E-collar recommendations - Page 4

SS, you must be simply bursting with pride...I know I'd have been bawling my eyes dry if I'd been watching from the sidelines, after everything Gracie went through before being rescued and then everything she, you and your pack [especially poor Ranger] have had to contend with!  You never gave up on her when most others would have, and that says a lot about your character and the level of commitment you make to a dog when you take it into your heart. Brava, SS, and brava, Gracie. Few people will ever understand just how huge an accomplishment this certification is for her.

Thank you, Hexe. Yes, I was indeed very proud of her. And then the TD of my schutzhund club had to go and rain on my parade by refusing to let her come back to training until the muzzle order can be lifted!    And get this...it doesn't even APPLY in the township where we train, only in the township I'm living in!!

The hearing is supposed to take place in February, but I am going to see if they will move it up now that Gracie has the CGN. (Some sort of obedience certificate was necessary before they would lift it.)

I use Dogwidgets too... Its been fabulous, no problems recharging or anything, have had it for awhile. I loved that it has both vibration and shock options-- my Mal was skittish when I first got her, and so the vibration was great for giving correction without spooking her too bad. Now she's the opposite and has gained a lot of confidence. I've only had to use the shock mode like once or twice to get her attention, but its nice to know that I have something with more punch if the vibration just isn't cutting it. I never let her get too far away from me for it to not work, and as long as she has it on, she suddenly becomes very responsive (lol!!!). I recommend Dogwidgets for those who are on a budget but still want to get some quality off leash training :)

I've used Dogtra quite a bit and been happy, though there were a couple units that had inconsistency in stimulation levels.  The company was good about fixing them.  I've since switched to the Einstein collars and am very happy with them.  After my Dogtra remote jumped off my belt into a deep lake this summer and I had to go diving for it, I've been more than pleased to use the Einstein, which the remote itself is waterproof and floats.  I spend a lot of time around water, so this is a must.  I've been using the minis and am very pleased.  Especially the two-dog unit.  It's so much more user friendly and I like the smaller receiver boxes too.

I think the earlier versions of the SportDog collar may have had some issues from what I've been told.  I do have a newer SportDog version (7 settings; high, medium, low = 21 total settings) and I've been very happy with it.  I don't know what the price was for it separately as I purchased it in conjunction with private training lessons and a year of group training.

SS, what was your final decision with the ecollar situation?

No decision  I am still waiting to see if there's enough money in the bank to meet my mortgage payments at the end of the month. Yes, I know Dogtra and the other expensive collars are the ones everyone swears by, but I really CANNOT afford one, and meanwhile the dog's socialization training is on hold.

We are doing Rally-O classes together, so that does provide a bit of socialization, and, of course, she's with other dogs at home here, but always with a fence between her and the other dog(s). She's fine with that, and even wags her tail when sniffing noses with my other two dogs. But remove the barrier, and trouble is likely to start. As I live alone here, I do NOT want to find myself trying to single handedly break up a fight between two large dogs!

I see... Too bad you can't teach dogs to break up fights.

makes you wonder, do they really want to fight? or is the insecurity so strong that they are in constant fear of their well being....

LF, she's dominant, has poor social skills and very strong prey drive/aggression. She seems to want to play, but the the next thing you know, she jumps on the other dog, who growls at her and backs off because she's so rough. Recently, I had an old, sweet, overweight, very laid back lab here, and decided to test her out with him. I let the lab loose in the fenced area. Gracies was muzzled and on a long line. The lab sniffed around for awhile and finally came over to say 'hello'. Gracie stretched towards  him, sniffing, then made a short lunge at him, almost as if she wanted to play. No growling, no snarling. The lab went ballistic, and I pulled her away from him because I thought this old, sweet dog was going to attack her!  Once he calmed down, he was shaking his head, so I thought MAYBE he'd been punched in the ear by the muzzle. Later, though, I checked his ears, and found they were really gunky, and he was shaking his head a lot and scratching them. I am still wondering just what she did that made this old, laid back dog want to attack her. The vibes she gives off without even growling, snarling or hackling frighten most other dogs.

She wants to bite or nip the other dog, almost like it's part of playing (no off switch for the prey drive? Still trying to figure this one out!)  Basically, she's got to learn that biting is not acceptable.

Fortunately, she has zero aggression towards humans. She wants attention so badly that she'd make a horrible watch dog!   The hardest thing to teach her for the CGN was not to break the sit so she could get closer to the person we were greeting!