Great advise one thing I will stress is you cant train a dog properly unless it knows its name.I have seen guys get this stuff not knowing what they are doing and ruin a dog because they think shocking is the answer to everything,wrong answer!Dog must know his name.

What type of dogs or breed of dogs are you all running or is it a different sytle of hunting, where it is nessacary todo all of this training and with all this toneing and buzzing and shocking do you believe yall are taking some heart out of theses hounds? I understand you want the dog to handle and thats fine but have you all seen a loss in performance out of these hounds? These are just questions and are not meant to start a arguement im just woundering because to me it seems to be a bit much for a pen dog or maybe im behind the GARMIN curve and need to start doing this myself but i dont want to lose the wild spirt in my hounds thats what make them i believe.

Bobby my motto is if a shock collar took the drive and heart out of a dog then he didn't have enough for me anyways and he's got to go. It means a lot to me when I can take a pack of 8 or 10 hounds run outside or inside for however long I want to whether it's 2 hours or 10. I hunt by myself a lot and whether I'm at a hunt or on outside I'm not gonna chase a crazy hound around all day. When they start buying feed and paying bills they can show me where and when they want to hunt . Until then they are on my watch . A major plus for me hunting hounds broke to a collar is I can break them off a small doe or something on the outside and try to get after a buck

I never thaught of it that way and theres alot of truth to what you seid i believe and im sure this type of training is good for many purposes on the outside and inside the wire, my question is if you can tone your hound off a hot chase do you believe you have effected the drive and effiency of that hound? I dont use a garmin of any kind i find them to be a hassel and unreliable but thats just me. I have no issue catching my hounds by calling their name and i used no special tools, all i do is spend time with them, but i cant stop them on a sightchase nor do i ever want a dog that will stop in a chase when called or toned, and as far as pulling dogs of a piece of game because one has horns and one doesnt i cant eat those horns. Again just questions to spark converstation not to cause a arguement>>>

I agree, I wouldn't pull a dog off a hot chase, because I think it might confuse him.

I was worried about using a Garmin, but I have a teenager, which means in house tech support 24/7. The setup was the hardest part. One thing I like about it is that it shows when a dog is moving and when he's standing still, so you can bring him in when he's not on a track.

Y'all are thinking of it as breaking them off the game. That's what you have to teach the dog. They have to know I'm calling them not bc they are on the wrong piece of game but because I'm calling them and it's time to go. When they come out the dog box they are looking a piece of game and have one thing on their mind . They need to know they are working for me . It's hard to explain on a computer. You need to see it to know what I'm talking about . Give me a call if you wanna talk about it over the phone . Think about this . Me and my buddy have took 22 dogs before on the outside hunted for hour and half , killed deer and went home . I haven't left a dog out in 3 years since I started breaking my dogs to collars . I have a regular 320 and run tri tronic shock collars . I would give up my garmin tomorrow but I ain't hunting without shockers . Carrington Jones 919-390-4225

And yes to answer y'all's question , I have seen a couple maybe 3 or 4 dogs that didn't have the brains to be able to break to a shock collar. If a dog doesn't have the brains and a shock collar takes the "heart" and drive out of them, they won't gonna make it at my house anyways

I don't understand why anyone that hauls dogs doesn't have all of them broke to handle. Inside the pen or not. I don't feild trial at all but would think that in a 3 day hunt you would want your dogs up as quick as possible to rest for next day. On the outside it makes hunting so much more pleasurable. Nothing no worse than standing beside a busy road chasing a dog that doesn't want to be caught. I enjoy running dogs but when I go hunting I wanna hunt and not " run" dogs. Think about those guys in every club that spend more time tracking and chasing dogs than they do truly hunting. Just my opinion but it works for us.

If you truly spend time with your hounds and raise your own hounds handling is no issue and you dont need a collar or GPS ,sticks or rocks or anything special to do it. That was my point i agree a 110% that you need a dog to handle but you dont need 1000s of dollars in equipment to make it happen. If i can see mine i can catch them if they are not running i can call them but i do not and will not ever own a hound no matter how simple and easy it is if he will stop running his game and come to me because i beeped in his ear with some fancy collar thats not a dog thats a robot and robots dont run like i like one to run, but we all have our ways and none of them are nessacarily right or wrong just diffrent if i ever have one thats worth keeping and to hard to get up my way then i might try yalls way but i dont see that happening anytime soon. This was a good post and i appreciate the conversation it was very informational.

WE HAVE BEEN HUNTING W/SHOCK COLLARS FOR YEARS NOW & WITH MY KNOWLEDGE,WE MAY HAVE RUINED ONE HOUND & SHE WAS A BAD GYP.THAT BEING SAID,WE ALSO CAN RUN OURS 1HOUR OR 5 HOURS.EVERYBODY HAS THERE OWN VIEWS & OPINIONS ON THINGS.I JUST PURCHASED A BRAND NEW ALPHA LAST WEEK & HAVE USED MY BUDDIES ALL SUMMER.THEY ARE 2ND TO NONE IN BY OPINION.I HAVE HAD QUICK TRACKS,220,&320.THEY WERE ALL GREAT IN THERE SHORT ERA,BUT THE ALPHA IS THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED FOR DOG RUNNING.IF YOU USE IT RITE YOU WILL NEVER REGRET BUYING ONE THAT'S FORSURE.

I LUV GOING HUNTING AS MUCH AS ANYBODY,BUT I LIKE GOING HOME MORE THAN ANYBODY WHEN I'M READY TO GO.

GOOD LUCK & IF ANYBODY WANTS TO TALK DOGS SOMETIME GIVE ME A CALL.256-307-0884

To each his own, but I like having mine to hunt with me instead of me hunting them. I deer hunt and enjoy it so much better since I converted to dogs that handle. I think a whole lot of outside hunting problems would go away if dogs handled better. I will say this, it starts in the yard before I carry them hunting, they need to know what is going on.

Hi, Mr. Newman -- Thank you for your comment. This is a good discussion. I totally understand your concern about micromanaging the dogs. My goal in training with the Garmin is to teach the dogs a recall. It's easy for me to teach them to come when we're in the yard, or at a friend's house. Distractions are few. I'm a firm believer in "catch your dog doing something right", so from the time they were little puppies, I rewarded them whenever they were lying down calmly, when they responded to their names, when they voluntarily come over to stand or sit beside me. They walk down the street on loose leads, they know how to sit, stay, lie down. They even know how to go use the woods rather than poop in the yard. I only use praise and treats as rewards, not lures or baits. They live in the house with us, but are free to go outside as much as they want.

I use the tone solely for recall. The hunters I know can hit the tone button, the collar on the dog beeps. When they hear the beep, they know to go back to the truck/gate/clubhouse or start looking for the owner. I wouldn't mind calling for the dog, but I can't yell that loud.

I have to teach them the recall because otherwise they'll stay out all day or all night. If I had my own pen, I wouldn't mind, but I can't leave them at someone else's place all day or overnight.

The way I've been teaching the tone is the same as I would teach them to respond to hand signals. First, the dog has to already know the behavior I want. So for the recall, he already has to know to come when I call. I put the collar on, then simultaneously say, "Archie, come!" and give the tone (beep beep beep beep beep). As soon as he turns or takes a step toward me, I encourage him. When he gets to me, lots of praise and a tiny piece of hot dog. Now that he knows what the beep means, I don't have to use my voice at all. When he hears the beep, he comes running over.

Once the response to the tone is solid at short distances, I can increase the distance. When distance is increased and response is solid, I can use a mild buzz as correction if the dog doesn't respond. I tried it on the inside of my arm and it's just a vibration, another way of getting their attention. It's like the equivalent of giving a tug on the rope when teaching them to come.

These two dogs are my first hunting dogs ever, so I am taking everything slow and easy. I didn't even start them until they were nine months old, and they just turned a year old last Thursday. I talk to other hunters in person, but I like hearing everybody's thoughts and experiences.