Is it time for an e-collar?

[FlyinSoLow]

In the house my beagle is awesome! She listens well, comes as soon as you call her, she is super smart, and I taught her a whole bunch of neat little tricks.

However, when outside she must be kept on a lease, in a kennel, or on a tie out. If not, she takes herself hunting!
There is no way of getting her to come back unless
a) She loses the trail and you catch her
b) The rabbit holes up and you catch her
c) or you just plain run up and catch her (<- good luck with that one)

I thought nothing of this, figuring it was normal because she IS a hunting dog. It’s a bit of a pain because she is constantly trying to sneak out the door and escape off her leash, but we are all pretty use to it now.

Well, she is a year and 3 months now, and this year running her and hunting with her should be blast, we just can’t wait to get her out.
But now, I am posed with a problem, she just never stops or comes when you call her! In fact she become deaf to everything around her except the sent of rabbit. (which I should not complain about)
I’m afraid she will take off after deer, run out into a busy road, or some situation like that that we will HAVE to stop her but won’t be able to.
The only reason I have not used an e-collar on her yet is because she is young, and because I don’t want her to lose any desire to hunt and trail a rabbit. I’d like her to listen a little better, or have some kind of control over her if I need it, but I don’t want her to think that the running away is what is bad, but what’s bad is not listening to your owner screaming your name while you chase deer into the sunset! Also, if we shoot a rabbit and she gets to it first I would rather if she didn’t grab it and run off with it! (even though I’m not sure if she should do that or not)

So my question is; is it time for an e-collar?
Or am I expecting too much, and this is how it should be?

Ohhh, and should it be time or an e-collar, how the heck do I decide which one is best for me? (a very beginner beagle trainer only hunting with the dog, not running trails)

[foxxy]

ya its time but take the time to train her right
dont put on her and expect her to know what it is and take her running or you could take the hunt out of her
or lose her

[HAREHOUND]

yep it's time. i would suggest to also use a long check cord the first time or two or until she gets the idea. alot of times the first time you use it they will head for the hills. what do you do then? if you give her some more it just will scare her more. i worked with a deaf one last week and now all of a sudden she can hear just fine and handles like a dream. keep it low-start slow and good luck.

[blckcrk-dog]

yeap she is a hound and she is doing what comes natural time to e-collar but learn when to use and not when she is hot on a track wait for the breakdown and then warn her and then bump her but condition her first to the e-collar

[FlyinSoLow]

Good to hear!

I will defiantly look into how, when, and where to use the e-collar.

We haven’t been running her lately because of the heat but it’s already August and soon the cooler September weather will be coming our way, so we hope to start running her in the cool mornings, whenever they decide to get here!

So I thought it would be good to incorporate the e-collar training in by slowly working it into her training long before hunting season comes about!


Now, how do I know which Collar to get for her?
She is a SUPER smart, very sensitive, and submissive dog, so I can't imagine needing a whole lotta juice.

Like I said, I will look into the proper technique on how to train it and how to use it also!

[blckcrk-dog]

tritronics g3 classic 70

[B-man]

Now, how do I know which Collar to get for her?
She is a SUPER smart, very sensitive, and submissive dog, so I can't imagine needing a whole lotta juice.

Like I said, I will look into the proper technique on how to train it and how to use it also!

Pretty much any collar will throw more juice than you will need. What is important to look for is the RANGE of a collar. When a company advertises a range, it is line of sight with no hills or vegatation in the way. This being said, you can pretty much take the line of sight distance and multiply it by .25 to get a real world range with hills/trees. So if a collar says it will go 400 yds, plan on it only reaching 100 yds.
That collar might work great with a laborador in your canoe, but for a hound you should buy the longest reaching collar you can afford. I myself have a 2 mile Sportdog.


Just do a lot of research before commiting on a certain brand. Go to the search option here and enter keywords like, E-collar, Shock Collar, Tri-tronics problems, Sport Dog problems, Dogtra problems, etc etc. It will become clear what brand to buy

[Buckeye Blues]

I own a Sportdog SD-1200 and love it. In fact I'm getting ready to upgrade to a SD-2500. I cant say anything bad about any of the other brands. But one thing I do know about Sportdog is they include a training manual and DVD (by acclaimed dog handlers) with every collar they sell. I imagine the rest of them do to, but it's a piece of info handy to know.

A good place to compare and read reviews is http://www.gundogsupply.com

Good luck in your search.

[FlyinSoLow]

This is the one I've been looking at for a few weeks

http://www.gundogsupply.com/sportdog-sd-3200.html

becuase it states
"Designed primarily for long-range hunting situations, the 2-mile range SportDOG HoundHunter 3200 is ideal for hounds and other sporting breeds with 8 levels of correction and a waterproof design. The Hound Hunter 3200 is unique -- the waterproof and submersible pistol grip fits comfortably in your hand and is easy to use. A great e-collar solution for hunting with hounds, beagles, and big running pointers."

So it says its good for beagles... which is the only collar I found so far that says BEAGLE in the discription, as most of the e-collars I found are more for pointers and retreivers!

[tenntreedog]

I would re think the 3200 sportdog I talked to a sportdog rep and he told me they were discontinuing the 3200 susposed to come out with a collar with same range but will handle more dogs and tone feature will work on all dogs definitly by one with tone as you wont have to actuly use the juice after you get her collar broke.SPORTDOG and Innotek are owned by same outfit and are great people to deal with.I have both Innotek and tri tronics at this time sportdog does not make a 6 dog system that the tone works on all the collars but it`s coming.

[chuck r]

I have a Tri trash breaker 6 dog. works perfect, all my dogs understand the tone, no juice.My Gus dog is a little bull headed and once in a while I hit him with no 1,understands whats next. I know a man up north that can destroy a dog,he`s joy stick happy.

[HarleyPA]

Hi;

I have a classic 70 and it does very well.

I would suggest that you do some reading before you even put a collar on your dog. As others have mentioned, you can do some very bad things. If you use the search feature on this site, you will come up with a ton of good info. There is also a book that I got from LC supply, Dynamics of Hound Training by Vickie Lamb. It's based on Coon Hounds, but the examples work just as well for all hounds. There are a couple of good chapters on the e-collar.

Don't worry if it is too early for it. I use mine at four months or so. I train basic skills before I ever let them get to hunting. It doesn't hurt their hunt at all.

Where are you in NE PA? I have a cabin in Pike Co. There is also a UKC club in Honesdale.

Sincerely
Harley

[FlyinSoLow]

Hi;
I would suggest that you do some reading before you even put a collar on your dog.

Don't worry I am researching it a lot.
Its a big step for me.... I don't NOT like them, but I never used one before... However I've seen dogs that were trained properly (and I liked the results) and not-so-properly with it (which was just very upsetting) and I dont want to mess my little dog up.

I am between Tamaqua Pa (17960) and Andreas PA (18211) which is near lehighton (18235) haha

But we belong to a nice cabin in Lycoming County, PA... well the guys do... I just get to go up in the summer off season
I know where Pike County is too.

[HarleyPA]

I know where Tamaqua is. Coal country. lol

Do you know where Ontelaunee is? Near New Tripoli.

Anyway. Don't be afraid of it. They are the best tool a hunter could get. My dogs are better behaved in the field than they are at home. They get excited when the collars come out, cause they know they are going running. Start putting the collar on before you take your dog out. Feeding time is good. You don't want the dog to become collar wise. Start off on the lowest setting, every dog is different. I have one I use a #2 on and another thats a #3 most of the time. lol. Most of the time, I don't even use it that much anymore.

If you want to run sometime, let me know. I know of at least one spot between us that always seems to have rabbits. I'll send you a PM.

Sincerely
Harley