Lacey (Away form me)

Starting out today Lacey did well and stopped on a dime every time. So I decided to work on the away from me stop. She tried to come back and I had to set her back. I do not really like set backs - would rather keep my hand off, but she came all the way to me and slow stepped even as I walked away. I tried to do smaller aways, and she still came back, and seemed to be backsliding. Her attitud in between "whoa's" was great she was pulling and sniffing away. I tried to bump up the level on the collar from 1/2 to 1, then 2 to get her to stop, but she still walked back trough continous pressure AND firm commands. NOW, she was frustrating me, but I didn't want to stop on a bad note. So, I took some breaths and walked her around and praised her and played a little while thinking. I realized I had done this wrong. I should know but where was my head?? I skipped the walk away step, I guess I was thinking she NEEDED to learn STOP away from me, which she does, but she especially needs the extra step because she does not "get" it. SO, I whoa'ed her and took started to step and she immediatly tried to creep, I bumped her on level 1 and stopped myself very ubruptly and tugged the lead straight up ... And she stopped as I was really not even a step away yet. We did this a time or two, and I started to take extra little half steps. Every single change was a struggle. I tried calling her back with here INSTEAD of release hoping to help her get the difference. It seemed to help a little and I kept pushing to end on a good note and hoping she would retain the progress. I was able to walk 3-4 feet away, but had to bump her every few times. The last 2 times went without any collar so we stopped and hopefully she will remember next time.