Need advice on first E-Collar purchase

brandbll · Post by **brandbll** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 7:31 pm

So I'm planning on training my first hunting dog. She's bloodhound mix. I mostly do Grouse hunting, so we'll see how she does, but she's a year old now and shows promise. I want the collar for hunting primarily, but I've been having some training issues as well. When she is off-leash outdoors and it is play time or prey time(i.e. looking for/ chasing squirrels or birds) she just does not come when she is called and basically just tunes me out. So that's something I'm really hoping to work on, especially when I take her mushroom hunting with me in a couple months.

So I was initially going to write this to ask advice on what collar to get under $200. I've been looking on craiglist a while, and I was looking at the Garmin Delta XC, and I was so close to pulling the trigger on it last night. I wanted something with that range and I liked that it had the vibrate call and the tone call on it, because I'm ultimately hoping that is what can get her attention. Then I did some extra research right before and I'm glad i backed out. Way too many awful reviews for me to take the chance. I was going to ask about what collar I should ask about but then I found a deal on craiglist. It's a Dogtra 2900NCP Advanced series collar. About a year and a half old, looks to be in great shape. I'm going to get it for $150. Am I making the right choice on this one? It doesn't have the tone option but i think the vibrate should be enough as an extra alternative to stimulation. Obivously it's craiglist, so you never know exaclty what you are going to get. Supposedly their dog passed away so that's why they are getting rid of it. But in terms of this being better than a new Delta XC, or something similar, would this be the route to go? Any input is greatly appreciated!

GSPONPOINT32 · Post by **GSPONPOINT32** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:35 pm

I'm sure others will chime in but IMO you will be best served studying a proven program for dog training. The e-collar isn't what trains the dog. It reinforces a known command. To teach the command you will need knowledge which can be found in countless free books at the library or on YouTube if your pressed for cash. If you care I run a sportdog and a garmin GPS on my dog and have zero complaints. Check collar clinic for a good used collar or I found my sportdog for sale on here new but discounted because the owner won it. Good luck and go slow.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dakotazeb · Post by **Dakotazeb** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:46 pm

GSPONPOINT32 wrote:I'm sure others will chime in but IMO you will be best served studying a proven program for dog training. The e-collar isn't what trains the dog. It reinforces a known command. To teach the command you will need knowledge which can be found in countless free books at the library or on YouTube if your pressed for cash. If you care I run a sportdog and a garmin GPS on my dog and have zero complaints. Check collar clinic for a good used collar or I found my sportdog for sale on here new but discounted because the owner won it. Good luck and go slow.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would second this.

Back to the collars. Garmin and Dogtra are two of the best e-collars out there. My advice is not to go cheap on a collar. An extra $100 spent now may be well worth it down the road.

brandbll · Post by **brandbll** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:57 pm

Yeah I've watched a bunch of youtube videos about e-collar training. Basically i want to use it at first to reinforce the "Come" command. She knows it, like i said she just tunes out when in certain situations. Which is why I'd like to use it to reinforce the call. We went through obedience training and she did really well. I asked them what to do about it and my vet and all responses were "Well, she's a hound." Well, that's not gonna cut it if I'm going to have her off-leash let alone hunting. I plan on going slow with the training though. That's why I wanted a collar with at least the vibration setting because I'm hoping this is all it will take in most instances.

setterpoint · Post by **setterpoint** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 9:47 pm

you got good advise the dog must firt know the command and what it means then the collar pick a collar that has some range to it at least a half mile and many levels of stim thers some good choice out there do some reserch on them

deseeker · Post by **deseeker** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 10:15 pm

What ever the manufactor lists for range, cut that distance in half(especially on cheaper collars).JMO Their distances are usually figured on flat ground with no trees or obstructions between transmitter & receiver. The real world has a lot of stuff inbetween the two. :roll:

I agree that dog needs to know the commands before any e-collar is introduced. Good luck with your dog.

Robbw · Post by **Robbw** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 9:29 am

I second (or third or fourth) that your dog HAS to be trained know its recall. Mine did so when I used the collar I did it just like teaching recall, with a long lead. I would call the dog and hit the tone at the same time, pulling the dog to me a little if it didn't come right away, and giving her lots of treats. Over the course of about a week or so I was able to graduate to a long rope and then a fenced in athletic field. There is usually very good training material with the collars and on their websites. I encourage anyone training their dog to an e collar to PLEASE read that stuff. Too many people fry their best friends. And if you do it too much or at the wrong time, you will screw up an otherwise good dog.

I have a Garman Alpha 100 with a tt15 collar. It's combination GPS/e collar that I got from Gun Dog Supply. I love it. I also have a Tritronics Classic 100 that was the first one I got. It came from Collar Clinic and was used. They are a good vendor. I'm not familiar with the one you are getting but it's a good brand from what I've heard.

Good luck.

brandbll · Post by **brandbll** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 9:40 am

I don't know if my last post is still in limbo waiting to be approved by a moderator or what. But in case, she DOES know "come" very well. I can stay her in one room of a house throw toys by her, squeek them, go in a room in another floor in the house and make a bunch of commotion; she won't move til I tell her to "come". I only have problems off-leash when she is distracted by playing with other dogs or potential prey.

deseeker · Post by **deseeker** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 11:03 am

brandbll wrote:I don't know if my last post is still in limbo waiting to be approved by a moderator or what. But in case, she DOES know "come" very well. I can stay her in one room of a house throw toys by her, squeek them, go in a room in another floor in the house and make a bunch of commotion; she won't move til I tell her to "come". I only have problems off-leash when she is distracted by playing with other dogs or potential prey.

I had a pro, Marc Appleton, tell me that the dog needs to handle the command with distractions in 7 different locations, or it has not mastered the command. Try more locations, keep at it, she'll get it.

jstevens · Post by **jstevens** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 11:59 am

I have two of older Dogtras and a Garmin XC. There isn't much difference, to my view, other than the Garmin can handle additional dogs, and the battery life seems to be better. The dogtras that I have are pretty basic, which isn't a bad thing.

If your dog knows the command, knows what he is supposed to be doing, but basically ignores you when he's sidetracked, the ecollar will fix that. You need very little stimulation, at the setting I use on mine, I can't hardly feel it. I have used them on mostly pointers, and a malinois, obviously different uses, since one finds birds, the other does bitework/protection.

brandbll · Post by **brandbll** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:58 pm

oops I wrote Dogrta 2900NCP when it's Dogtra 2300ncp.

Gun Dog Forum