to shock or not to shock?

[APCfishing]

So I have a 3yr old black lab who loves to pheasant hunt(like all labs).

His only down fall is he turns deaf when he's on a bird, especially if its running. The natural reaction is to slap on a E-collar. I just want to be careful not to zap my dogs naturla hunting drive away.

How do you guys suggest I go about introducing the e-collar?

I just dont want him to associate birds with zaps...

[machohorn]

Use the collar at home to reinforce commands, like "Here" Come, sit wistle etc. say sit and give the clooar a little nick, keep going up on the pressure )power) until you have 100% obeidience. Then when hunting leave the collar on his neck tell him to sit, open the door to the truck, wait a minute then say here/come as soon as he clears the door say sit, then walk a few feet away if he moves b4 you say here bring him back to the same spot, sit then move away he will get the message that YOU give the commands and he listens. I am not afraid of him running down a bird what I want is for the 1st time he bumps a skunk I don't want him sniffing around where he should not be. Just use the collar to re-inforce your commands but you have to condition him to it first. just work with him from now until open season and he should be just fine, WHen my dog challenges me I just show him the pager and say :Want some of this" and he knows.

[APCfishing]

thanks for the advice.

Anyone have any recommendations for e-collars? prefer something below 150.00

[Todd Caswell]

Spend the money on a quality collar TT or Dogtra, sport dog and innotek are junk. And spend the money on a good collar conditioning DVD a e-collar is the best raining tool you will ever own if used and introduced properly. Fowldawgs 1 with Rick Stawski of Fineline Retrievers is very resonable and good.

[BARNEZ]

I just bought the sportdog 800, it is like night and day. She always was good for a couple trails, then she felt like doing her own thing, no matter what I said. Now, when she sees a rabbit or squirel, she looks at me to see if it would be ok to chase it. I dont use it at home, just in the woods then when I put it on her she knows its game time until I take it off. Now we both have fun hunting not just her, I just had to spend $200 to make us a team again.

[erikh45]

I have a TT that I bought last year. I was shopping for one last summer and found out that they seel refurbished sets with the same warranty as a new one. I saved some money and have had no problems with it whatsoever.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Spend the money on a quality collar TT or Dogtra, sport dog and innotek are junk. And spend the money on a good collar conditioning DVD a e-collar is the best raining tool you will ever own if used and introduced properly. Fowldawgs 1 with Rick Stawski of Fineline Retrievers is very resonable and good.

I will second that Sport Dog is junk. I've had the Wetland 2000? For about 4 or 5 years. It has been replaced AT LEAST 10 times for a few different problems, always with few questions asked. When it works, it does its job, but when they quit replacing for free I'll be getting a TT. Start with the best and eliminate the headaches.

[vister]

my trick is to beep before i shock everytime. this way when they hear the beep, they know a jolt is coming up next if they dont listen. works everytime, now all i do is beep the collar, havent shocked for a long time. and i have sportdog, which i have nothing bad to say at all. collar was turned on for three days straight and never went dead. maybe thats good, or bad, but the collar works phenomenally

[pulleye16]

buy a book or video from a respectable trainer. Follow they directions very carefully and don't cause more harm to your dog.