Stimulations by Manufacturer

Training collars are not all created equal. Each collar offers a variety of stimulation levels and each manufacturer might have stimulation variations in their units. Since the has yet to be a universal system, it will be up to you to determine which collar is best for your needs for training your dog.

Many people make the mistake of assuming that if they buy a Tri-Tronics collar and it is effective at a level 2 for their dog that using a level 2 emitted from the SportDog collar is going to create the same response. This couldn’t be further from the truth, since each manufacturer has their own specifications.

Some collars offer a range of levels that can be as broad as 2 stimulus levels to 127 stimulus levels. This is probably not as effective as a collar that offers ranges from twenty to thirty levels. A collar with one to five levels may not offer a wide enough range – the hazards of this small range may mean that level 1 is insufficient and level 2 is too much.

It’s important to recognize what you are trying to accomplish with a collar. You are attempting to ensure that your dog not only follows your command but that they stop the inappropriate behavior. Dogs will respond to various levels of stimulation and you’ll increase the stimulus based on the needs of your dog.

Don’t get too many Levels

A collar that has a hundred levels of stimulation are simply not effective. This is because there is a range where the stimulation doesn’t change enough to have any meaningful change to your dog. These collars can in fact create even more difficulty in training because you are not changing the correction level sufficiently to send the proper message to your dog. Collars with too much range can potentially make training take a lot longer than it should.

Don’t get too few levels

One of the hazards of collar that have a small number of levels is that it can confuse your dog. The theory behind how stimulus works is that you gradually increase stimulation when the dog is doing something out of line and he doesn’t respond to your original stimulus. Unfortunately, if a unit has only a few levels, this can result in a much more severe jolt which will confuse your dog.

Make sure that you carefully review the dog training collars before you invest in one for your gun dog. If you review the models with the thought of your dogs temperament, size and breed, chances are you’ll find the right model with the right level of stimulation to help you get the most of your training.

Dog training collars should be simple for you to use and easy to train your dog with. If you find a collar that works for your training collar and has the right level of stimulation, chances are that you’ll find your training will be far more successful and the levels of stimulation will be able to be increased gradually to make sure that your dog is getting the message in an effective manner.

Geoffrey A. English is the Founder of GundogsOnline.com, the internet's premiere online magazine dedicated to bird dogs. Visit their site for more information on training bird dogs and hunting dog supplies including a wide variety of dog training collars, including Dogtra 200 NCP GOLD.