E-Collar Questions?

[CHSNGSTLHD]

Hi guys, looking for your experiences with various brands.  Like, dislikes, reccomendations. Also, at what age did you start your dog out with it? I have read around 7-8 months, kinda depends on the dog. I am trying to keep it around $300.  I am looking at the tritronics sport basic and sport upland g3. Do you guys actually use the beeper functions? The sport basic is about $100 cheaper then the upland, but no beeper.  Thanks for your help! 

[sled]

  I got the tri tronics for my shorthair.   I put it on him after the first time the son of a bi@tch started chasing pheasants on the release site and wouldnt come back.  Worked damn good.  He's a good hunter now but sometimes needs a reminder to stay close.

[Stilly bay]

what type of dog are we talking about?

I like tri tronics. you can mix and match most of their products (all G3's are compatible except the Jr I believe). start out with sport combo then later on if you feel like you need a better transmitter ( longer range) then buy what ever g3 pro transmitter you want without having to buy a whole new kit and kaboodle and save some $.

most tri tronics collars/transmitters have a pager function that allows you to communicate with your dog long distance with vibration or a quiet beep. I love this feature and couldn't fathom being with out it.

I have not used the accessory beeper, but I have heard a lot of good things about it. just for the fact you can operate the beeper with the transmitter to locate your dog should make it invaluable.  my current dog hates the sound of a beeper so I went with an astro.

double check but I think you can buy the sport basic and add a beeper to it down the road, the beeper takes the place of the pager once its tuned in.

as to what age you start the pup with the collar? it really depends on the training program you are going with.  and make sure you do go with a program that involves collar conditioning, e collars are great tools unless the person using one is a tool. do lots of research and only use a collar with the utmost discretion.

its also a good Idea to test the various levels out on yourself before the dog, hardly anyone does this and I think more dogs are ruined because of it.

I usually put the collar on the pup from the beginning of its training, I don't actually turn the collar on and use it until much further down the road. my current lab didn't get collar conditioning until he was almost a year, but he wore his E collar EVERY TIME we played or trained and he gets really stoked when I put it around his neck. some dogs will get wise to a collar and know they only have to follow order when its on.

[good2go]

Stilly has good comments there. I agree with him about shocking yourself on the high side of the collar before you weld your dogs ass shut just because you can. E collars are a great tool if not abused. The last Tri Tronics I bought came with a video that was actually pretty good.
You might want to check out Collar Clinic for a better price on e collars. They are reconditioned but I believe that they also have a warranty. The customer service was very good when I delt with them a few years ago.   

[HighCountryHunter88]

+1 tri tronics they are a great product!!

[CHSNGSTLHD]

"what type of dog are we talking about?"

Sorry,  I have a five month old gsp. She is awesome but lots of work too! :-)

[CoryTDF]

try this one. Tri-tronics are my #1 choice.

http://www.gundogsupply.com/tri-tronics-g3-sport-basic.html

[wildweeds]

With collars it's really not necessary to go with all the bells and whistles ............ it's more stuff to have a potential problem with.The KISS method is much better I've found............... I use the basic model,I had a sport 50 that was almost 10 years old before I lost the transmitter on the South Dakota praries.I had a sport 65 BPR as a backer upper and it still works.Both collars were wore alot by a bunch of different dogs without one problem.

  As a side note....................  strapping on a collar and zapping the dog for chasing birds is really not a great idea,the dog should be taught the command first with a checkcord,then have the command overlayed with the collar at just the right time of disobediance.A collar is nothing more than a cordless checkcord IMO.Depending on the age of the dog..................... you can shock the desire for birds out of the dog and end up with a pretty nice pet that has not much interest in hunting.Timing is everything and having to ask more than once is nothing more than teaching the dog to count. Ask once and remind with a tap of the button on the proper setting.I've seen dogs that could count to 4,they ignored the first 3 requests and then responded to the 4th without stimulation,that's because the dog was trained to do so.

[ghosthunter]

I have a Flyway Special from Tritronic. Got it from the Collar Store. I had another collar that they took on trade in.

Never had to use it till she was year old. Cured the problem of not coming with the bird when she was a teen ager. She always wore it and got excited when I would put it on, but I hardly had to use it.

[ghosthunter]

With collars it's really not necessary to go with all the bells and whistles ............ it's more stuff to have a potential problem with.The KISS method is much better I've found............... I use the basic model,I had a sport 50 that was almost 10 years old before I lost the transmitter on the South Dakota praries.I had a sport 65 BPR as a backer upper and it still works.Both collars were wore alot by a bunch of different dogs without one problem.

  As a side note....................  strapping on a collar and zapping the dog for chasing birds is really not a great idea,the dog should be taught the command first with a checkcord,then have the command overlayed with the collar at just the right time of disobediance.A collar is nothing more than a cordless checkcord IMO.Depending on the age of the dog..................... you can shock the desire for birds out of the dog and end up with a pretty nice pet that has not much interest in hunting.Timing is everything and having to ask more than once is nothing more than teaching the dog to count. Ask once and remind with a tap of the button on the proper setting.I've seen dogs that could count to 4,they ignored the first 3 requests and then responded to the 4th without stimulation,that's because the dog was trained to do so.

 

From the begining,Here is here,stay is stay, You have to set the the line. They learn so fast to slip.
I had a check cord on mine up to a year depending on what we were doing. And went back to it often when teaching new stuff.
The collar teaches the dog NOTHING that is your job. The collar lets the dog know when they snub their nose at the rules that the hand of god can touch them.

[Stilly bay]

"what type of dog are we talking about?"

Sorry,  I have a five month old gsp. She is awesome but lots of work too! :-)

if your going to go the tritronics route, skip the sport and go straight to the Pro model transmitter. the pros have a one mile range, the sports only go half a mile.

like wild weeds said, keep it simple. also talk to a trainer about the proper use of an Ecollar if you can, IMO 90% of the people using Ecollars today just don't get it! they are about subtlety and timing not shock and awe.

on a side note, last season my dog was on point and some other hunter's GSP came from out of nowhere and backed my dog perfectly! it was pretty cool to see, until the dog's owner started frying the him for not coming when it was called. first the GSP flinched as you could hear its collar go off, then it "YARPED" as his owner turned up the intensity. that was probably the last time that dog will ever back another,  just because his owner couldn't see what was going on and decided to zap the chit out of his dog because he thought it was off misbehaving.
the morale of the story is unless you are one hundred percent sure of what is going on, don't use the collar.

sounds like you got lucky, but thats a great way to teach a dog to blink birds.
  I got the tri tronics for my shorthair.   I put it on him after the first time the son of a bi@tch started chasing pheasants on the release site and wouldnt come back.  Worked damn good.  He's a good hunter now but sometimes needs a reminder to stay close.

sounds like you got lucky, but thats a great way to teach a dog to blink birds.

[duck1187]

I have a dogtra 2 dog with a beeper i love it .i wont hunt my gsp with out it, not for the shock but the beeper i use the locate feature alot in heavy cover.

[CHSNGSTLHD]

Thanks for the help guys!  For those of you that have the Tritronics sport basic, doesn't it have a tone/buzzer button that could be used like the beeper?  Just curious.  Also, thank you for the training tips.  I have been following the "Perfect Start" video series by Perection Kennels.  I really like how they show how the dogs react to various situations the very FIRST time they are introduced to something.  They show the whole process, not just the finished product! 

http://www.gundogsupply.com/pestbidogtrd.html?utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=googlebase&cvsfa=2266&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=504553544249444f47545244

[Stilly bay]

Thanks for the help guys!  For those of you that have the Tritronics sport basic, doesn't it have a tone/buzzer button that could be used like the beeper?  Just curious. 

No, the tone/ buzzer  is pretty quiet, you might be able to hear it if it wear strapped to your neck. I really like this feature and use it in stead a whistle to call my dogs in.

[ttown]

I have a Dogtra and use it all the time.  It has worked perfect with no regrets..  I would get another.  Lola gets so excited when I get it out... 

[GrousePointer]

I use the Dogtra 3502 Super X and the new TriTronics beeper. I also strap a Garmin Astro on my dogs.

But I run Pointers.

Garmin bought TriTronics last year and they have just rolled out a combo  e-collar/gps unit that looks promising. Basically it combines the Astro with a TriTronics collar in one unit. If you're into trialing it's worthless (no e-collars allowed) but for a hunting dog, and assuming you have the dough to spend, it's probably worth it for peace of mind all the way around.

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

[Cascade_fisher]

The Alpha is nice but SPENDY. It allows you to ping other people in your party or track other dogs (synced ahead of time) which is kinda cool.  Two people I hunt with have them so we will see how they do this season.
 I have the last generation of Astro and prefer to have the two collars (GPS and e-collar) separate just like I like my camera to be separate from my GPS but to each their own.
I use a Dogtra 2502 T&B that I like a lot. Most trainers seem to use TriTronics but that may be the price break that they get as well.