ECollar for my Britt

[Thymallus]

Hi Folks,
its about time, or even a bit late, to get an ecollar for my 10 month-old Brittany. I'm looking at the Dogtra 2500. Anything else to be considered of that type? The Dogtra is quite small, has a lot of range and the beeper /pager function looks to be good. It's expensive, that's for sure, but perhaps worth it in the long run. The other feature possible would be the gps tracker but I am not sure if that is worth the extra money for a pointer- great for hounds I imagine.

Any opinions appreciated.

[trkyhntr21]

I use tritronics/garmin and also run a separate GPS on my pointers. Not familiar with the dogtra collar's but I have some bird launchers from them and they have been trouble free.

[terrym]

I first started out with a Tritronics with my Brittany and quickly switched to the Dogtra 2500 T&B. I consider it fabulous. It has the range and the built in beeper is very rugged. Works packed with snow and ice.
i also have a Garmin Astro 320 but rarely use it much as my dog doesn't chase deer and naturally checks in.
if you do buy the Dogtra I would install the longer prongs that come with it as Britts have quite a bit of hair around the neck and the short ones didn't work with my dog.

[jaycee]

Before getting and using one on your Britt, you should have your dog well trained in basic obedience.
You should also be well versed in how , when and where to use the ECOLLAR,many dogs have been ruined by the indiscriminate use of ECOLLARS by their owners who have not first learned how and when to use them, and have not collar conditioned their dogs first. Be very careful with the use of Ecollars if you decide to go that route.

[lifeOfBarney]

Before getting and using one on your Britt, you should have your dog well trained in basic obedience.
You should also be well versed in how , when and where to use the ECOLLAR,many dogs have been ruined by the indiscriminate use of ECOLLARS by their owners who have not first learned how and when to use them, and have not collar conditioned their dogs first. Be very careful with the use of Ecollars if you decide to go that route.

Good point.

I'm personally looking at Garmin tritronics.
My toller naturally checks in as well, so I don't think I'll need the GPS feature for him.

Done lots of ecollar training with 2 labs in the past. Great results when done right.

[DanO]

I use that collar on my Cocker Spaniel. She has difficulty with distance and can get out of gun range in tight bush. The beeper is invaluable in bringer her back. Never had to use the Nick function much, maybe once a fall when she just gets completely birdy and will not return because she is in hot pursuit. Trained her on it but I find the beeper is all she needs as a reminder.

[be2man]

I use that collar on my Cocker Spaniel. She has difficulty with distance and can get out of gun range in tight bush. The beeper is invaluable in bringer her back. Never had to use the Nick function much, maybe once a fall when she just gets completely birdy and will not return because she is in hot pursuit. Trained her on it but I find the beeper is all she needs as a reminder.

My experience as well. The locate function on the beeper collar lets them know you're looking for them and to start heading back in. The combination of whatever your "get in here closer" command is and the locate beep is usually enough as they soon learn the nick is coming next if the bell's not heading my way in a reasonable time.

[terrym]

They get collar smart very quickly and then the Dogtra becomes a locating device. I run a bell and set collar to beep on point only. Haven't needed to nick him for a few years actually. I leave that set at 0 to avoid accidental nicks.

[Thymallus]

I don't think I will be using the shock aspect of the collar very much- mostly I can see using it if she corners a porky or a skunk or heads for the road. She is not a very hard dog to work with at least not so far. My problem has been that bells on the collar do not seem to carry very far and when she is pointing she is often impossible to see.

[Thymallus]

Thanks everyone for the advice so far.

What I really want these days is an electronic collar that cleans the dog in the morning after training- that sure would be handy!