My 6 month old dog did reasonably well in obedience class but he nips our daughter, chews our shoes and chases the cat. Which ecollar would you recommend?

A 6 month old puppy needs direct supervision (much like most 5 year old kids). Instead of going right to an ecollar for this, I'd suggest more leadership and control of his free time. Many dogs do wonderful formal obedience but have less than great house manners. This is where pack structure comes in. It's a way of living with the dog and controlling the dog's freedoms in a way that establishes you as a leader in an informal way.

I'd recommend Pack Structure for the Family Pet. You might like to read some of our articles too. I'd read the article Ed wrote on The Groundwork to Becoming your Puppy’s Pack Leader and the biting puppies article. You can read this to get our definition of socializing.

With that said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting your dog used to the ecollar now as well. He can start wearing it, so he becomes oblivious to it because we don't want the dog to think the collar controls him. You would strive for your leadership to be the key, not the collar.

For your dog I would recommend Dogtra iQ or 7000 M, you can read about both of them on the respective webpages.

I hope this helps,
Cindy Rhodes