PetSafe Pawz Away Indoor Outdoor Extra Receiver Collar for Cats and Dogs for Wireless Pet Barrier System

We have three cats and love them all, but one of them has an issue that in other households he might have been disowned or forever barred from the house. He pees on my furniture. I should say he USED to pee on it. I began reading books on cats and understanding their issues: cat on the bottom rung of power AND cat on the top rung of power (he is definitely on the bottom rung, poor guy!) can pee to try to establish power or to maintain power, to claim territory or keep other cats from using an area of the house. That is another topic and lots could be said. The point is, to allow him in the house, we had to keep him from going into the room where he peed. We trashed the Italian leather sofa AND pulled up the carpet because it was ruined and reeked of urine. When we put new wooden floors down and bought a new leather sofa, we didn't want him even in the room. Looked like he was going to be an outdoor cat. A friend had a dog that peed on her carpet upstairs, and she had this collar she put on her dog that would shock her if she went too close to the unit. Worked like a charm! Kept her dog from going upstairs. No more peeing. We looked into it and saw that it was also good for cats. Ordered it. When it arrived, I was a bit dismayed by how big it was. The idea of shocking him made me sad and I didn't want to hurt him. We didn't put it on him at first. Until he peed in that room on the couch. I told my husband to put it on him. It was that or keep him outdoors all the time. (In case of an accident- I highly recommend Nature's Miracle Just For Cats. It takes the smell completely away. This is very effective especially when you use this to begin with. Our couches and carpet were ruined because we had tried many other products before that and none effectively dealt with the odor.) Anyway, the option was to put it on him or keep him outside forever. Did I mention he would stay in the house nearly 24/7 if I let him? So the collar went on, and he was a FAST learner. No more peeing. It has been a few years, and he is now an outdoor cat overnight and I let him in the house where I can keep an eye on him during the day. He doesn't get into that room, but I don't totally trust him to not find another area he might like to "claim" as his and start peeing on. This is my second order. The collar was beginning to getting sparse and thin after years of use. If you cut the length of the collar, be sure to use a match to stop any of the threads from fraying. Read more

Updated review (initial review below): After about a year of having the collar, it is pretty much useless. The batteries die within about a week - I've tried Energizer and Duracell well before their expiration dates, so it's not that I have off-brand batteries. At first this was just annoying - especially because finding rechargeable batteries in this size is nearly impossible, so it's a lot of waste in addition to the expense and the hassle of checking that the collar still works. Eventually the collar broke entirely because the clip that holds the cover closed broke. It's not that surprising, given that it's not a very robust piece and it's rubbed every time you turn the cover to turn the collar on and off and to open the cover. At this point, the cover doesn't sit tightly enough for it to make contact with the batteries, rendering the collar useless. Original review: I bought the collar because a friend gave me the base. It was easy to set up based on the instructions that came with the collar, and the whole device works effectively. My dog has learned well not to go where I did not want him, and doesn't seem traumatized by the experience. The range is a little bit unpredictable - once my dog was lying somewhat close to the off-limits area and was fine, but then all of a sudden the collar started beeping and shocked him. I just make sure that I don't set the range too large now that he basically knows where he can and can't go. I'm pretty happy with this purchase! Read more

Update: I wound up calling the manufacturer of this product and spoke with a remarkable customer service rep who proved to me that this manufacturer stands by its products. I called them up with my four different order details in front of me for reference figuring that they would need this information (they did). I had a good conversation with the woman serving as their customer care rep who offered me multiple solutions to resolve my issue - and my issue was resolved. With that said, allow me to now say this product is actually the only thing that's worked with helping my dogs come to understand boundaries and has served as an incredible training aid. Although my dogs have broken the clasp on the sensor for some of these, I now know that this manufacturer offers a great warranty and provides wonderful customer service. I went from being skeptical to being a big fan, which is why I have increased my review from two stars to five stars. Original Review: This product works exactly as I expected to it but, I am now faced with ordering two more of these things because they simply don't stand up to actual usage. The device is held to a collar through these relatively thin plastic bits that have been a constant point of failure for me. I have now been through 4 of these collars. As I'm already invested in three of these hubs, I'm in a bit of a situation with them - does the cost of replacing all of my Petsafe Pawz products exceed the cost of replacing these collars every three months? I don't know. Read more

The product works great most of the time. This is the second collar for the device we purchased because the first one broke when switching the batteries. While it serves its purpose rather well. Out of the blue it will just stop working and my cat can get close to the furniture then it will randomly start again. Read more