Training black lab
 

My brother in law gave me his 2 year old black lab and I want to start working with him. Does anyone have shock collar recommendations? Price range of under $200. Also any tips or help on training would be very much appreciated!

Thanks fellas!

after going through two of the expensive brands i got tired of spending a lot so i found this brand on amazon. i have been using it for the last year and have been equally as happy with it as with the big name brands. the price is really hard to beat and it does everything i need.

Also be careful with shock training your dog. do a little research before jumping right in. some dogs are a lot more timid than others so id definitely start out going easy on yours.

Agree 100% on the collar, I have the DT 900 micro and it works great. Has Vibration, nick, and constant. DEFF need to figure what you lab will respond to. I have a big male that will respond to my voice and the collar. BUT I only use the vibration on the collar, the shocks really seam to make him think that he has done something EXTREMELY bad and will take a day of playing to get him back to normal. I've only hit him with the shock once in the past year and I'll never do it again. I know I'm no professional but force fetching worked great for me with establishing dominance over him. After that if he doesn't respond to a command that I KNOW he knows I just hit him with a little vibration and he straightens out right away. First thing I would do is figure out what the lab responds to best then go from there.



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Two brands dominate the market; Tritronics and Dogtra. You'll be hard pressed to find anything under $200, but their quality is unmatched. Strapping a collar on a 2 year old dog that (I assume) has never been collar-conditioned will take a lot of caution on your part.

Ecollar makes as reliable collar as anyone. Have been a tri tronics dealer for 25yrs. And dogtra for many years. Customers prefer the ecollar brand cuz it is so easy to use and has so many features. About 200 bucks. I have sold em for about three years and never even got one back. But all are good collars. ecollar is one of the last that are made in USA. Tritronics was purchased by garmin and now made in China. PM me if you have any questions.

http://www.ecollar.com/index.php?opt...tegorylayout=0

I've owned the micro aslo, it works well but the remote is water RESISTANT not water PROOF. If you dip it will quit on you. I would def choose one that had a vibration function on it. Like they are saying, if this dog is 2 and never had a color on it he's prolly gunna freak when u nick him the first time real good. Do some research before starting with it, one of the guys on here should be able to tell you everything you need to know. I've always just put the colar on the dog everytime we would do anything work related. He'll get used to at least wearing it and learn that it's not a bad thing, it means when it's on he gets to do something. Over time he'll get jacked when he sees you take it out and grow to like it. After that I've always made sure it knows the kennel command well, and would proceed to use the colar on the lightest setting that the dog would give the slightest response to. Heel the dog, hold the continuous shock down and give them the "kennel" command once he gets in let off. Bring him back to heel and repeat. He will figure out if he follows the command he can turn off the shock. Then move to another command. This is just what I've always done to introduce them to it. I'm sure some of the actual dog trainers on here have better time tested procedures. Listen to them

Google "Collar Conditioning" when you have an hour or two of free time. Also suggest looking into a training program to further your knowledge in the dog world. This will also cover collar conditioning. I personally use Tri-tronics however they are pre Garmin models. I think my next one may be a Dogtra however.

If you are not trained in the proper use of an e-collar, please educate yourself before attempting to use correction with an e-collar. E-collars are great tools but are only training devices used to enforce known commands and give corrections. They can ruin a dog and take the drive and retrieve desire out of dog if not used correctly.

You may consider getting some DVD's and books on the subject. I will recommend "Retriever Basics with Danny Farmer and Judy Aycock" You can get this from Gun Dog Supply online for just a few bucks. There are many others. Read and watch as many as you can.

http://www.gundogsupply.com/retrieve...dy-aycock.html

You cannot go wrong with Tri-Tronics collars, Dogtra are good also. The Tri-Tronics Sport is the cheap model and will do what you need once you have the experience if you don't allready...

Good luck! PM me any time if you need info.

Duckaholic

This or go Amish.

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm going to do some online research on training and get a book. But this dog is VERY hard headed at times so I'm pretty sure a collar will be a must at some point.

Interesting, didn't realize it's only a water resistant remote. My lab is the same way, he only wears the collar when it's time to work. He gets all jacked up and knows he's about to have all kinds of fun when I put the collar on him. He'll spin I'm circles with excitement and get a little dizzy at first then a switch flips and he's ready. It's pretty funny to watch.


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That's awesome! That's prolly how he will be if I do it right. (Which is the objective I've just never trained a dog at all...)

Old School
 

Yep, Rope works the best!

My biggest suggestion would be teaching him not to break. My old man trains all his labs and when our most recent was coming up he would go in the yard and throw the dummy 10-15 times and only send her once or twice. making her sit and hold either beside him, and then stay when he went and picked up the dummy. He'll even throw the dummy back to her, and still just have her hold and hold. Sounds like a load of BS but i swear once i saw the dummy land on her feet and she didnt even look at it till he gave her to command.
Even just around the house he'll make her sit and then go sit in the other room for 10 15 minutes, then call her. Labs know to retrieve its getting them to listen and listen well thats the tough part. Never worked with a 2 yr old dog but im sure with enough repetition youll get him were you want him. Good luck!

I don't Collar-Condition them to kennel and if I did, it would be the last command I would CC to. If you teach a dog early that he can escape pressure by running into his kennel, then you will have an uphill battle on CC'ing him to the other commands. He will do what is called "Bolting", which is running to the kennel, truck, boat, or anywhere else that he thinks he can escape the pressure of work. I would start with the command "Here".

Mine will "Bolt" and goes straight to heel if I have the collar turned up a little higher than normal and she's a little unsure of why she's getting pressure on. That makes sense never thought of that. And she rarely gets pressure on at heel

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