I would definitely wait on the E collar until they are at least 9 months old. Some dogs would be ruined if you used a collar on them. My last dog followed commands very well but even at the low settings I think the E collar would have been more force than it would have tolerated. In any case the dog was very obedient and never had a collar on its neck. I think the same will be true for my current dog.

As far asa beep collar, I think it is a great investment and absolutely needed.I am not opposed to E collars and they are incredible training aids when used properly. I have seen them used where the dog has no idea what they are being zapped for so the dog never really learned what to do to avoid being zapped. I used one on my lab and after a time all I had to do was hit the tone button and the dog would follow the command. It really was rare that I had to hit the shock button.

I had tritronics and it worked great.