Dogtra 280X E-Collar with Remote [New Edition] 10 lbs+, 1/2 Mile Range, LED Light, 100 Levels of Precise Control for Stubborn Dogs, Waterproof, Boost for Quick Recall,… by Dogtra

Un très bon produit.

This is my first e-collar so I don’t have another product to compare to: but the 280x is compact, feels sturdy and rugged, and works as advertised. Love the led light so you can see your doggo in low light conditions. Also the boost function is genius. Mine has a pretty low working level until a squirrel or deer runs in front of her and then the high prey drive kicks on so this preset feature makes it easy to get their attention when theyre locked in to chase mode

Good material, nice packaging!

Great tool for training

I had bought a cheap dog collar and it was a complete failure where dog 2 would bark and the collar on dog 1 would go off.

I decided to try something more serious and found this. This “tool” is primarily for teaching hunting dogs to retrieve but we used it to try and get our pair of shelties to not bark so excessively (and a little bit of obedience like “come” better). We have a 5 year old and a 2 year old and the 5 year old was teaching the 2 year old what to bark at.

They would bark at anything with motor in it. Lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, drills anything. Aluminum foil, getting in and out of the car, when we go swimming. They were out of control and neighbors were starting to complain and they were kicked out of doggy play dates.

There was an almost immediate improvement within about 2 days. We started off with the 280C (Single) and quickly realized we needed to upgrade to the dual.

You have to remember this is a training tool to teach them to obey your VERBEL commands. I really like the way the manual explains things and you can think of it as a tug on a leash, not so much as a punishment. Think of your dogs as having ADD and you need to get their attention with a tug (or a stronger tug). In fact if our dogs when on leash they were fine. So you can think of this tool as extending their freedom rather than something negative.

Always start with a verbel command, if that fails try the “Page” (vibrate), if that fails try a “Nic” (short zap), if that fails “Continuous” (long zap). The point of this progression is to train them to think there is a consequence if they don’t listen. Don’t go straight to Nic (unless you already gave them a verbal and page). It’s an easy trap to just go to the higher levels in panic. But they won’t learn if your not consistent.

What’s also nice is that I realized an automatic collar will never work or be fair. Every situation is a judgement call. And the goal isn’t to teach them to never bark. We are teaching them to not bark at stupid stuff. If they are playing and having a “conversation” we let them bark. But if they bark because I opened the door on the car that’s not acceptable especially if I told them not to.

One super important thing is how tight to make the collar. Our dogs have thick fluffy fur. DON’T compensate with a higher level if it’s making poor contact. If it’s making good contact it does not take much. If you don’t make good contact and turn it up, it will make intermittent contact and zap them harder than you should (this has happened and will happen until you sort things out).

Currently 80% of the time page does the job, 15% Nic and 5% continuos is needed. We find it needs to be uncomfortably “snug” to work reliably. It does not seem to bother them if it’s snug. But it works a ton better when it’s snug.

I do hope we can ween them off this collar. Currently they behave a LOT better as soon as it’s on. And they don’t seem that upset about it and sit right down when it’s time to put it on. It’s kind of like putting on a leash to go walking. We try to take it off as much as possible because it is heavy and needs to be snug. If we had to use the collars forever, we will, but we hope not to.

Friends and neighbors immediately noticed a huge difference and they are better with the collar off as well. But how long would that last if we never put the collar on again? We don’t know.

One thing I don’t like is the dial to turn it up. This can get bumped up or down. Check it before Nic or Continuous every time.
I zapped myself to know what I was giving them. It’s kind of like a static shock from a switch plate. It’s not going to hurt them.
We run it between 20-28. Usually leave it on 20 Nic to be safe.

We frequent a lake and pool and it has gotten very wet many times. But if they are going to swim, we try to take it off and not “submerge” it (even though it probably has) It is clearly VERY high quality. It works more consistent when they are wet 🙂

We didn’t realize how bad it was and what we were putting with and all the yelling and barking until we got it more under control with this tool.

I will try to follow up on this review. We’ve had it like 2.5 weeks.

Wish us luck.