UPDATE May 26, 2016. After having this collar for a year now we still love it. We use it every day, and it has been a real champ. We had our first issue this week; the collar was responding to the controller intermittently. We thought it was a battery the first couple times we noticed it, but the battery was charged, and the LEDs were lighting up as expected when the buttons were pressed. After fooling around with it, I realized it would work sometimes and not others, depending on the orientation of the collar. It seems there is a loose wire in it somewhere. I called E-Collar Technologies - their phone number is on the back of the handset, and told them what was up. They offered to replace it - I have to send back the original so they can inspect it and see what happened. What great customer service! I was prepared to pay to have it repaired, and was blown away by how nice the person on the phone was. That makes me even more happy about using these training collars, knowing the manufacturer stands behind them! (Our other collar, purchased from a professional dog trainer is still going strong!) Thank you, E-Collar Technologies! I have been using the Educator collar for a couple of weeks now. We have two of them for our two dogs. I have tried another brand of training collar - a more basic, bargain priced unit, and this Educator blows that one away. It has been wonderful to work with my dogs using this collar. Our first Educator came as a part of some professional dog training we are doing for our GSD in Savannah, GA. They use these collars and taught us how to use them effectively. Things went so well with this collar that we bought another one from Amazon for our other dog, a lab mix. What I really like about these collars is the adjustable levels. The stimulus ranges from 0-100, plus it has a "tap" button that is just a small vibrate function. The other collar we had only had three levels on the remote - vibrate, low, and high. Low was too much and it really bothered our dog. With this system, you only use as much stimulus as is required to communicate with your dog. It doesn't hurt - I have zapped myself with it in my hand at around level 15. It's a tingling sensation that absolutely gets my attention, but it doesn't hurt, per se. We live at the beach and like to take our dogs on the beach. Being able to recall them over long distances is a great bonus for these collars. We just like to have our dogs off the leash whenever we can - they much prefer that to being on the end of a leash. To do that, they have to be well trained in order to keep them safe. The red emergency button is nice too, because if the dog really does something that might endanger it, you can get its attention and get it back to you safely. Our trainer and the folks that recommended him to us told us that the training process would really increase the bond with our dog, and they were right. It has been great. In just a couple of weeks, there is an amazing increase in the dog's attentiveness, tail wagging, and affection. It has NOT scared our dog or made the dog afraid of us at all. Both our dogs love to go out and practice their training, especially the GSD. The collar that comes with this is nice and shouldn't get really stinky like some other kinds of leashes. The collar must be tight on the neck to work properly, although we take it off every night and when we're away from the house for any period of time. We also switch sides of the neck to keep from creating skin irritation. The collar is very well made, and we're told it's water-proof. We haven't had either one submerged in a pool or the ocean yet, but they are warrantied if something goes wrong. The collar is VERY long, so once you fit it to your dog you have to trim it shorter with a pair of scissors. The handset is very comfortable for me and my wife although I have an easier time with it than she does because I have bigger hands. If you don't need the distance, the 1/2 mile version has a smaller handset. It is comfortable feel and easy to hold on to. We have practiced using it one-handed, and within a few days it is easy to dial up and down as needed and reach the buttons. The collar and the hand set get charged every night, and it comes with an A/C wall adapter. Both units have receptacle covers when not being charged. The magnetic on and off switch for the collar is nice - when you put the collar on in the morning you have to match up the dot on the hand set with the dot on the collar. It prevents the dog from accidentally turning it off. (Incidentally, the other brand we used had a push power button on the collar, and a couple of times the dog somehow turned it off!) One feature I thought was a little silly at first is that the collar has white LED's on it which can be set to blink or stay on solid - controlled by the hand set. As it turns out, however, with the darkness and long shadows in our back yard, it is nice to turn on the lights on the collars at night and generally see where the dogs are. Depending on what they are doing with their heads, particularly the GSD with her long hair, you can't always see it, but when they are walking around you can generally see it. Now I like that feature and use it every night. My wife likes the lanyard these come with, although I don't care to wear these things around my neck. I just put it in my pocket or keep it nearby. When I'm training I think the lanyard gets in the way. All in all, we love these collars and the freedom they are giving us to keep our dogs safe and well behaved, especially when off the leash. I was worried that this would feel like hurting the dog, but that hasn't been our experience. Our dogs seem eager to get their collars on in the morning and love to work with them. With proper training (which is why we're using a professional trainer) we really aren't using high level stimulus much at all (except when a dog tries to dart away or something). I highly recommend this collar. If you want great training, look for Off-Leash K-9 training in your area. The GSD rescue we used to adopt our dog recommended them for GSDs because they love to "work". We are very pleased with the whole experience.
