The zones work great, within the limits listed below.
Good Points
1. Has a A, B, and AB setting which lets you control individual dog access to areas or objects (such as separate food bowls for special diets, rooms, etc)
2. The shock is mild but definitely uncomfortable (I tested it on me before I used it on the dogs). It is milder than the strong static shocks I regularly get around the house.
3. The dogs quickly learn to avoid things that cause shocks.
Limits
1. Collar wear is recommended to be limited to 12 hours due to rubbing by the stud on the neck. This can be a problem with intelligent dog and schedules requiring longer wear times. Intelligent dogs can quickly learn that the collar is the source of the shock and can wait until they are not wearing it to get into the forbidden.
2. The range increments listed (2-12 ft) are not dependable. I find mine, with direct line of sight, is half that or less.
3. The six available range settings are not enough. There are times that 1 or 2 ft increment is too much.
4. Area of affect is spherical. Keep this in mind when deciding where to use them. Depending on the range setting, just walking by the counter or under the table can set them off even if all you intended was to discourage Fluffy's nose from appearing on the counter/table top. The only way to alleviate this is to find some way to dangle the zone from the ceiling to correctly limit the reaction area to those 3 ft off the floor.
My dog, chihuahua, is so resilent to correction. You can tell him something a million times, spray him, watch him, stare him down, he just doesn't get it. So we put this in the living room where we don't want him on the couches, we used a leash to show him what to do.
We put the collar on, we tested the distance/perimeter with the collar, not on the dog. It beeps first, so that's their warning. We put the collar and a leash on the dog, and let him walk over to the couch, he heard the beep, and we moved him away so that he learns where to go. He didn't get it the first time, but got it everytime after that, now he runs when he hears the beep. One problem though, when we put it in the doorway to our room, if he gets too excited he can actually run right through it and he doesn't get bothered by it at all, no shock no beep. But that's cause he's running, he doesn't usually run into a room. PLus he has associated the beep and shock with the sensor, so when he sees the sensor he avoids the area in its entirety. I only wish I could use it with my cat!! That would be great.
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I had researched this product and not found many people who had used it on cats. I have had great success using this product on my 2 cats. I wanted to keep them from entering the hallway to our bedrooms, which they have been doing for 6 years. At first they did not enjoy wearing their collars, but soon adjusted to them. It took about 3 days for the cats to realize they would get shocked if they started to go down the hall. Once they were trained, they have not attempted to go down the hall when their collar is on. Thank you innotek for no more hairballs under our beds, meowing at our doors early in the morning, and cats in the baby's crib!!!
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very inconspicuous but very effective training device...has kept an 80 pound lab mix and 65 pound shepherd mix from running and jumping onto an antique glass entry door!(they've been doing this for years) Works like a charm and love the fact that you don't need any plugs, cords and can use multiple collars at one time. It is nice to know that I may move this to any other area in my home without complications and begin training there!
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If you own an obnoxious young Siamese cat like I do, you understand the frustration of demolished house plants, tracked-all-over counter tops, and strewn trash. But not anymore! To my great suprise, cats shock-collar train really well :D
This device is really easy to use, though you won't be convinced after the first day. You DO have to make some adjustments to the system before it starts working the way it was designed to (zapping mr. kitty so he learns to not be into stuff!)
Some little pointers you need to know when setting up your system.
1) Placement of the trasmitter (the fire alarm looking thing): be sure you understand that on the maximum distance setting (6 notches) it is only projecting a radio signal out 6 feet in any direction (a total diameter of 12 feet). So, if you set it next to your house plant, kitty is only going to stay a maximum of 6 feet away from it (which is plenty to make your plant feel more comfortable ;o)
2) Collar fit (very important!!): this system will not work AT ALL if you do not have the collar tight enough! Remember that animals have fur, and it will mat down under the collar after about an hour. My mistake was to adjust the collar to a comfortable fit, which basically left the contact prongs just floating in fur (they have to contact the animal's skin in order to correct/zap them). So, the first day I was a little frusterated when Khemos just laid all over the transmitters and never got zapped. There were a lot of warning beeps, but no response from him. The next day, I got smart and adjusted the collar to a VERY snug fit, and was sure to move the hair out from under the prongs (you should be able to get just a finger tip under the end of the prongs when fitted correctly). And that's when the product started to work.....and boy did it! :D Don't be afraid that it's too powerful for a cat though. I zapped myself when I was testing it, and where it made me drop the collar (I was not expecting the shock when I got shocked) it didn't stop my heart or "hurt" me *lol*
Also note to be sure not to make kitty wear it all the time. It will eventually irritate the skin at the contact points, and there can be some hair loss. We keep Khemos locked up in 'his' bathroom at night, and put the collar back on him in the morning when he has run of the entire house. Also note that you can save the battery life on your transmitters if you turn them off when not in use.
If you have a long haired cat, you may want to shave a little bit of hair under the neck when you first start using this collar. You won't have to keep kitty looking that way forever (don't worry ;o) as the collar tends to train pretty quickly. It doesn't take long before the warning beep is enough to send them running away from the transmitter.
Some people are afraid to use training collars on animals because they believe they are inhumane. Nothing could be farther from the truth though. Think of it this way.... *lol* If you had to be "trained", would you rather be beaten with a newspaper, hosed down with a spray bottle (and thus start associating water with punishment) or be shouted at constantly? Personally, I would take the shock collar ANY day! :D
MORE HELPFUL INFORMATION 4-6-2011
Ok folks....I realize that I've already written enough about this product, but there are a couple additional pointers that will help you get the most out of this product:
1) Both prongs must be touching the skin at the same time in order to transmit a shock/"static correction". So if you're testing the collar on yourself before applying it to your pet, you will need to be touching BOTH prongs in order to experience.....well, the experience ;O)
2) If you happen to have a kitty with razor sharp hind claws, you will probably have to replace the handy-dandy collar this unit comes with (our's was scratched to smithereens within 6 months). After spending a great deal of time trying to find a replacement collar that would easily thread through the receiver's slots, the thought occurred to me that I could easily make a new collar! So I went down to our local JoAnn's Fabric store, and purchased about 18 inches of black, 3/4" wide elastic. To construct the collar, simply cut the old collar off the buckle, and thread one end of the elastic through it. Pull about 1 inch through and stitch through both layers to secure the buckle (it's easier than it sounds). I chose elastic over plain nylon web for it's stretchiness, and it's made a BIG difference (don't know why Innotek/PetSafe hasn't thought of this yet!?) The elastic gives a little making the collar MUCH easier/faster to fasten to a snug fit on a squirming cat. It also helps the prongs stay in better contact with the skin if the animal scratches the receiver out of position. Lastly, I think the little bit of give provides a more humane fit (which i know is a weird point to make about a 'shock collar' ;o)
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While many people use flexi or other retractable leads, I rather use a long line like this... nowhere near as dangerous, and it's loads easier to hold on to (no chunky handle... my hand is too small to hold onto the huge flexi lead handle, and even with this lead all bundled up, it's smaller than that)... not to mention if you drop it, the dog won't run all the way to the north pole in fear. Plus, it makes no annoying clicks or whirls (and you have no worry of having to amputate either your leg or your dog's leg if it gets tangled up in either).
