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(More customer reviews)Our rescue dog had been locked in an apartment bathroom for 10-12 hours a day since he was 6 weeks old. When his owner decided to give him up at 8-1/2 months of age, he had raging hormones, had had no training whatsoever, no socialization, no shots--nothing. Needless to say, he was a wild child! Moving from a city apartment to 10 acres (2 of which are fenced homesite) with cattle, cats, poultry, children and another (grumpy & old) dog was sensory overload for him to put it mildly. Leash training went extremely well, he learned that counter surfing was not okay, we're still working on jumping up on people, and he does have a problem with submissive urinating on occasion. Those are workable and solvable problems though given some time. But despite our best efforts (and we are experienced dog owners), there were some behaviors that we just could not curb and these unfortunately were somewhat urgent as they were getting worse by the day. He had decided that chasing the cats and the chickens was great fun, as well as digging under the fence to get to the calves and roam the pastures. And while I know these were just instinctive behaviors, they are also behaviors that could have disastrous results--both for the livestock and him. We have neighbors who will shoot dogs that roam the pastures and go after their cattle and he needed to learn that the fence was his roaming boundary.
When I received the shock collar (in record fast time!), I opened the package to inspect the contents. Everything was exactly as described, seemed very "sturdy" and the batteries were charged and ready to go; I just needed to read the instructions. While I haven't ever used a shock collar personally, I was familiar with the concept and knew that we would start out with the lowest settings and only graduate to the stronger currents if necessary. I strapped the unit onto the collar, fastened it around his neck and took him out on-leash. Up to this point we had been working with a choke collar at the fence/perimeter with a tug and stern "NO" each time he neared the fence, but the drive to get to those calves was just too strong and he could not help himself from trying to dig or cross the cattle guard. For this session, I walked the fence with him and as before he wanted out and continued to ignore me. Two tugs on the choke collar did nothing, so the next time he attempted it I gave him a light shock with the shock collar. His reaction was instant (and I will say somewhat comical, though I did feel bad about it). He gave a little hop in the air and immediately planted his but on the ground and looked at me as if to say "WHAT was that?" I praised him for his sit, and we continued down the fence line towards the spot he had just dug at earlier in the day. I let go of the leash and let him roam and he made a beeline for his hole. As he stuck his nose down to crawl under, I immediately gave him another slight shock as I said "NO!" He turned around and came back to me to sit. Though I never leave him out alone, I spent the next two days letting him roam the yard alone when I would take him out. Each time he approached the fence or cattle guard and was obviously thinking of going under/across, I would give him a shock and warn "NO!" (and on most occasions I was anywhere from 75-200 yards from him so the range is great!). I'm happy to report that after just 2-1/2 days it seems he has gotten the message as far as the fence is concerned. Just prior to writing this I watched him come within 2 feet of the fence, consider his options (with two calves standing just on the other side) and turn around and come back to me. We now begin the training of leaving the chickens alone but I don't think it will take him long. I used it ONCE (again on the lowest shock level) as he stepped over the threshold of the open coop when I was cleaning and he now makes a wide path around the chicken coop.
I will say here that I have decided not to use the "vibrate" feature--not as a negative but just as an fyi. My dog seems to be very sensitive to it and the vibrate option seemed to scare him more than the shock itself. However, I can see that it might be useful to a dog that is more obstinate or has a higher prey drive than mine.
Overall, this was by far the quickest and best $ I have spent on a dog product in many years. And while I was initially reluctant to use it, it turned out to be the saving grace for my sanity--and possibly my dog's life by way of the instant consequence and continued reinforcement. All of the "pieces" seem to be very well made, and come nicely boxed. OH, and I did test each setting on myself prior to first use just to make sure I wasn't going to harm him--the graduated levels are noticeable and you should take the time to evaluate which setting your dog might require. Don't start out with the highest level, but the lowest and work your way up and you'll find the setting that works for both of you.
Thanks for a great product!
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