Petrainer PET998DRB1 Dog Training Collar Rechargeable and Rainproof 330 yd Remote Dog Training Collar with Beep, Vibra and Static Electronic Collar

I have Great Pyrenees, a breed that tends to bark more often than necessary. They are large dogs who are very sensitive--as in hurt feelings--and are incredibly intelligent, which makes training them without breaking their spirit a challenge.I get these dogs obedience trained and under control while they are young, so that it does not present a problem once they are full grown. I am an elderly woman, and I cannot manhandle a full-grown Pyr around if they won't let me. They must respond to my voice alone. As they live outside, I need them to come when I call them from anywhere on my property.I know that hitting dogs does not help train them. I also wanted to be able to "reach" them when they didn't want to come close and, most important, not have them associate the pain of correcting with my person, but with their disobedience.This device satisfies all requirements. Once we've established our dominance with the pups and they are obedience trained (~5-6 months), we advance to distance training with them interacting properly with livestock/strangers, coming when called, to reduce barking only to situations where there is a real threat, etc. (Pyrs love to bark at nothing simply to announce they are here.) This is where this product shines.It only takes a few jolts before each dog learns that their obedience must extend beyond the reach of my arms. I never have to yell, just speak normally, and they are never afraid of punishment from me.If they start barking we tell them to "go get it" (as it get the threat). If they stay and we see no threat, we tell them to "shut up." If they don't shut up, we put the collar on. If they continue barking, we say "shut up" and if they don't, we shock them, starting low. The degree of shock increases until they learn what "shut up" means. This process only takes a few days.After this, they are reliably trained to only bark only at genuine threats and we remove the collar all day. If they fall back to barking, we put the collar on, again. They learn that the collar means they will not bark--especially all night long at nothing. At this point, they often only require a vibrate to remind them. Once trained, all we need to do is show them the collar and they get the message loud and clear.After being trained to the collar for barking, we use it for other commands. Calling them to come no matter where they are on our acreage is a biggie, but with the collar, a buzz of vibration, and a treat when they arrive, they are quickly and reliably trained to come immediately no matter where they are when we call, and they don't need to wear the collar any more. We use it for fence training, so they know their territory and don't take road trips outside our property.This device makes training so much more effective and fast. As long as you don't abuse the dog with the shocks, they learn quickly without getting messed up in the head. Our dogs are very attached to us and very eager to please, which is just their nature. We simply exploit those traits to train them.People are always surprised that our dogs don't roam, or bark, or jump on people, and are so obedient.The features:It is waterproof. Our 8 month-old pup plays in the pond wearing it without causing any damage. Just make sure the plug for the charging port is firmly seated. The fact that the collar covers that port makes me feel more secure that water damage is not likely to occur.One of our dogs learned to remove the device from the collar (I told you they are smart). Multiple windings of electrical tape around the collar and device solved that problem, and has lasted for several years. However, the nice beep feature allowed us to find where she had left the device outside after getting it off of the collar.Thick, long hair at the neck where the collar rests. . .I shaved the area to ensure good contact without having the collar be too tight.My remote has survived dozens of drops out of my pockets onto hard ground. It has also survived being lost in the garden, rained on, and then found a few days later.The battery on one collar isn't holding a charge for more than two days, anymore. When new in 2016, it lasted for over a week of moderate use. Be nice if it could be replaced.As with any method of dog training, it requires a commitment from the owner to interact with the dog consistently and to be aware of all surrounding circumstances, and to not be abusive with the tool. Most dog owners won't commit, and that is why they fail to train their dogs effectively.It isn't necessary to use the shock feature all the time. Often, once the dog learns the shock, reducing it to only vibrate is sufficient to command the dog's obedience.Our dogs end up wearing the collar for only a few weeks before they are completely trained. While the pup sleeps inside, we remove the collar at night and he only wears it during the day until he is trained. Once he goes out for the night, he wears it at night for as long as we have a barking problem. . .usually 7-10 days with a few relapses over the next few weeks. Our current 8 month old pup (85 lbs) is fully trained to come, shut up, sit, no, drop it, git, stay, and more, and rarely wears the collar any more. He never challenges us, we can remove his food or bone and he won't growl or bite, and submits immediately when he gets in trouble--even for my petite 80 year-old mother. These are great dogs, but even better when trained. He is still a lively, happy puppy who plays like a pup and guards well for his age.I doubt it would be so if I had to rely on other methods to train him. This causes much less stress to the dog and the owner, shouting and hitting just isn't necessary. The dog never connects the shock to anything the owner actually does, so he doesn't lose trust in his owner. In fact, when shocked as young pups, they come running to us for reassurance before they understand to connect our command and their failure to obey to effect of the shock. The collar is not the owner, so the owner isn't something to be afraid of.

01 July 2017This adds to my review of 02 April 17.Now, four months later I continue to be impressed with quality and reliability of the iTronics PET998DRB Training collar. Its numerous optional features and 300 meter range provide a great deal of flexibility for various training agendas. One of the most impressive factors in my experience with this product has been the outstanding customer service and support iTronics provides in order to insure maximum efficiency and satisfaction with their training collar. After about two months use, the receiver came off of the collar and was lost. I think it must have gotten hung up because it seemed to be well-secured by the retaining tabs on the receiver. In any case, due to their excellent customer support and my satisfaction with the original collar, I did not hesitate to purchase it again. This time however, I elected to buy the PET998DRB2, 2-dog option so I would have a spare in the future. After placing my order, iTronics again sent an e-mail inquiring about my experience with the collar and providing contacts for questions and concerns. I informed them of my satisfaction and why I needed another one. When they learned the receiver had come off, they immediately sent a replacement receiver without me requesting it. I reiterated that I didn’t hold them accountable for the loss of the original receiver as it seemed well-secured but offered the information only to identify a possible trend with other users. However, they replaced it nevertheless. This demonstration of their strong commitment to customer satisfaction is highly commendable. As products become more technical, timely and efficient customer service becomes increasingly critical to the purchasing decision. In this regard, iTronics has proven to have been an excellent choice. Meanwhile, the replacement collar continues to perform flawlessly.INITIAL 02 April 2017 REVIEW FOLLOWS:I have to start by saying I’ve only used this collar for a very short time so value my comments accordingly. So far this collar is working very well. Like most things it’s important to study the instructions to understand its proper use and limitations. Most important is the warning that these collars should never be used on aggressive dogs. In addition, there are a lot of informational videos online. The components are light-weight but seemingly well-made. Like any product you have to familiarize yourself with the location of the function buttons on the transmitter, but once you do they’re pretty straight forward. The mode button is the largest and allows selection between the LIGHT mode, which simply activates the red light on the receiver; BEEPER; VIBRATE and STATIC SHOCK. The side buttons adjust the intensity of the VIBRATE and STATIC SHOCK modes only. The intensity range is from 0 to 100. As a point of reference, I use 25 to 30 and find it is still mild enough to gain attention and yet not cause pain or fear which would totally ruin the training session. I always try the settings on myself to insure I know what degree of correction is being delivered before making any changes. The LIGHT SYMBOL button on the transmitter activates an LED mini-flashlight on top of the transmitter. The 1/2 button is for two receiver capable units and finally the Y button transmits the selected mode.The collar is the “snap buckle” type which I find convenient because once it’s adjusted and secured; you can simply snap it on and not have to worry about finding the right hole for a proper fit; which is essential to proper operation of the collar. One drawback is that the LCD mode icons on the transmitter are a little small for us old guys. However, it’s easy to compensate for this by learning the relative positions on the screen for selected modes, e.g. LIGHT is the farthest to the right, BEEPER is over the ones column of the LCD 100 intensity scale, VIBRATE is over the tens column and STATIC SHOCK is the farthest to the left over the hundreds column. It also helped me to note that the severity of the corrections are displayed from right to left, i.e. LIGHT is farthest right and STATIC SHOCK is farthest left. I only use one receiver but similarly you could reference the CHANNEL 1 and CHANNEL 2 icons by whether it was at the center of the ones column digit or at the top. The LOW BATTERY indicator is at the bottom left of the screen.The receivers charging port and the reset hole, to pair the transmitter and receiver, are located under a small rubber flap with two small protective rubber plugs on the side of the receiver and are additionally covered by the collar strap which is easily removed for access. This small protective flap could be the problem stated in some reviews about water damage failures. If this protective cover becomes damaged, compromised or out of position, I can see that this might cause a problem. However, I haven’t used it in wet conditions so I can’t evaluate its degree of significance. I should add that though they say it’s rainproof, they also qualify this stating that it’s water-resistant not waterproof and further caution that this rubber cover must be in the proper position.Additionally, to conserve battery power the transmitter goes into STANDBY mode after 20 seconds and turns off after 20 minutes of non-use. The receiver goes into STANDBY after 4 minutes of no movement. Pushing the Y button on the transmitter or movement of the receiver activates it again. Once it’s reactivated you have to push the Y button again to transmit a correction.Again this is still pretty new. I like the light-weight components and so far I have no real complaints. It comes with additional length contact points for longer haired dogs. Also, iTronics sent a follow-up e-mail offering product assistance and training information. Additionally, the unit comes with their website, twitter, facebook, e-mail address and a YouTube link reference. Although expectations vary among consumers and time will determine its durability, reliability and continued satisfaction; so far it’s a good product at a good price.