When you compare features of dog training collars, remember that not all these features match your needs. So what features do you need? This article is your short guide when you shop for dog training collars.

Range - will you need short, medium, or long range?

The standard options for transmission range are short, medium, and long distance. Choose short range if only have a dog running around the yard, medium if out on the park, and long if yours are hunting or working dogs on the hunting grounds and out on the farm, respectively.

Rugged design - soak it water, drop it, and it should still work

It’s good to know the collar will still work when soaked in rain, regardless what kind of dogs and how many your have. Some dog owners watch helplessly as their pets run back indoors when it rains, and soaks the house carpet. And there are some dogs that love to stay out in the rain. When you choose a waterproof collar, you don’t have to worry about calling your dog back despite knowing that the collar got wet.

Rechargeable batteries - so you don’t keep buying batteries

Battery life has something to do with being ruggedly designed and being waterproof. The device on the collar is better able to survive getting soaked if it did not have parts that could be removed easily. Don’t get collar that come with batteries that can be removed, like triple A sized batteries - choose one with rechargeable batteries. When the power indicator says battery low, just plug in the collars into any outlet and come for them later.

Docking station - dock and so something else

Having a docking station has it advantages, so consider getting one. It’s primary role is a one place to keep the collars and transmitter. Docks usually help keep wires tidy. The price of course can be affected by getting such an item. Or if the recharging wait time is not significantly upped by getting a docking station compared to just plugging both collar and transmitter to the outlet, perhaps you can dispense with this item. Just in case the added features may be of use to you, you better check out other models.

More collars when needed - a valuable feature for those with many dogs

As you look up collar-transmitter packages, you will be able to see which include how many collars and which can accommodate more collars upon purchase (which can be configured to be under the same transmitter, of course). Keep this info in mind when you decide whether to get more collars, or get more dogs. You might do what other farmers of hunters do after seeing how well certain training collars do - they buy more of it for their dogs. It may happen to you.

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With forums and articles and blogs scattered about, it’s not a stretch to claim that some dog owners get the impression that using electronic dog collar only constitutes a program of using pain to make dogs fear engaging in a particular behavior. That’s a stretch of phrasing right there - as though a particularly malevolent quality of pain is needed; the truth is the static shock is only needed to interrupt and later on prevent a dog from engaging in nuisance barking. If a dog keeps on barking, then the more that behavior gets interrupted the more the dog may want to avoid that behavior - naturally, the interruption should cause some amount of discomfort for the dog to pay attention to it.

So there’s nothing here about debilitating pain used - just a low volt shock. Remember that the low volt shock is so low it’s only annoying at the most, so the dog doesn’t get hurt. Any training regiment using static correction collars only aims to instill a learned, conditioned response - a bark is followed by an unpleasant experience.

The two kinds of static or shock collars depending on how the static is activated. The first one is activated by both the sound made by a bark and the vibrations of the throat of the dog. This allows for secure activation - the collar will trigger only at your dog’s bark, since it can discriminate between the bark and other sounds nearby. Another kind makes use of a transmitter roughly the size of a small cellular phone - that unit is called the transmitter and the receiver in a device on a special dog collar. This bark-triggered kind works well both in and outside your home; but it only works on incessant barking, which is just one particular annoying dog behavior.

Your dog may even engage in digging up the soil in your garden (or someone else’s), or clawing up and peeing on your prized furniture. With a remote controlled collar, the moment you see your dog misbehave - start digging up garden soil, running to chase down cars on the street, etc. - so can immediately send the signal to the collar to release an annoying shock. This shows just how useful remote dog collars can be, as they can be utilized in just about any obedience training routine. These programs include - hunting routines, pet containment, anti-barking, and agility training.

Dog collars aren’t limited to the static type, as others also use disruptive stimuli, but in other forms. The dog collars that do not make use of shocks as the behavior-disruptive stimuli use scented sprays or high pitched sounds.

Just give it some time - but in the long run you’ll see how the dog figures out the causal link between the behavior you want to weed out and the static shocks that keep annoying your dog. After a few hours spend with an electronic dog collar, you will notice that your dog still needs work - it will put on a funny face or look bewildered in an attempt to figure out where the shock is coming from.

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There are dogs that are just so darn social - they just want to keep getting other people’s attention. To an observer, it might look adorable, cute even, because they don’t have to apologize to other people for the bother your dog causes.

So you get a day that’s supposed to be easy but ends up a stressful one - you want to lock up your dog and put it in its leash permanently. There are times your dogs just does what it wants, ignoring your calls and shouts - it will chew furniture, dig garden soil, run after other pets, scare little kids, and so on.

A short history of dog collars

You want to make your dog stop engaging in annoying behavior? Can it really be done? It’s possible, with a remote collar. Training dogs to do and avoiding doing some things means a lot of time and hard work. Essentially the dog has to be set up to manifest the unwanted behavior so it could be “punished.” When the dog obeyed, or kept itself in check, rewards were doled out - from attention, to play time, to treats.

The scene today with dog obedience training

These days, you can use a<remote collar> to observe your dog from afar, if needed, letting it think it’s roaming freely; except that with a transmitter in your hand, it’s bad behavior can be kept in check. Weeding out these bad behavior, from chasing cars and digging up soil, to chewing up shoes and clawing up furniture, is actually possible.

So what are the benefits of using one?

Days are over when the only option you have is to keep your misbehaving dog on a tight leash should it become a nuisance. Part of the remote collar package is the remote transmitter - like a remote control for your TV - which is the size of a small cell phone and acts to send signals from 500 to over 1000 meters to the collar. It doesn’t matter how many dogs you have - three to a dozes - the remote collar is worth the buy.

The nuts and bolts - how it works

Your dog’s collar is equipped with a device that releases a low volt electric current. With a remote collar, you just click and the dog feels the inconvenient jolt - a convenience you don’t have with a physical leash. When your dog engages in an unwanted behavior - one that will get you embarrassed, mess up your day, and such - the released low volt shock serves to interrupt the pesky behavior. Soon, your dog will learn the if-this-then-that-happens routine - the moment you see “that” unwanted behavior, it gets a static correction.

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When buying training collars for your dog, factors to consider include, but are not limited to, the number of dogs you have, the size, and perhaps the size of the are your dogs will be running around in. At least these are the starters - because if you’re new to this you need to start somewhere simple. As for the circumstances dog owners find themselves in, here are some samples. Martha may have four medium sized dogs she wants to roam freely on her property in the woods. A co-worker, Junner, has hunting dogs he adores. Mark’s working dogs shouldn’t be doing anything other than being on his farm. Different breeds, different needs.

But that doesn’t mean the options found on the web are straightforward. The variety of options regarding training collars actually contributes to the confusion. If you want a quick shopping guide on the training collars, here’s a short piece for you.

Decide on the distance. A good rule of thumb is to take a distance you assume your dog will be away from you and multiply that by two. The figure you get from that is roughly or approximately the transmission range you need for the remote collar.
If it’s just around 500 meters, maybe less, you need short ranged collars.
Medium is from 500 to 1000 meters. Long range means 1000 meters and above. These are the ranges available for transmitters. Naturally you have an idea how big your back yard is, or the property you want your dogs to roam in, or the park you’ll walk your many dogs in.

The distance, or transmission range, alone is one factor only; there are others, as you’ll see below.

Ruggedness, and other features. If yours are work or sheep dogs, you may want some more sturdiness into the both the transmitter and the collars themselves. It’s crucial for the transmitter to keep working despite getting dropped and soaked. The same should go with the collars - dogs can get rowdy or bump into trees or rocks while in the woods, or slosh in mud and run under rain - you want a collar that’s all terrain and all weather. Get one that’s all-weather, water-resistant, with a long battery life, and charges fast. These along with a design that’s nothing close to being fragile. You want a battery indicator for the transmitter and the collars, so can tell if you need to charge them, and call the dogs back in before the batteries run out. The recommended models also have indicators how far the dogs are relative to your transmitter’s position. That way you can tell if they’re about to leave your transmission range.

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Dogs are very smart creatures and can learn very easily with association. Look at Pavlov’s dog. Pavlov is a psychologist that made an interesting experiment on his dog. When it was time to feed his pet, he first rung the bell and afterwhich he set the food bowl. He repeatedly made this, ringing the bell, setting the food, ringing the bell and setting the food. Afterwards, the dog had firmly linked the sound of the bell with its time to be fed and the dog would even salivate when it hears the bell, even when there was no food.

As a point of fact, this is the key behind dog training collars. You are able to create a quick irritating, but not painful event that your dog will learn to associate with negative behaviors. Let say for example, if your dog loves pulling things when you go out for walks, you can have a prong collar for it to wear so that whenever it pulls, you can quickly check this wrong behavior by just pulling and loosening the cord. Gradually, with your persistent reaction to its behavior,your dog will soon associate the tight press with its inclination to keep pulling. The negative experience is coupled with the negative behavior and your dog will stop the negative behavior to avoid the negative experience.

It is up to you if you will end up with a head halter or a prong collar for your dogs traits, your training techniques, and of course what particular behaviors must be corrected. Electronic dog training collars have become popular for especially reactive dogs. This kind of training collar is convenient as you are not required to be physically tagged to your dog to train it. For example, when your dog barks unnecessarily, like at a mailman, an ice cream vendor, then an electronic dog training colllar can remotely correct this type of behavior. These collars have an automatic mode in which you could program to release ultrasonic sound (heard only by dogs sensitive hearing sense), a citronella spray, or a static shock at any bark that goes above a proposed level.

Also, these types of dog training collars have the potential for manual issuance of the gentle trouble for you to correct behaviors that are not bark-related. In fact, the highlights of electronic training collars have achieved credits with experienced trainers of dog. Remember to you use a little reward-based optimistic support with any dog training collar and you will have the most behaved pooch in just few days!

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If you want your dog to be well-behaved and obedient at home and when you take it out for walks, then dog training collars are something you should consider. There are many different types of remote trainers to choose from, each having their own unique features.

For training your dog to obey simple commands such as - stay, sit, jump, etc, it’s advisable to use nylon or leather collars. Nylon collars are better if your dog belongs to a small breed, on the other hand, if your dog is big, then go for a leather collar instead. Before you buy a collar, you have to consider a few things to make sure that the collar will fit your style of training while at the same time ensuring that it won’t hurt your dog.

Prong Training Collars

Also known as pinch collars, these collars are used by professional trainers mostly. These collars are equipped with tips that come in contact with the neck of the dog, and the person that is training the animal can tighten the collar around the dog’s neck when necessary. When the trainer pulls the leash, the collar will pull the tips into the dog’s skin. However, the tips will not pierce the dog’s skin or harm it in any way. It’s better to consult a professional dog trainer before you try out this collar, so that you learn how to properly use it.

Training Your Dog By Remote Control

Remote controlled collars come in two varieties; the electronic dog training collar and the citronella dog training collar. Electronic collars are specifically used in dog behavioral training when the dog is not on a leash. This type of collar comes with a remote control that makes the collar give your dog a small shock. The shock is not harmful or painful, resembling the one you get when playing with balloons or fabric, yet it calls the dog’s attention.

Citronella dog training collars work the same way, the only difference between the two is that instead of giving the dog an electric shock, the collar will spray the dog’s snout with citronella. Since the smell is too strong for a dog’s sensible sense of smell, they soon learn to obey the commands of the trainer.

When it comes to training dogs, remote trainers are a good way to reducing the time needed for training. Dog training collars aren’t miracle workers, though. It will take a lot of patience and time to master these training techniques and get your dog to be well trained and obedient. Anyway, check your options and you’ll find something that both your dog and your pocket will like.

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