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But my dog has figured out that the collar produces the shock - she straightens up and flies right with the collar on even when the batteries are run down. She also recognizes the collar box when I take it off the shelf.

For my dog, the collar meant work, like pulling out my shotgun or hunting vest, or the ball I used to train obedience. He got excited when the collar went on.

Can I confess to a cheat I did without ruining my reputation? ;~D

Logan would misbehave at obedience shows precisely because he didn't have the collar on. (He would get up and mount the dog next to him in the sits and downs. Ack!) I had a brass plate with his name on it made, that fit the holes for the leather collar the remote trainer was on. I just left the attachment rivets on the name plate a little long.

The folks who run agility are WAY ahead of you - all the dogs run "naked" in USDAA trials, no collars, no nothin'. That was a problem in and of itself, so I started doing runthroughs with Shelley without her collar on. It helped.

We decided to do agility rather than obedience because my dog has a very hard time sitting still. She'll do it, but 5 minutes outside the view of her handler is so far outside the realm of possibility it wasn't even worth trying for.

Besides, she just LOVES doing something that requires her to run around, jump over things, climb things, and bark (she is the fastest Lab you ever saw - really fast.)