This was a great question someone emailed me recently. They were asking at what point do I remove training collars and leashes and check my training. The reality is, the way I train my dog are not performing because they have training devices on. They never become collar or leash smart because they do not rely on it. The first year or so of my training my dogs don’t even wear a leash in training. On occasion they wear a short tab. But because the behaviors are not based on coercion, there is not really a need to check if my dogs will perform without training devices. That being said, I do use different training collars. But my dogs do not rely on it. the great Bob Bailey once said "Behavior is best bestowed by an animal then compelled by a trainer".  Those are words I live/train by.  But to answer the question, I would say 50% of my training sessions I do not have training equipment on my dogs. They are not collar smart, and do not rely on equipment.