Ecollars have come a long way in 20 years. The first collars had 1 setting and was used to train for adverse reactions. Basically, if you never wanted your dog to do that behavior again ( dig in yard example) you would just blast the dog.With any advancement in technology, ecollars have come along way. More correction, stim settings, stim modes, range, timing etc.
Things we look for in a good collar system.
Levels
Correction/ stim levels, the more levels of stim the more specific we can be to individual dogs. Dogtra has 0 – 127 levels; Ecollar technologies (ETC) 0-100; Garmin ( varies depending on system. 0-8, 0-10 etc. If you have a more sensitive dog less levels mean more or harder stim. More levels mean that the stim can be more spread out. I feel an ETC I can start to feel something around level 20. Dogtra around level 22-25 depending on system, Garmin’s around level 2.
Range
Range has also come a long way. It’s pretty standard for a collar system to reach a 1/2mile plus on a pet system. Garmin’s GPS systems can reach 9 miles+. Depending on what your doing; tracking, pet obedience, etc would dictate which range your looking for.
Battery life
Battery life is a huge one. Most good systems will last 2 days to 2 weeks. Usage is also going to effect this as well.
Timing
Timing is huge as well. Your cheaper systems will have a delay between pushing the button and the stim being released in the collar. When we talk about a dogs understanding of cause and effect ( generally speaking a dogs window is 1.3 – 2 seconds depending on study you read) a 1 second delay in the system plus our delay to act or respond you could be outside of the dogs concept of cause and effect.
Different Modes
We also have many different modes depending on your system. Common modes are momentary/nick (.10 second correction) continuous ( continuous correction for up to 10 -12 seconds) ramp, the remote will level up from a set level to a higher set level at the push of a button. Works really good for pressure on pressure off. Tone, the collar will beep (can be used as a marker or recall etc) vibration, the collar vibrates. Has many different functions depending on train styles. You also have boost settings that will jump your correct level up a set amount over the current working level.With all this being said an ecollar can increase your dogs ability to communicate with you, as well as speed up your dogs understanding of commands.
Systems we recommend because of all the listed things above:
- Garmin
- Ecollar technologies
- DT Systems
- Tri-tronics
- Dogtra
Like any tool in a tool box, used wrong can cause problems. An example, a hammer is designed to drive nails into wood. A hammer is also the number 1 murder weapon in the USA. Not what it was designed to do. If you’re interested in giving your dog more freedom and better communication please let us know and we would love to educate you more on how an e-collar can help you and your dog!
