Best/Most economical electronic dog collar?

[prov1900]

I have a 90 pound Chesapeake Bay Retriever. What is the best/most economical electronic dog caller? Something that works in the water as well, i.e. waterproof. Don't need something with a ton of range and am not looking to spend $500.00. She is more of a walleye hound than a hunting dog. I don't hunt like I used to, just fish. Thanks for any help. Looking to correct (bad) behaviors in the yard and boat.

[gspman]

You might look at sport dog. They seem to get decent reviews and I think they are a little cheaper, I haven't checked prices though. Dogtra, Tritronics, and DT Systems seem to be the best quality.

[Blackshack!]

Prov, if you are willing to spend up to $500.00 dollars on a ecollar, will be be able to buy any brand you would like. I have a sportdog invisible fence and a sportdog e collar and I am very happy with them. You can get a sportdog 400 that has a range of 400 yds for $150.00, the remote is very small. thanks mark

[bnbrk94]

blackshack said the same thing I was going to. I have a half chessie/lab. I bought the sportdog with the 3/4 mile range and have never needed that kind of range. I think that the 400 yard one would be just fine. Once the dog learns respect for the collar they will not be straying far anyways. I have had good luck with my sportdog.

[SnoManX]

Last fall, me and 2 other buddies all bought the Sport Dog collars because we had just got pups. I bought the Sport 400 and they had Sport 800 models, we all had troubles with the collars holding a charge longer than a couple of hours. Just called the company and they gladly replaced them. I moved this winter and needed a collar with a half mile range since town is now a 1/4 mile away. I went with Tri-Tronics 100 refurb that I got for $150. There is a HSOforum that sells new and refurb DT, Dogtra, and Tri-Tronic collars for very resonable prices. Let me know if you want the name of the HSOforum and I can email it to you.

[Shack]

I do not condone shock collars. If you train a dog right, they are not needed. I grouse hunt a lot and bought a Tri-Tronics 65 BPR. I got it at the Game Fair in Ramsey a couple of years ago for around $350-400. The reason I bought the collar is because is has a motion sensor/ beacon to find your dog. It also sounds a hawk cry when you dog is on point. I bought it to proceed in training my lab to point and in deep cover, it is nice for knowing were your dog is. I think it does help with keeping the grouse from flushing. The collar beeps every 20 seconds. You always know were your dog is, so you do not shoot her in a thick stand. I do not use shock or Vib., because she listens to me. I spent a lot of time with her. That is cheaper than buying a collar to speed things up or ruins things. Be careful when using collar’s. I only condone when using on a dog that has been brought in to late or is a mix breed. When used right, the collar is the only way with these kind of dogs. I love my dog and I love my kids. I would never shock my kids if they miss behaved. I would teach them the correct way on how to do things. This is just my advice and not rule.

[LABS4ME]

Quote:

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I only condone when using on a dog that has been brought in to late or is a mix breed. When used right, the collar is the only way with these kind of dogs.

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???

A collar is only for mixed breeds?

Good Luck!

Ken

[gspman]

A dog is a dog. Mixed breed or not it doesn't matter. When used properly e-collars are a fabulous tool. They are also a great safety tool. In many ways an e-collar is an extension of the check cord.

Secondly no dog is a robot. It will make mistakes when it's off the cord and out there a ways and sometimes this can be in a awkward or dangerous situation.

Say your dog jumps a deer and is chasing it toward a road and a grain truck is coming down the road. To many dogs running a deer is one of the great joys in life and no amount of yelling is going to turn it. How are you going to turn that dog without an e-collar before it gets turned into road hamburger by that grain truck? I had a dog do this several years ago. I let her get within 5' of the deer and reached out and touched her with the e-collar. She never chased a deer again.

Thirdly you should be using the lowest amount of stimulation to get the desired response. Most of the time this is not a punitive shock but a slight sensation. Depending on the situation the level that I use on my dog isn't a level that I can even feel. Done right it's not inhumane.

In the "old days" trainers had a heck of a time deer breaking dogs. One tactic was to put a dog in a barrel with some deer hides in it, seal the barrel and roll it down a hill. Is a e-collar more humane than that? You bet. The other option back then was every time it ran a deer you'd run the dog down on horseback and beat the living tar out of the dog (I've seen this and didn't like it). Is that humane? Nope.

The e-collar is far more humane than a lot of training methods or training tools and is a great overlay and reinforcement tool. Quite honestly it's a superior training tool.

I will agree that used incorrectly an e-collar can be very inhumane.

You can still do it the "old fashioned" way and there's nothing wrong with that and if you want to do that I think it's great.

[burl]

How bout the vise grip on the ear trick,heard about that one at a training session one time,could not believe some one would do that.Went through some dog training with a gal from elk river years ago,some of the best trained dogs in the class were mixed breed.Burl.

[Shack]

---

???

A collar is only for mixed breeds?

Good Luck!

Ken

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Ken and all,

I mentioned mixed breed, because of the pups I have helped buddies train in past. When I first started training dog’s on the side, I thought any dog or pup was trainable. A two year old male German short hair that does not sit, come or stay takes a shock collar to be trained. This type of dog even with got history in blood line was brought in to late. On the other hand when I took on a German Sheppard/ lab/ beagle/ what ever it was, it was only a 2-3 month old. It did come around, but unfortunately it did take a shock collar to train. The thing still runs into trees and has a genetic barking thing no matter what we did we could not brake it. I know there are some mixed breeds out there or maybe a lot of them that are good field pups or dogs. Kudos’ to trainer’s. Try to sell mix breed pups or mutt pups for $300,$600,$1500,$2500 or even $5000 a pup. You will be owning them for a long time. Now my best friend makes a killing at palmarinan/ shiatsu mix dogs, but that’s a whole different story. In the end, I do not want offend anyone. I take every view on these boards and think them threw. I really try not to knock people and what they say. I just try to give my advice. My advice on my last post is training and patience is a way better approach than throwing a shock color on and hoping for the best. I live in the middle of the woods and have a lot of deer around. Luckily I have never had an issue with her chasing deer. I do know there are a lot of gun happy farmers and others around that have shot dog’s for chasing deer. I would never shoot a dog for chasing deer. Would anyone else do it? !!!!!!!!!AGAIN, THE ABOVE IS JUST MY ADVISE AND NOT RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ReelTimes]

When used correctly, I think e-collars can be a great tool. The ability to time the correction at the "right time" can be invaluable. Unfortunately, sometimes people can use them incorrectly and make things worse. But then, that can be true of any training/correction technique (e-collar or otherwise).

[hattrk4me]

I personally like the "Dogtra" collars. they have a great range. It has a vibrate and a nick option which is great. especially if you have a soft hearted dog. I use the vibe most of the time and works great for correction.

[Shack]

ReelTimes,

Good note! Well said.

[Bryce]

Any chance we can see this dog run anywhere this summer? No need to be a formal event, there are many informal events that are plenty of fun. Very intrigued to see this dog in action.

[Shack]

Yes, I would like to get her out. Please post when there are local events. Arpil, June and first part of july are had for me, because I run a landscape supply bussiness on the side. I hall colored mulch, black dirt and aggregate. I also have an "03" S185. With in weeks I will busy after work and weekends. But let me know when something is coming up.

[Bryce]

We ran a small event last summer in late August in Glencoe. Kind of an upstart Pheasants Forever type group. Like a $50 entry fee but money is going to what seemed like a good cause and a supper is included. 2 timed retrieves. One water, one land. Both short in nature - between 50 and 75 yards. Top ten times run off for dog of the year after an auction process in which the winning bidder will recieve the donated prize associated with the place the dog ends up in. We were invited to watch one of our puppies run and had a good time. Gonna try and pull our young dog out of the kennel for the weekend if she's not sceduled to run somewhere else.

Sorry prov, it's kind of like a ford/chevy thing but I prefer Tritronics.

[Shack]

Bryce,

I figured these events would be later in summer. Good! After I posted last night, I got another ear full from the wife. I already am a very advide fisherman. During spring and early summer any free time I devote to this, wich my wife informed my of last night again. Also convinced her in joining a car club, because my other passion/Obsession

is hotrod's. I will post image of my hunny below. After talking with her last night, she gave me the old speech about how I do to much and remember the family. I think by late summer I should have some time to go to a dog event.

Is the one you speek of a field trial or a Gun club event.

Thanks! The car club I am joining is Pair A Dice Cruisers. Anyone heard of them. They have a great web site. Check it out. They have great forums to. They just started website!

[fishnhooks]

I think this is starting to be who's dogs is better. Shack, I think that you might be as proud of your Lab as I am of mine. (I got him from a humanes society).He got me hunting Pheasants and he has more fun than I do. Shock collar... yes. Need it.. probably not. Got LUCKY... absolutely!!!!! 3rd in place over-all at the dock jump at the game fair...YES!!!! You can definitely be proud of your dog, as anyone would be!!! As my pup is laying at my feet right now,I look forward to LABS, SetterGuys and several other peoples suggestions that make my learning experiences better with my pup!

"hooks"

[cw642]

Shack. If you live in Princton you are only a short drive from Four Brooks Field trial site. Most week ends someone is running some sort of FT or training exersizes up there. Go check them out.

Back to the e collar topic, I have used Innotek for many years. I have not had a problem with them. I also use their remote launchers for training my pointers. The nice thing about them is I can control 6 launchers and 2 dogs with beeper collars all at the same time with 1 remote.

A collar is a very effective tool in the right hands, but as stated before it can ruin a dog very fast in the wrong hands. Only after a dog has been worked and knows what a command means should a collar be introduced. I've hunted with a few guys that cant understand why a dog is a boot licker when it's parents were both CH. The main reason is they threw a collar on it and shocked the f out of it before establishing a knowlege of basic commands. In most of these cases the e collar was not to blame. The trainer was too dumb to know how to use a collar proprly.

[Shack]

Fishnhooks,

All our dogs are great! I never wanted to give the impression that my Dakota is any better that any others. As a matter of fact, the week spot in her is the dock jump at Game Fair. When she was around 8 or 9 months, I brought her with and had never even thought about doing the dock jump. I went during the week and there was almost no wait. There was a good sized crowd though. I felt confident she would do it, but realized I had never had her in the water before. I do not duck hunt, so that’s the reason why. She sat at my side and waited for my command. The dummy was thrown. I gave her the signal and she bolted like a bat out of hell. I felt very good for those first couple of seconds and then it hit. She put on the brakes right at the end of the dock. She sat there for a second and people started to laugh. I sank in failure. At that moment, she bolted back to shore on dock and went in water at shore and swim out to dummy and retrieved it back to my hand. So I did save a little face in the end. We have never attempted the dock jump again. I still have not had her in water since. I just do not have time. I know there are much better dogs out there and I do not brag about her at all in my personal life. Really, I only have started talking out loud since I started to post on the hunting forums about her. I can not stand people who sit and say there dog is the best. Believe me, I have buddies that do that. It drives me nuts. I have trained several dogs now in the past four years for close friends and word of mouth people. Not for money, because it is fun and self gratifying. The people that approach me, to train there dogs were people that have been hunting with Dakota and my self. They have seen her in action and that’s what they wanted. I am no one special and my dog is the same. It was the dedication between us that worked out in the end and a patient wife. So in the end, no one should take anything I or anyone says to hart. I am just here to give my advice I have learned over the years to help my fellow F.M.er's. People can take what they read or leave it.

A fellow F.M.er,

SHACKBASH

[Shack]

Cw,

Good post!

[cw642]

Very nice Car!

Truthfully, I wish collars were still out of the price range for home trainers. Not because they are not effective, but because they are abused. I think that a good $30 check cord is a better training tool than any e-collar no matter what breed or age. Most of my training is done with a cc, and only after the dog is trained well past what most would expect does the e-collar come into play. Even then the proper techniques have to be applied. One bad mistake while steading a point can cost you weeks of retraining.

So to me I would say spend the 30 bucks on a tangle free floating check cord. Learn the proper way to use that then if you must, buy a collar with infinate settings, and a tone or vibrate warning. It really doesn't matter what brand, as long as it has the correct level of stimulation.

[Shack]

AAAAAAh. Good point! The check cord, a must for a self trainer. I used one when training my dog. If they do not repsond during training, the check cord is a valuable tool. Like CW said, it is cheap and impossible to cause damage to dog during training. Instills the distance barrier for hunting aswell.

[FishAndHuntMN]

SnoManX, Shoot me the email for the HSOforum if you have a chance. Thanks.

r22hawk (at) hot mail ((Contact Us Please)) com