An E-collar, or an electric collar, can be a fantastic tool in your training regimen with your dog. When used correctly, the gentle shock provided by an E-collar is a communication tool. It provides correction for your dog that is harder to ignore than a verbal command and works across space if a leash correction is impossible.
But having the right E-collar is as important to your training routine as knowing how to use it. Purchasing the first collar you find online is not advised as many cheap collars are unnecessarily strong or do not have the safety features you need to maintain control over your dog. If you are considering working with a trainer who uses an E-collar or starting on our E-collar training program in our book The Art of Training Your Dog, these are some of our preferred collar brands.
Our Favorite E-Collar Brands
An E-collar works by linking a remote to a box on your dog’s collar via radio waves. When you press the remote button, the radio waves deliver an electric pulse. The variety of E-collars on the market offer a range of stimulation strengths, the radio range, and other features.
Some of the reliable brands that we have trained with ourselves and know to provide high quality and top features are:
- E-Collar Technologies: The ET-300 Mini Educator is a top choice for many trainers. It has a half mile range, built-in light, and a number of programmable features. The similar ME-300 Micro Educator is ideal for smaller dogs five pounds and up.
- Dogtra - Dogtra offers the 280C Basic Electronic Training Collar with an impressive 127 levels of stimulation and a half mile range. Both the collar and remote are waterproof and the remote is comfortable and user friendly for trainers. Similarly, the IQ Mini has many of the same features but with a smaller collar and remote for tinier breeds.
- Garmin - Garmin offers the Delta Sport XC with a three-quarter mile range, programmability up to three dogs, 36 levels of stimulation, and a built in bark suppression collar.
- Sportdog - The FieldTrainer 425X has 21 levels of stimulation and tone and vibration options on top of the standard electrical stimulation. It works up to 500 yards.
- DogWatch - the BigLeash S-15 E-collar has a half mile range and LED lights included so that you can see your dog at night.
- PetSafe - This brand offers the 600 Yard Remote Trainer which is great for training sessions where your dog will not be far from you since it covers approximately ⅓ of a mile. It can be used with one or two dogs.
While many first time and more experienced trainers choose E-collars off this list, it is by no means all inclusive and you can find high quality dog collars for many other brands as well. The important factors to keep in mind when purchasing a dog collar is to make sure it has a range of stimulation methods that are going to be soft enough to communicate with your dog but not harm them, and that there are safety features built in for the best experience for you and your dog.
If you'd like to learn more about dog training with an eCollar, Marc Goldberg literally wrote the book on the subject, and provides both in person training in Chicago and remote training for clients around the world. Learn more by contacting Marc, today.
