I'm sitting in a fabric fold up chair at the edge of my garage with a JimBeam and Coke. My 2.5 year old son is riding his tricycle on the sidewalk. My 2 year old black lab mix is lying in the driveway about 6 feet in front of me, watching the neighbors do yard work. He's not tethered in any way. This would not have been possible 6 weeks ago. My dog Bently, whom we adopted at one year of age was a "darter". The second we opened the front door, Bently would do his best to dart past us and roam the neighborhood at his leisure for an hour or so. We tried soft voices. We tried mean demanding tones, we tried food, we tried "wanna go for a car ride", but nothing would convince him he had to listen. Inevitably, we would receive a call from a concerned citizen or neighbor who would capture him and request we pick him up. Of course we did not want to continue playing the odds of him possibly getting hit by a car, getting in a fight with another animal or re-adopted by a not-so-friendly citizen.
I took my son camping and saw a fellow camper with two very well behaved, untethered dogs. She had a very similar problem and showed me her Micro-iDT system. After we returned home, Bently was practicing his familiar darting routine and when I realized that I had been chasing him nearly a half mile away from home, it started pouring down rain. That was the final straw. I started looking at other cheaper versions of shock collars but the main thing that sold me on the iDT was that this system has a vibrate feature instead of a beep feature. iDT explained that if the dog is in a dog park and hears other collars going off, it can get confused about what it did wrong. I figured with all the beeping toys around our house, this was a distinct possibility. Not only that, but the iDT had twice the range (a full half mile) compared to the cheaper versions I was considering.
When the unit arrived, I read both the user manual and the suggested dog training booklet. I followed the booklet to a "T" with the cage lesson (which he already follows the command "go to bed") and I about gave Bently a heart attack. He started shaking and I felt terrible. So I stopped that day and a couple of days later, we worked on the heel command. He got really good at the command in his first session! I used the collar over the next week or two and had to shock him about 4 or 5 times before I started to use the vibrate command on a regular basis. Since he seemed to respect the vibration, I stuck with it. A couple of weeks later, I tested him by leaving the front door open. I invited him to go for a car ride, which he loves. My car was parked in the driveway and he went straight to the car door with zero hesitation or thought about darting off. I couldn't believe it. When we got home from the store, he jumped out of the car and went straight up to the house. This may not sound like a big deal, but believe me, this was a major milestone for us. He has never passed up such a golden opportunity to dart in his life. So the next day, I let him out front again. He stayed with me. I then started to walk next door. Again, he stayed with me. I then kept walking and ended up going on a half mile walk with him all the way around my neighborhood with NO leash! I've always been jealous of people who had dogs like that and now I have one! We did another walk the next day just to prove it wasn't a dream.
A couple of weeks later we took Bently with us to Colorado. He was able to play with his cousin Brigg and roam freely at our cabin in Estes Park. I can't express how much happier he is and we are with Bently's new-found freedom. Now when I put his collar on, Bently gets excited because he knows he's going to either go out front or go for a car ride. I rarely have to vibrate him anymore and almost never have to shock him because he now listens to me. We now have to knock Bently down the Alpha-dog list so he listens to my wife and kids as well as he listens to me.
Now on to the product details.... DT Systems says you CAN cut the collar length about 3" without effecting the range. I cut Bently's collar about 4". I've never had a range issue, but the furthest I've tested it, is about 100 yards. The collar is water proof (submersible) and the remote is water resistant. The remote is about 1.5" wide by 3.5" tall and the antenna extends about another 2.5" for a 6" total height. It only weights about 2 oz and includes a nice lanyard to wear around your neck. This system can control up to 3 dog collars with one remote. There is a tiny color-coded dip-switch on the top that selects which collar to use. The voltage range is from 1-16. I can't feel 1 and neither could Bently. In fact, he didn't even respond to anything below 6. Our magic number is 8. The shock is plenty strong at that number and I can't imagine using 16 on any dog. One thing to keep in mind is you have to have the collar tight enough to make contact with the dog's neck. I had it too loose to start with so it didn't matter that I had the collar on at 9 he couldn't feel it. The magnetic on/off system is pretty slick as it makes both units a bit more water-tight and also acts as the frequency setter for each collar. The buttons on the front have "continuous" and "nick" continuous maxes out at 8 seconds for safety reasons. Typically, when I charge the collar, I just leave it on Bently with it turned on. I get about 4 days per charge out of it. I've noticed that the collar shuts off about every 18-24 hours when it's not being used. I then have to match the magnets back up with the remote while the collar is still around Bently's neck. The collar's electronic unit is pretty small (2" x 1.5"). It does not bother Bently at all. he sleeps with it on all the time.
Rarely does a product exceed my expectations as much as the Micro-iDT Plus has. I tell my wife on a regular basis that this is one of the best investments I've ever made. It not only does what it says, but it actually has improved our lifestyle. Few products can make that claim, especially in this price range. I highly recommend this product.
I bought 7 collars in the past 1 1/2 yrs!all ended up breaking..or batts lasted 3 days...or you think its on and your pushing the button and la la your dog keeps barking or whatever you don't want them doing!
I can't believe all this time..this..one..was just sittin g there..in amazon haven..waiting for me to find! Thank Goodness! You NEVER ever have to wonder again...IF...its on..because..it doesn't turn on till you match up the dots and turn it on! You never have to worry about batteries ever again..because it comes with a charger...when you take off just hook up to the charger till pop...the GREEN lite pops on and wahlah its ready to go..OH wait..Im sorry there is a battery in the transmitter a 9 volt..I use it everyday for mos now and no hint of it dying yet...but i bought an extra one ..to have right here...just in case...
you can use the Vibration (thats all I ever use) thats always been enough for her (22lb Beagle 1 1/2 yrs old) she comes from a looong line of hunters...and boy is it in her blood..she barks INTENSELY for every squirrel--cat--another dog(from our window she gets peeved when other doggies are out and shes in lol--Im just guessing) and forget about bunnies!!!! and here on Long Island NY we have bunniers galore...hense the outrageous barking...I let her bark at all those animals...its her right..its instinct..what isnt...is the continuous barking long after one of the animals have ran away...and why I NEEDED this little gem... but just have the dial on 2 (out of 16!!) and use just the vibration..only ONCE i hit the NICK because the vibration wasn't distracting her (3 bunnies in the backyard..while she was out there too :0O !!) and that quick nick stopped her. you also have option of continuous...I never needed.
this very expensive..for using it on JUST 2 and ONLY vibrate...but all the cheaper ones were...junk! This is WELL WORTH EVERY PENNY!! I HATE writing reviews! (even though the only way I buy things on here is from them...) but this deserves the 5 star 10 star in my book! You won't be sorry..I promise!
Buy DT Systems Micro-iDT PLUS Training Collar (One Dog System) Now
I would buy this product a million times over! My husband and I own a 1 year old American Bull Terrier. She is a rescue and we love her dearly! She is also deaf. When she was rescued she was just roaming the streets and fields which we realize now she probably loved. She also loves people and if given the opportunity will bolt away from our home and any member of our family until she becomes tired. In a 2 month span we chased her for up to 2 miles around our neighborhood and even over an interstate overpass! Those were very scary times. Our animals are like family to us and it was the hardest thing to witness. We tried everything from putting up baby gates to spankings to a lead rope out in our yard. Each time she would find her way out of the house and bolt in whatever direction she saw fit and no consequence was steep enough. We were at our wits end! It was either let her leave and not chase her (which is not something I can handle) or continue to chase her and live on eggshells wondering if someone closed the door all the way or if she was going to bolt out because someone held the door open too long. It was an absolute paranoid nightmare. This training collar was our last resort other than rehoming her (which wouldn't fix her problem) or letting her roam free because we knew it would happen again. So after a 2 mile chase one night and many tears later I read the review of the previous gentleman and decided it was time to do something about this issue. We ordered the collar and made sure it was charged. I must say I wasn't nearly ready to let her outside the house without a leash but it had to be done. I have too big of a heart as well so I gave the remote to my husband to use as he saw was necessary. She wasn't sure what to make of it at first but within 5 minutes she tried to bolt. My husband set the setting to 8 or so. She proceeded to run up the hill thru our neighbors yard. My husband gave her a nick. She yelped at the first nick she felt and then kept going... did not slow down. So he then used the continuous funtion. She yelped a few more times but she found it harder to run and eventually slowed down and made her way to the top of our yard. When my husband released the shock she took off again. He hit her with the continuous feature and she yelped a few more times and then came running back to my side. Although very upsetting and painful for me to watch I knew that this had to be done or lose our family member!
That was 3 weeks ago. Today we have only had to nick her 1 time since then! She stays in the yard and knows where the boundaries are! She has occassionally followed our older dog out of the yard when they are playing but immediately comes back into the yard! We are sure to give her LOTS and LOTS of praise and treats so that she knows she is doing what we are wanting and rewarding the behavior. Although I'm sure she thinks about bolting more often than not, we have finally found a consequence she does not want to endure. I have become less stressed and less worried about her running away. We make sure to allow our dogs plenty of time to play TOGETHER (FINALLY) outside so that they can run off their energy since they are big dogs. This allows myself and my entire family to spend time together outside and not constantly be worried about having to chase her down!
I know that this is a hard decision to make for those of you out there that are considering this option, and I promise you that you won't regret it. In a few short weeks our Lani has learned to stay in the yard and near the family and has NOT bolted yet! It changed my life and the life of my family. We are no longer running barefoot thru the neighborhood hoping to spot a glimpse of a white dog running thru others yards. Now we are all together as a family OUTSIDE and everyone is enjoying the company of each other and our pets! Good luck to those of you out there. I hope you find what you are looking for! I would recommend this product for sure. The only negative I have about this system is that it does not tell you ANYTHING about when the collar flashes GREEN but we have realized that it is an indication light telling us that it is charged and ready to go. Flashing red means it needs to be charged. I HOPE THIS HELPS!!!! and ENJOY YOUR PETS!!!
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I got this patch for my Service dog's vest. The letters are like the iron on letters that you can purchase from the craft store. The material seems cheap. I am very worried that the lettering is going to peel off or "chip". It's not what I was expecting. The patch has a Velcro on the back for easy transfer of vests. I am just going to sew mine on just in case.
