E-collar Trainers

[Just Midol]

Just curious here,

What is the lowest level you've ever had to use?

Today I realised Gizmo was working fine on level 3 when I normally use level 5. Level 3 seems to be a very, very low level! Now, I can't say for sure if he was feeling it or not but he was complying with my commands

This wasn't under low distraction either. Probably what I'd consider medium.

[sandgrubber]

Just curious here,

What is the lowest level you've ever had to use?

Today I realised Gizmo was working fine on level 3 when I normally use level 5. Level 3 seems to be a very, very low level! Now, I can't say for sure if he was feeling it or not but he was complying with my commands

This wasn't under low distraction either. Probably what I'd consider medium.

I find that when my girls are anticipating a stim they will feel a stim that is a couple notches above their tested minimum perception level. In my case that's 6 to 7 as opposed to 8 to 9 in the initial tests. Under high distraction, they may ignore something that is more than two levels higher than "ordinary".

[MonElite]

you need to specify how many levels are on your collar.

On my 15 level collar I use 1.

[laeral]

On my 127 level collar, the lowest we can get down to is 14.

Normaly we have it on 15/16

This is during medium level distraction.

[Cosmolo]

Level 9 on the dogtra with 127 levels, 1 on the innotek lap dog with 9 levels.

[Just Midol]

Level 3 out of 127 (Dogtra 1902 - low to high power)

I'm starting to think that maybe Gizmo can actually hear the collar, rather than feel it at such a low level. I used it before to check whether he was actually responding to it on level 3 or whether I am just such an awesome trainer that he is proofed enough that he doesn't need it already... He definitely knows something is happening but whether he can feel the stimulation or hear the electrical pulse is what I am not sure on.

[sandgrubber]

Level 3 out of 127 (Dogtra 1902 - low to high power)

I'm starting to think that maybe Gizmo can actually hear the collar, rather than feel it at such a low level. I used it before to check whether he was actually responding to it on level 3 or whether I am just such an awesome trainer that he is proofed enough that he doesn't need it already... He definitely knows something is happening but whether he can feel the stimulation or hear the electrical pulse is what I am not sure on.

I'm using Dogtra also . . . on gun dogs. My impression is that my dogs are pretty stoical, and ignore the stim until it gets to an annoying level on the initial testing. There may be a few quanta between perception and annoyance. I have been surprised by the range of the levels required for response, but that seems to be genuine (range of 8 to 25 with my four girls). Some of them need a relatively high level, some, a much lower level. When they get the idea that the stim is a communication coming from you, equivalent to a scolding, they drop 10 or 20% in the quanta required to ellicit a response. Eg, Molly on initial testing ignored 7 and took 8 or 9 to respond. Once she clicked on the idea that 9 was a correction, she began behaving to try and avoid the stim, at least when she wasn't distracted by something like yum yum kitty crunchers. When not distracted, she will now respond to a 6 or 7. But sometimes it's hard to tell, cause she's very clever at anticipating the command and complying before the command is given. I think her anticipation is fairly complex. She may notice that I have the controller in my hand, and whether it is held up for use or hanging loose. I think that, despite my attempts to decondition her, she associates the stim with the collar -- and the situations in which she has gotten stimmed. Dogs aren't as smart as we are, but sometimes they have amazing intuition.

btw, not that it matters, but Dogtra has 128 levels of quantization. 0 is a level . . . from a Geek perspective. Most electronic gizmos work on a binary system, and the most efficient way to increase is to double. Thus, devices are likely to work on 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128 levels of quantization, with nothing in between.

Edited April 8, 2009 by sandgrubber

[MissMaddy]

My german shepherd will work on level 4 on the dogtra in low to medium levels of distraction. I have checked this multiple times, so I know it's her true working level.

[Cosmolo]

Does anyone else find that the level the dogs can feel is in line with the level their owners can feel? eg- the first dog i had that could feel level one on the innotek, her owner could do and i hadn't had anyone else who could feel level one!

[Just Midol]

I can't feel it till level 19/20 on my dogtra!

[Cosmolo]

Very insensitive aren't you Midol?

[Just Midol]

Hmph.

If I put it on my neck then I can feel it lower

[MissMaddy]

I can feel it around 16, but my dog is at 4.