Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I know that is a strange title for this review... but I was really hesitant to purchase these training collars because of the huge discrepancy between the 5-star reviews and the 1-star reviews. And who knows which of these reviews is by a real person and which is by a competing company? Well I am a real person from Omaha - Nebraska, and I am giving 4 stars... and here is why:
The collars require a minimal amount of assembly when they arrive - which I had no problem with. It helped me to see how they worked. The instructions for use are a little vague and contain some rather funny 'engrish' (who wants to give their dogs "socks" to reward them for good behavior?)... but then again, I rarely read instructions anyway - I'm more of a "try it and see" kind of person.
The remote control for the collars is a bit on the large side (like a 2004 cell phone)... and the buttons are numbered 1-6, with 1, 2, &3 controlling one collar... and 4, 5, &6 controlling the other collar. And then there is a small button between the two columns. This small button is the only means of using a non-shocking correction for the dogs... and it BUZZES both of their collars with a noisy-vibration (no pain). Buttons 1 & 4 are the lowest setting of Shock-Correction, 2&5 are mid-level, and 3&6 are the highest shock setting. I do wish that there was an option to use the "BUZZING-Non-Shock" setting on each dog individually... and that is the only real reason that I am giving this product a 4 instead of a 5. Well, that and the slightly over-sized remote control.
The antenna on the remote has a rubber piece over the metal coil that slid off a bit too easily for my liking, so I just put a dab of hot-glue at the base to hold it in place. Worked great.
The collars are just your basic adjustable click-collars, easy on, easy off. I don't know that they are top-notch quality, but even if they did break - you could just mount the shock-devices onto your dog's current collar. They appear to be very versatile little receiver boxes. Oh - any by little - I mean like the size of the transformer end of a cell phone charger. The shock-boxes are a great size for dogs over 15 pounds. I think it might be a bit big for really little dogs... but I could be wrong. My friend who has a Yorkie and a Wheaten Terrier ordered these collars too (on my suggestion) last week... so I guess we'll find out if they are good for smaller dogs too. The prongs that deliver the shock came with rubber stoppers to put over the end of them to keep the metal from rubbing the dogs' necks. The rubber doesn't interfere with the shock though.
I have 2 Blue Heelers. One male 1 year old. One female 2 years old. They looooove to bark for no apparent reason. Not anymore. I give them one verbal warning... followed by one BUZZ (if they are both barking), and then use the lowest SHOCK setting and it corrects their behavior immediately. I have only had to use the lowest Shock setting for barking problems. There is an obnoxious woman who parks right outside my house everyday and then takes her time unloading her fat Beagle to take it for a walk, all the while looking annoyed that my dogs are barking at her.... and no amount of yelling ever worked to get them to stop barking when that idiot was standing 10 feet away with her dog for 5 minutes getting his leash adjusted, locking her car, tying her shoes, etc... But not anymore. They bark, I say "No Bark"... and if they bark again, I use the collars to correct them and they just stop. It's amazing.
My other problem is that there is a 5 foot gap between the gate to their fenced-in yard and the door to my house. While traveling this 5 foot gap - there has been a rare issue with them taking off to the apartment complex across the street... especially if there is a cat to chase. My female dog took off 3 days after I got the collars.... I yelled for her to come back - nothing. I hit her with a 1-Shock and she turned her head to look at me but just kept going. I hit her with a 2-shock and she skidded almost to a stop and looked at me, but just kept going... at this point she was across the street and about 40 feet away... I hit her with a 3-3-Shock (all the while yelling at her to come back) and she turned around in mid-run and raced back to me as if to say, "Holy smoke, I don't know what is going on over in that apartment complex but you should not go over there!" and she hasn't tried to run up there again.
All in all, I love these collars. It has greatly reduced the amount of completely ineffective yelling that I was doing with my dogs... and they seem to understand better what is expected of them now. Do I like shocking my dogs? No. But it was getting to the point that I was going to have to get rid of them because my neighbors were complaining about the barking. And for the 1/2 the price of a collar at the big-box pet stores I got 2 collars that work great. And I know that I haven't had the collars for very long... and maybe they won't be very good long-term performers, but frankly - for the price I paid - I feel like I've already gotten my money's worth. And there has been no evidence thus far that they won't continue to perform well into the future.
Product Details:
1. The Remote is powered by a 9 volt battery. I have only had the remote for 12 days, and it still works with the provided battery. Time will tell how long the 9 volt works. Good news is - I can get a 9 volt battery anywhere. No need to go to a specialty battery shop.
2. The collars shut off if the dog isn't moving around. I like this feature. It reduces the need for daily recharging. I have only recharged the collars once since I got them and they never did quit working. I just wanted to make sure that they were ready when needed. They sent a charger along that you can plug into the wall or into a USB port. Works great so far.
3. There is a small red light visible when the collar is on... so if the dog doesn't seem to respond, I guess you need to check to see that the light is on. I have not had this issue.
I have, and will continue to, recommend these collars to my friends. Thank you for reading my mini-novel. I hope it helps. =)
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