Recommend me a good value/quality training collar system

[covingtonhouse]

I am looking for a multiple dog training collar system. There are so many out there, and I'm not familiar with all the bells and whistles available. I need to be able to expand to three dogs eventually. I will probably NOT be using in inclement weather, or submerging in water. Basically it will be for obedience and off-leash training. I would like as cheap as possible, without giving up too much quality wise. Thoughts, suggestions, and real life experiences are appreciated!! Range is pretty important, as well as ease of use for multiple kids and my wife. Thanks in advance!!

[antonio]

Love my Tri Tronics G3

[Sleighter]

I like the sportdog fieldtrainer. Not too expensive but works well for me.

http://www.sportdog.com/dog-training/e-collars/fieldtrainer

[lewdogg21]

I don't know what you are thinking about spending but cheap really isn't in the good training collar vocab I think.

I have a two dog system, you stated you may need 3 which will really limit your choices. I went with this dogtra.

http://www.dogtrainingcollars.com/reviews/dogtra-300m

I like the vibration/shock combo as opposed to the beep/shock combo. It's silent and I rarely have to use the nick feature since they understand what the vibration means.

Now that I think about it, what kind of dogs and what sorts of trainings/range do you anticipate? If you are running hounds or other dogs way out there then you are really into specialized range. Also you may not think you need waterproof but if your dog comes across a stream,pond, mud hole they may decide to lay down in it and your collar may short out.

[jmonte35]

Tri Tronics Sport Basic....best collar for the money. Going on 4 years with no issues.

Really anything Tri Tronics brand is the best IMO. Sport Dog is good and there are other good brands but Tri Tronics make a quality product made in America!

[bigboarstopper]

Tri tronics classic 70 g3. Up to 6 dogs. 6 stim levels. Collar beeper. 2 mile range.

[DirtyDave]

- and put it on yourself and zap yourself a couple times first. Just so you know what you doing to your dog.

This is the first thing I did when I bought my first collar.

[jmonte35]

Enlightening wasn't it?

The trainer I worked with on my first dog made me do it before he'd let me use the collar.

FWIW, he was old school and never used an e-collar that I saw - and in his day he trained hundreds of dogs, many to MH and FC levels. I didn't think he owned until one day I was asking about them and he busted out a state of the art two dog set.

Hunted and trained with and without. I'll never have my dog off leash without one ever. I consider them a safety item now more than anything. Whistle only works so far especially on a breezy day.

Obviously dogs have been trained for many many years without them but training with one is far safer for the dog and makes training much faster.

I know this will come with some argument but a high energy dog will break on something at some point and when you have the collar you can stop him quickly. I had my pup out training on upland birds and a bird took flight and I missed the bird. He kept chase and would have crossed an active road. Hit him with the collar and he stopped and realized what was going on and came back immediately.

Training only goes so far...you have to eventually take him off his lead. In the days without collars you had to chase the pup down until you got his full attention.

You can say all you want that a trained dog won't do that but eventually it happens as they start testing you.

Once my pups are fully trained I rarely have to use the collar but they ALWAYS where the collar when off lead just in case they get a wild hair up their butt.

Way too many close calls back in the day without them to not use one now.

[covingtonhouse]

So basically I have a large German Shepherd, an Australian cattledog/healer mix, and a beagle. I',m not hunting them, but they need to be able to go out in public together, and not mix it up with themselves or other dogs. They have been crated, and or confined behind fence most of the time, or leashed. I'd like to get them off leash individually first, then as a group after they learn the ropes individually. The beagle is going to be the hardest as he's blind and deaf to anything that doesn't grab his noses attention first. I don't want cheap, but I do want the best value for my dollar. If it means biting the bullet now, rather than having to plug and play more equipment later, I'd rather bite the bullet. buy the best only cry once kind of thing, but I don't need a lot of extraneous features if I have a choice. Range is most important, right along with ease of use. I've seen tri tronics, they look good, and sportdog sounds familiar too. Best vendors to get these from? I'm in Norcal. And yes, 1st thing is to self zap if you expect to handle the remote at my house.

[nastyhabts26]

Is this for the wife and multiple kids or the dog?

[covingtonhouse]

Is this for the wife and multiple kids or the dog?

S#**, i'd have to have a six collar expansion chip for that... that's way out of my price range. I'm thinking of a timeshare schedule...you know, red, blue and white time...

[covingtonhouse]

[QUOTE=ScottB;12571673]. I use these modes as a silent recall and its perfect for when they are out of sight. Still like my pealess whistle better though.

[/ QUOTE]

So I take it you use a verbal command reinforced with the vibrate/beep when initially training??

[bigboarstopper]

I have to disagree with Scottb in regards to not using the beeper or vibrate option as warning.

The way I have always used my collars (in training) is beeper first as a warning (3-5 seconds), then shock at the lowest setting (3-5 seconds), and then graduate to higher settings in the same time interval in training purposes. The point of this philosophy is to give the dog (1) Time to understand that the behavior that it's currently doing is wrong. (2) if it continues it will be shocked. (3) If it continues after the shock then it will be shocked in higher settings as long as the negative behavior continues. With stubborn dogs or dogs with higher pain thresholds i simply start with the beeper then skip to the second or third setting and then graduate in those same time intervals into a setting that induces compliance.

This method has worked better for me than just about any other that I've used over the course of almost 20 years and dozens of dogs I've used it on. And my favorite part about this method is the elimination of the shock option entirely as the primary means of correction. By the time I'm done with collar training the beeper is the only button I ever have to push

My conclusion is that when I use the collar system in this way (in training) the point is to not really teach a dog to stop what its doing because of a shock but rather to educate the dog about the negative behavior itself at that moment. Graduating from beeper to lowest shock setting to higher setting to higher setting ect, really gives the dog an understanding that what it's doing at that particular moment is wrong because the more it does this behavior the shock gradually increases until it becomes intolerable and stops. The lesson is learned that much faster when the dog can truly understand that collar correction directly correlates to its current behavior.

Here's an example of what I think is what not to do. I know a guy who uses a completely different method. He breaks his dogs off of cows by letting the dog chase cows then he shocks them on a fairly high setting. His thought process is to shock the dog long and hard giving the dog a message it won't forget. What I see when I see this method used is a dog running around chasing cows suddenly feel extreme sudden pain and panic. The dog will often run in random circles biting at themselves thinking it's being attacked by something behind their necks. At this point the dog has no clue what is happening or why it's feeling this sudden random pain. The message to the dog not to chase cows is completely lost. All it knows is that it felt pain and fear from an unknown source. Often times the dog will spend the rest of the day right next to the owner fearful of whatever was out in the field that hurt it. If the dog does make the connection between the shock and the cows often times the dog will be apprensive to hunt or simply stay next to its owner whenever cattle are around.

The beeper first method has been golden for me. I very rarely ever have to actually use the shock option, when I do shock its usually at a pain level that I could tolerate on myself at a continuous level. They recover twice as fast, the dogs never get collar shy and they seem to learn faster about chasing trash game and just about any other behavior they shouldn't be doing.

[vintagearms]

The Dogtra iQ trainer along with verbal commands has been very helpful in training my barking dog.

[Desert_s10]

See #2 if in CA & considering Tri Tronics

http://www.tritronics.com/

With that said, I use this model & as an amature, find it very user friendly & capable of controlling up to 3 collars

http://www.tritronics.com/sport-combo-g3-exp.html