My handsome guy Teddy

I am so glad I got an electronic training collar. It has made a huge difference in my life and in Teddy's. The dog LOVES to run and if he manages to get loose, he will run and run and run, disappearing for hours at a time.

However,with the e-collar, he almost always (98%)comes back either when called (no stim) or when beeped (just audible stim). I only ever have to zap him when he is really hot on the trail of something.





And don't think it's cruel, it is well worth the trade-off to him. Whenever I pick up th ecollar to put it on him, he starts to jump around and go nuts with excitement. He knows the collar means that he will get to run.

As you can see from the photos, he's having a ball. Not only does he get to run,run, run, but he also gets to go places that just wouldn't work on a leash.

I picked the SportDog 2400 - a model that has a range of 1.5 miles and is waterproof. I had a problem with the first receiver, probably because Teddy is what I call "an extreme pointer" - always going at 150% of max- but the company sent me a replacement with no hassles at all.

You can see that it looks a little more bulky than some collars, but it also has a range of a mile and a half which is a lot farther than most. With a dog who is super fast, I didn't feel comfortable going with anything that had a shorter range.

Even though Ted is kind of a little guy, weighing in at between 45 and 50 pounds (depending on his exercise level) wearing the collar doesn't seem to bother him at all.