Worth more than it's weight in gold!
TLDR; This collar has completely changed our lives! I’ve lived in the country all my life and I have “country dogs” that are used to having a large fenced area to roam off leash and no worries about barking or running off. We recently sold our house and we are living in an RV until we complete our move out of state. I have had this collar for about a year and a half. I originally got it to train my new pup not to chase chickens. Worked like a charm with just the vibration when he was just a few months old. I lost the collar for a while (you know how you put things in a "safe" place and then cannot remember where that safe place was?) But as I was moving I found it again and as soon as I showed it to my dog he lit up because he knows he is allowed to roam leash free outside of the fence with it on. He is still young (2 years old), and all training goes out the window when he sees a buzzard, bike, or motorcycle. He also loves to chase cars. I tried to break him of chasing cars, but the vibration alone wasn’t cutting it. The shock setting seemed to be hit or miss. I know it works because I tested it on myself. I found the problem to be the little RUBBER TIPS. I have never seen a shock collar with the rubber tips on it before. Yes, it works with the tips on, but it’s like it just doesn't make contact about 98% of the time. In an intense life or death situation, you really need that function to work for it to be effective. I removed the rubber tips and it has worked flawlessly. I was reading a lot of reviews where people say the shock function was not working – if you are having this issue, try removing the tips and see if that helps. I don’t leave the collar on him long enough for the metal to cause him any irritation, so the tips are pretty much pointless in my opinion. I do not use the shock setting unless it’s absolutely necessary, most of the time the beep and vibration get the job done now that he knows what the shock feels like. There are certain times when you just can’t break his focus(bikes, motorcycles etc), and the shock is the only thing that works. I keep it on about 5-10 and its very effective for us when it’s needed, which is not often. I ALWAYS give him a vibration before using the shock so that he learned that shock comes AFTER the vibration if the behavior is not corrected. I am very vigilant about surveying our surroundings for things that trigger him and keeping an eye on his body language, and I quickly switch to vibrate if I spy something that could potentially cause an undesired behavior. I use the beep to get his attention and to recall him. He knows when he hears that sound, that he needs to come back to me. About 99% of the time, he immediately trots back my direction. If he does not, I use the vibration. The only time I have used the shock is when he attempts to chase a motorcycle, car, or bicycle. He also has a bad habit of also going ballistic in the car when he sees something he’s never seen before, like an old classic car (strange I know) or a truck pulling a trailer with a large load (like scrap metal, a tractor etc.). It’s hard to correct that sort of behavior whilst driving. He will go Cujo in the backseat launching himself at the window and just being an absolute heathen. Most of the time he is buckled in and it’s not that big of an issue safety wise, but now that we have the RV he won’t be buckled in and I don’t need that happening while I’m driving down the road in a giant vehicle. It only took one time of correcting him with the shock for that habit to die. Since this collar is one of the older models, I have always been worried about how waterproof it is because the little rubber seal that covers the charging port doesn’t fit very snugly. Yesterday we were at the pond and my dog did about 20 minutes worth of swimming and I was a little worried that the collar would be ruined, but surprisingly it worked like a charm when he got done. I was reading some reviews and it appears that they have since upgraded the charging port cover. Hopefully we never have an issue, but it’s nice to know there is a lifetime warranty if we do experience a failure. I have a much older dog who has never been a big fan of strangers, and when you are living in the sticks – that’s a good thing. When you’re living in an RV park – not so good. He barks at every little thing when outside, and heaven forbid a kid on a bicycle rides by, both of them go nuts. The younger dog knows hush because he’s gone to work with me as a pup and learned not to bark. But since barking has never been an issue before for my older dog, I never really trained him to hush. I just ordered one of these for him, and hopefully we can restore peace in the RV park and actually allow the dogs to be outdoors without having to worry about them barking at every little thing. My only complaint is that I wish there was a dedicated button for each setting vs having to cycle through them. Its also very easy to accidentally change the setting or activate the collar function if you put it in your pocket or bump it, so I always check what setting I am on because I do not want to unintentionally shock him. I wish that the buttons had more of a tactile switch type button that was a little harder to activate. The buttons on the remote are like a TV remote, there is no tactile feedback and they are very easy to press/activate. I got a little wrist loop key ring to attach to the remote so that I can put the controller on my wrist vs in a pocket and since doing that I haven’t really had the issue of unintentional button pressing. Sorry for the long review, but this collar has dramatically helped me train my dog to be a much more responsive, well-behaved dog that is a pleasure to be around. It has allowed us the freedom of being off leash when we are not in a fenced in area and given me peace of mind that he won’t chase bikes, motorcycles, or cars and injure himself or anyone else. For $45, this collar is worth every single cent. I have never had a more expensive collar, but I feel pretty confident in saying that this one will do everything that those $150 collars can do at a fraction of the price. Read more