Training collar advice

Woodcock shot

Hi lads, just wondering if anyone has used or can recommend a collar for a head strong springer.
Dog has a great nose but is slow to respond to whistle or recall sometimes so was think of trying a collar to see will he respond to it
Cheers

cavan shooter

Save your money and go back to basics...your dog is ignoring the whistle because he hasn't equates what it means and he is getting away with doing what he wants.

It happened with my lad he was great as a pup and at two he was like a bold teenager. If it's going to far a head get a length of rope pip the whistle if he doesn't turn bring him back with the rope. If it's a case when he is on a scent and he goes of crazy like my lad did on a hare then recall him once sit down and wait till he comes back.

Don't get angry don't shout pet him for coming back.....he came back thats good...now put the lead on and walk him to heel for the next 10 minutes don't let him hunt of.

It takes perceverance but it's a great way to be out in the off season. I noticed my lad was rusty on the stop backend of January and so we are going back to school....hope this helps

Vizzy

I have one - Sportdog 1200

My fella was going great, responding to recall, stopping on the whistle, ranging left and right.
Then, about 3 weeks before the season it was as if he went deaf. Simply wouldn't respond to whistle when he felt like it.
Tried him on a long lead (50m) but he got to know when he was out at 50m and then he would stop etc as good gold.
Take off the lead and he was gone again.
The e-collar has 3 separate buttons - one is a simple audible beep, second one is a shock of 1/10 of a second and the third is a shock for as long as you keep the button pressed. There are also 8 levels of intensity for each button. On level 2 or 3 the actual shock is similar to the shock you would get from touching a car on a warm day ( I tried it out on myself before I put it on the dog)
Start the dog off on the lowest possible intensity and press one of the buttons to see if he responds, if he doesn't, move up to the next intensity level. Once he responds DO NOT move up any more levels.
I initially put on the collar for a few minutes each day without turning it on just for the dog to get used to the collar.
Then I moved on to try him with the collar switched on.
What I did was to pip the whistle and if he didn't respond immediately, give him a "beep", pip the whistle again,if there was still no response, give him a 1/10sec shock and finally a full shock if he still was not responding.
I think that I only had to give him a shock 3 times in the last 4 months and I have only "beeped" him about 5 times.
Sorted the problem entirely in about 2 hours (total) of training.
He doesn't normally have the collar on him at all at the moment, but I do put it on every now and again just so that he doesn't associate "no collar means I don't have to come back".

I tend to vary the distance he goes out as well so that he doesn't think that "if I stay close I'll be fine but if I go to far I'll get a shock".
The idea is that the dog associates the correction with not responding to the whistle, and not with the trainer (if that makes sense).
I would caution that you need to be careful using the collar if the dog is actively hunting so as not to discourage him from following a bird along a ditch etc, but with a bit of practice the dog will be like a new dog in no time.

blackpearl

Used it on a wide ranging setter same make and the best,after a couple of hours i never have to pass the beep leave the collar on from time to time but only very rarely will i even have to use even the beep, turns on the wistle every time best thing since slice bread in the right hands.