loves to watch TV). It has dramatically cut down on his OCD habits. He LOVES it. He will sniff it and touch the remote when he wants it on. It has been a great positive reinforcement tool and reward system.

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.

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.

My dog truly has ADHD (this is not a joke). Despite loving her madly I was at my wit's end with her constant need to be doing something. I gave her plenty of exercise and training but she is just a busy dog. This is a great tool for helping her relax. The instrucional video is clear and makes using MannersMinder much easier. It isn't a miracle machine but a worthwhile addition to my training.

I am pretty satisfied with the Manners Minder. Only 2 complaints - design wise it has no carrying handle, and being an awkward shape it is a bit of a pain to pick up and and move around. Not a good way to grip it. Also, was VERY disappointed when It arrived to find the remote took a special 23A battery. I keep AAA-D batteries on hand at all times, and was bummed that I could not use it as soon as it arrived. Would have enjoyed playing with it the first night, but instead had to wait until I got to the store to buy that particular battery. Most people are not going to have this battery on hand, it should be noted in the description.

That said, it works well, and I think I will get a lot of use out of it training my dog in agility. Youngest dog got it immediately, the older, slower dog is not quite getting the tone = treat, even though she is clicker trained. She listens more for the rolling of the treat down the machine, so I am going to put the tone level up higher for her. I like that there is a good variety of controls for volume and variable treats as well. Great idea. Makes training fun! And when I feel too lazy to get up, I can do some training from the comfort of my chair! Fabulous!

I ordered two of these, one for my mom and one for me. I wanted my mom to have something to help her thunder phobia dog whom loves food be more calm during a storm and to be able to set the timer for when she leaves because he has separation anxiety as well. Only issue is finding a food that will not jam the disc. Be sure to get a round or M&M shaped food. Still jams some. I use it for my dogs to teach them to go to their place when the door bell rings to keep them from freaking out. It is working to help with their recall as well. If it didn't jam it would be a perfect item. I still find it worth the money, just might not be able to use it when I leave the house using the timer. Lots of videos on uses on youtube. A great one is taking the bowl off and putting it on top of a wire crate to teach calm and quiet in the crate by treats falling into the crate.

I just received my Manners Minder yesterday. I've wanted one since I first stumbled upon Dr. Yins web site and youtube feed following a behavior seminar at CSU where a few of Dr. Yins videos were used to demonstrate desensitization/ operant conditioning vs dominance based training. Even though a few of the components seem a bit dated in the spectrum of consumer electronics, I was not disappointed with my purchase. I have trained competition obedience for about 20 years and am a recent cross over to strict positive operant conditioning/ shaping based methods and performance/ entertainment training of my dogs along with attending a professional dog trainer academy/ apprenticeship while attending a vet tech program, eventually hoping to eventually have a CVT behavioral specialty.

My dog who I planed on using this product with initially has never had the issues demonstrated in this videos, she loves strangers at the door and quietly runs to the crate when the door bell rings and eagerly waits for her invitation to be let out when she sees a friendly face. My disclaimer, I have only used this product for less than 24hrs, my intention when I ordered this product was to allow me to mark and treat at a distance, my girl likes to perform ques right at my feet, and this item acts like a nonhuman assistant allowing me to mark and treat having her get up and walk only 3 steps instead of 10. From the start, I did not plan on following the guides and DVD but instead plan on pulling the applicable ideas from them and building on my girls trainers, my mentors and personal plan for my dog. I personally prefer her not fixate on the machine waiting for the next treat (as demonstrated in a few of the product clips), so I started marking when she walks 3-5 feet away from the machine then started adding ques only when she gave some distance and focuses on me. I felt if I used this machine to luring mode for her downs and stays, we would be taking major back steps in her work. As expected I found this system was a very easy transition from her previous clicker foundation work and the clicker still has not lost it's value, this is just an additional mark to add to the toolbox.

My impression of the product it's self, I was impressed with the packaging but the remote/ battery placement seemed easy to miss in the excitement of opening everything and I was happy it didn't fall on the floor or down the sink drain. The build seems to be strong and I like the manual controls and number of variables and flexibility of settings allowed. I was surprised how large the fob is, it almost looks like a life-alert pendant or something, I would suggest making the "Down Stay" button smaller, at it's current size- it is a bit too easy to hit by accident. With current technologies, I think that they would be able to fit the current controls plus some into the size and ergonomics of a Starmark clicker case. Assembly was pretty much done except swapping out the sifter disc to dispense my girls kibble. On initial introduction, my girl was startled by the motor and possibly the sound of the kibble getting sifted, I think in the next generation of this product- Dr. Yin and Premiere should consider a quieter motor. When it was time to turn on the beeps, my girl would jump about 2 feet every time the tone would go off, even in the lowest setting-I'm thinking the lack of any visual ques might increase the surprise for her. She gets startled then quickly goes for the kibble as soon as the initial startle was over and has almost turned into a game for her. She has gotten over her startle response and I think the fact that I have her working a couple feet away from the device helps. She quickly associated the tone to treat to positive reward despite the volume of the tone and it took less than 1 evening, she treated this like her targeting stick the first night and fell asleep cuddling and watching it as she fell asleep. I have had her kibble jam the machine but that has been a rare occurrence and was expected since Orijen comes in irregular shapes and sizes, I plan on loading up Zukes Minis on the next load. The main caution I have is to owners in multi dog households which I experienced is the potential this item has as a resource to guard. My second dog, knows how to diffuse situations where my girl Presley sees something as a resource- he might be curious but still sees the magic treat dispenser as hers and would rather not challenge her position; he keeps his distance and I do not think I would ever be able to use this tool with him- even if I got a second one. I dog sat a relative stranger dog today, he saw and smelled the food and quickly claimed this resource as his even before the owner left. When I brought Presley in the room she split him from her treat dispenser saying, "hey, that's mine" and thing quickly erupted into a full blown fight. Once I removed the item of contention, everything became happy and as serene as a house with 3 dogs including a young border collie and basset hound could be.

Great product and I thought the accompanying DVD was very well done. If you take the time to watch the DVD first, it's a simple effective tool for training your dog.