Ok I just bought my new collar for my gsp. Now I have trained a few hunting dogs so I am not a NOVICE however I am by no means an EXPERT either. Anyways I would like to know from those on here who have exp. with these what age is a good age to start with these devices? I have read that you are to not use this before the age of 6 months. I bought the dogtra 1500 ( for no other reason than if I am going to shock my dog I will first check it out on myself. Let's say I do not recommend putting one on and setting it to the highest level lol it hurts) and on the lowest setting you can not feel a thing now it has 100 different settings with that kind of control could I start using it on my 3 months old gsp with no worries or is that to soon? I DO NOT WANT TO HURT OR OVER STRESS MY PUP IN ANY WAY!  

I have used an ecollar twice on my youngest female, and a trainer used one once on both my girls.

The very first time the ecollar was used on my girls a professional trainer was doing snake avoidance training.  Belle, my oldest, was one year old when we trained her on rattlesnakes, water mocassins, and copperheards (I live in Central Texas and we see those three poisonous snakes from time to time).  It took one zap (and timing was critical) and Belle now avoids (she scents rattlesnakes from 50 ft easy) these three snakes. Same thing happened with Halo (my youngest), only we did her at 6 months.

The second time I used the ecollar (I bought a Innotek for home training) was to teach Halo to stop jumping on my windows.  I had tried everything else and I was terrified she would break the glass and cut herself bad.  So, I hid in the house and put her outside.  As soon as she jumped on the window zap (started with the lowest setting and worked up) until she got down.  Only took a couple of times and she got it. Timing was important and also I did not want her to see me as I wanted her thinking the windows were bad news.

The most recent time I used the ecollar was on Halo for a reliable recall off leash.  She was 3 years old this time and she was well trained on  both come (come to me on first call and sit in front of me) and here (come to me on first recall and check in, no sit required) on a long leash.  We used the ecollar as Halo would get off leash and forget everything and take off running.  We wanted to be able to hike with her and Belle off leash in wilderness areas, take her to the beach and let her off leash, etc. We also wanted her to come back immediately when called.  Well we got the opportunity last week to test this on a vacation to the New Mexico mountains.  In preparation I bought a TriTronics collar with a 1.5 mile reach.  We hiked about a mile to wear her down a bit (she was on leash) and when we got to big meadow we let her off.  It took one time (I said here, she didn't respond immediately, so repeat here and zap, as soon as she looked at me and started my way I stopped the zap).  After that she knew I could still reach out and touch her and she was dead on with the here command any time.  I would call here and she would come flying to me.

Hope some of this helps as I am a firm believer in ecollars for the appropriate things.  I only use them though in life or death situations or to enforce an already learned command.

Good Luck!

Bev and the Pointer Sisters

PS - I also tested both my ecollars on myself first too.

i would use it only for the come or hear comand at that age once the dog goes in to advanced training you'll want use it more but only after the dog knows what you want and is not compling with you comands

Word of advice, put the E collar on your dog everytime you let it outside.
If you don't, it won't take long for your dog to become collar wise.

Also, only use the collar for commands that the dog knows well.

Do not use the collar to teach commands.

Thanks for the advise all I really appreciate it!

VIVA LA GSP

I agree with Hogan. Put it on everytime you go outside. I bought the sportdog brand and they said to put it on your dog for a couple of weeks without turning it on and then go do something fun... Jed likes to get his collar on because he associated with something fun. I pretty much only use mine for an occasional "come" command now.

Since my last post on ecollars we have gone several places and Halo's recall is perfect.  I don't even have to turn on the darn thing anymore.  I call it her be good collar, and when I get it out she comes and sits in front of me for me to put it on.  She knows she gets to do fun stuff when she is wearing it. It took me a while to decide to use the ecollar, now I swear by it.  I was spoiled with Belle as I never even had to raise my voice with her as she was great and easily trained.  Halo was a different matter. She was smart and easy to train, but she was just as easily distracted.  She would take off and I just couldn't get her attention.  One time with the ecollar and now I can say "Halo Here" and she comes flying back. I never have to repeat the command.  Today I even got to really put the command to a test as we were at the inlaws and they have several acres with trees and squirrels.  Halo and Belle took our after a squirrel and middle of the chase I call Halo Here and low and behold she turned on a dime and flew back to me.  I love that reliable recall. 

I only use the e-collar once my dog has been reliably hand trained. Then I only use the e-collar as a reinforcement. if my dog is within walking distance I will mix it up between manual and e-collar corrections. My goal is to get the dog to respond automatically, wether the collar is on or not. by mixing up the corrections the dog knows that whether the collar is on or not the dog is still expected to perform. The biggest mistake that I have seen is people overstimulating their dogs and then causing the dog to balk or regress in their behavior. However, since you have already experimented with the collar on yourself and are not a novice handler this probably won't be an issue for you. Best of luck, good hunting, 

E-collars are the best thing since sliced bread IMO. I use them on my 5 year old GSP and 18 month old EP. WIthout it on the EP he would be in the next county in 10 minutes. Before you ever use the e-collar make sure the dog knows what its there for. He should 100 percent know the commands that you are trying to enforce. It is not to SHOCK the dog, but slightly stimulate. Though now with my GSP he know exactly what I want him to do, he is almost broke, so its more of a sharp nick than low continuance that I use on my younger dog. They will push you to the limits thats for sure.