I'm posting this so others might benefit from my experiences with a ecollar. After years of dog training with conventional methods I bought my first Dogtra 1700. I've used it for 3 months now. Ed's dvd is a must for anyone new to ecollars. Even with studying the dvd there is definitely a learning curve for BOTH you and the dog. I went through the dog confusion and running away the first day. Now it's the perfect opposite. He immediately runs to my side when stimed. Getting the posts to make perfect contact with the skin every time is a pain in the butt. It took a while and a call to Dogtra to get that figured out. I have a Dutchie. His short coat is similar to a Mal. Much to my surprise Dogtra recommended the longer posts. That made life a lot easier. I also learned that putting the collar on for a while before using it allows the post to work their way down to the skin. The other thing I noticed, at least with my dog, is he requires less stim strength as the ecoller session continues. I typically start at 30 and reduce down between 20 and 24. Almost 99% of the time the nick button is all I need to get his attention. Other than my initial issues I think this is the best training tool since the leash. It really sharpened my dog up in so many ways with no loss of any drive. He is still just as sharp and hard as ever.

 Quote: lee sternberg

I'm posting this so others might benefit from my experiences with a ecollar. After years of dog training with conventional methods I bought my first Dogtra 1700. I've used it for 3 months now. Ed's dvd is a must for anyone new to ecollars. Even with studying the dvd there is definitely a learning curve for BOTH you and the dog. I went through the dog confusion and running away the first day. Now it's the perfect opposite. He immediately runs to my side when stimed. Getting the posts to make perfect contact with the skin every time is a pain in the butt. It took a while and a call to Dogtra to get that figured out. I have a Dutchie. His short coat is similar to a Mal. Much to my surprise Dogtra recommended the longer posts. That made life a lot easier. I also learned that putting the collar on for a while before using it allows the post to work their way down to the skin. The other thing I noticed, at least with my dog, is he requires less stim strength as the ecoller session continues. I typically start at 30 and reduce down between 20 and 24. Almost 99% of the time the nick button is all I need to get his attention. Other than my initial issues I think this is the best training tool since the leash. It really sharpened my dog up in so many ways with no loss of any drive. He is still just as sharp and hard as ever.

Hi Lee,

I agree with you, I got the same e-collar for my pet rott a year ago, I love it. And I used to think e-collars and prongs were barbaric

Edited by PeggyBayer (12/19/2007 08:34 AM)
Edit reason: wrong name