Garmin alpha

[AprilD]

I've had some dogs get real swollen joints from banging legs against the unit.

I recently started putting the foam pipe insulating sleeves on the unit. You know the black stuff that comes in a long tube and has a slit down one side to put over your water pipes in the house. I just buy the largest size, I think its 1 3/4" and cut off a piece, slip it over the unit and take 2 heavy rubberbands and wrap the around it to keep it on securely. Hasnt come off yet. And that way I can easily take it off to charge the collars afterward.

[Crow]

April what size dogs do you run and is it all of your dogs or just a certain size or does it seem to be determined more by individual dogs gait or stride? I'm seriously considering going with the alpha, just trying to get some information myself. A coon hunting buddy just got one the other day, I'm gonna borrow it for a few days, I'll let y'all know how it turns out. I have a full 15 inch male and a female that stands about 12 - 12 & 1/2 with 2 more females hitting around 14 & 1/4 so if it is size related it should show up on one of them.

[AprilD]

Only a couple dogs, not all. I run all sizes. It could be like you said, stride and action of dog. Right now I have a real small pup I'm starting. She is only about 10 inches tall. She is wearing the tritronics shocker and garmin astro on separate collars. I thought for sure it would be a problem but her legs are fine so far. She's been running with them for about 2 weeks. I put both collars up close to the head. Shocker closest to head , then tracker. A few months ago I had two pups that were about 13 inches and 5 mos old. One got a swollen joint on one leg so bad I had to give her time off. The other had no problem.

[Crow]

Only a couple dogs, not all. I run all sizes. It could be like you said, stride and action of dog. Right now I have a real small pup I'm starting. She is only about 10 inches tall. She is wearing the tritronics shocker and garmin astro on separate collars. I thought for sure it would be a problem but her legs are fine so far. She's been running with them for about 2 weeks. I put both collars up close to the head. Shocker closest to head , then tracker. A few months ago I had two pups that were about 13 inches and 5 mos old. One got a swollen joint on one leg so bad I had to give her time off. The other had no problem.

I am hearing several people saying the same thing. Most are not having any issues and the ones that are don't seem to be having them universally. Regardless of size, it seems some dogs are gonna bang up their legs and some are not. Hopefully mine will be in the "are not" category because these systems are very nice.

[Swamper AR]

The ability to know where dogs are at all times gives me great peace of mind. Once you experience it, its hard to go back. Garmin has a good product but I think with some fine tuning it could be much better. There is quite a learning curve to using these collars also. I have a hard time believing that any dog 13" and under doesn't hit its legs on these to some degree.

[AprilD]

I agree Swamper. Once you start using the garmin you dont want to go without. You always know where they are in relation to roads and boundaries. Once I had a dog drop out of the pack. I thought it odd so I called her but she didnt come so I went to see what happened and I found her tangled in honeysuckle vines so tight around her neck she wasnt getting out on her own. I am glad I had the garmin on her.
There are a few things I would tweak on the unit but overall its a good product.