Several months ago I purchased the Innotek ADV 300D. I tested all seven levels on my arm then put it on Jäger (at the time a one year old male GSD) using the long contacts.

We were in the house with no distractions when I attempted to find the lowest level he'd respond to. Level one through five had no effect. when I tried nicking him at level six (of seven possible) I saw his chest muscles convulse, he yawned, and laid down to nap. I returned the product because I felt I wouldn't have any room to get his attention on the system.

I need to purchase another system, but, I'm concerned about having one with enough power to get Jäger's attention when he is focused elsewhere. I'm considering the Dogtra 200NCP Gold and would like to know if anyone here has experience with it.

Rest assured I'm not looking to "Frag," my dog into submission or punish him but I need to correct him off leash, and punishing him when he does start to obey is counter productive. I don't believe I need a great deal of range because if he can't see/hear me, why should I be correcting him.

I'm specifically interested in an e-collar with a vibrate/tone function. My intent is to use the tone/vibrate when he gets his food, when we're loving him up and praising him or when he gets a treat. This way if I correct him at a distance I can also reward him as soon as he begins to respond appropriately.

Red Thomas
Mesa, AZ

I don’t have any experience with the model you asked about. And I'm no expert with e-collars so take this for what it's worth...

This may be obvious, but could YOU feel the stimulation at the lower levels? I have 3 dogs and 3 collars. In my experience, their sensitivity to stimulation is similar to mine. Distractions can dramatically affect their responsiveness to the stimulation. The level 6 on my collars is EXTREMELY unpleasant... I can't imagine one of my dogs not responding unless either the battery was within moments of being completely dead or the electrodes were not making solid contact with the dog’s skin. The collars need to be fairly snug and put on as far up on the dogs neck as possible. If the collar is loose or put on the wider area of the dog’s neck (near the base of the neck) the receiver will move around a little and occasionally doesn't make good contact.

Also… I use the continuous button. I usually “bounce” on it to give a correction that is similar to a nick, but the actual stimulation lasts slightly longer. If I had to guess, I’d say it lasts less than half a second, but if the dog isn’t responding, I can hold for longer if necessary. Sometimes the lowest level the dog recognizes isn’t recognized instantly and the “nick” button starts and stops the stimulation so fast that even the slightest distraction can be enough to make the dog “overlook” the stim.

Just my 2 cents.

I would go with the Dogtra 1200ncp. The 200 Gold is a pet collar that works for most dogs, but some stronger dogs can ignore it.

I tested the device on my upper arm. Levels one through five were a slight tingle of increasing strength. Numbers six and seven I'd associate with a bee sting that didn't last. Jäger is very focused and has a high prey drive, after 12 hours since his last meal he shuns affection, food, or anything to chase the ball/frisbee until he's exhausted.

I was under the impression the continuous button delivered a measured correction no matter how long you held it. Your "Bounce," technique leads me to believe that the continuous button delivers a correction for as long as you hold it down, but no longer than one or two seconds.

I'm on a fixed income so the 1200 gave me a bit of sticker shock. OTOH it is worth a lot more to have a reliable dog off leash. I guess I'll read Ed's return policy and send him a check.

Red Thomas
Mesa, AZ

Dogtra seems to be a good company with a good product.

I sent my unit (2000NCP) back for repair after the warranty expired, they found a defect, and did not charge me one cent. Can't beat that for service.

The constant stim is shut off after 12 seconds then you would have to push the button again. The Dogtra manuals are available as PDF files on their web page.

About the only thing I would like is to be able to lock the rheostat (but it is good about staying in place) and someway to have more precision in the 0-20 range (like having a low stim / high stim switch) so you could fine tune it better in the low range - for low stim training. You still have to have that high range available.

I agree though you may not have it tight enough on the dog.
Most dogs I have seen (working lines GSDs) physically respond (ear twich, grimace, etc.) under 20 on the low end of the dial.


BTW, my dog HATES the pager.

Most problems I've seen like yours were from the collar not being tight enough . Also the prongs may not be long enough to make contact through your dogs coat . I've seen 1 dog that didn't feel the e-collar when it was placed in the front of his neck . When the prongs were moved to the side of his neck it worked fine .

I use a Dogtra 1200 NCP on my PSD and highly recommend them . I also used a TriTronics Pro 500 on my hunting dog and that worked great also . I've experianced very few problems with both collars and both companies service were very good when problems arose .

From my experiance e-collars are one area where you get what you pay for . Most people I know who started out with less expensive e-collars even the cheeper Dogtra and TriTronics models ended up having problems with them and switched to a more expensive model or gave up on e-collars entirely .

I presumed that level four (maximum) on brand A's collar roughly corresponded to level twenty (maximum) on brand Y.

Is this true, or, is there an industry standard that says level one equals a specific voltage level two is X percent more and so on?

I had to order the "fur penetrating probes" from Innotek for my ADV-300 for it to work properly. My dog understands he's being corrected with a level 2 or 3 correction, but if he's under major distraction I need to bring it up to 5 6 or sometimes 7. If it's a serious "bitch pee in the grass" distraction and he just refuses to come, the only thing that will snap him out of it is level 7 on continuous until he starts uncontrollably scratching at his neck with his hind leg - anything before that he can totally ignore. I wouldn't say he's a partciularly hard dog, but perhaps I'm wrong on that because when he's under serious distraction he can take some hardcore corrections and still ignore me, but when he's not distracted, even verbal corrections will do the trick.

My ADV-300 has been making my dog jump up and yelp the last few times I've used it, I'm too scared to test it on myself if he's having that kind of reaction. I might send it in for service since it's been less than 12 months since I bought it, but the fact that he can ignore a level 7 corrections on constant pretty easily makes me want a collar that might do a better job under serious distractions, and I've never been crazy about the uglyness of the blue square box on his neck. If I get another collar, it'll be a tritronics collar.