Greetings all, I have been around the huntingnet forums for some time, but have not been around this particular forum, so if this question is redundant, please forgive and advise. Thanks.

I have a 7 year old lab male that is a great upland hunter, will hold points for up to 30 seconds b/4 instinct kicks in and he flushes the bird. I love this dog! He is a BIG dog. Genetics are strong. His health is great now, but wasn't always. He recovered from having heartworms 3 years ago.

My concerns with health history and his size prompted me to purchase a new Puppy this summer. She is now going on 5 months. I took her with on a short hunt this past sunday AM and she did great. She will make a fine dog.

Now closer to the question. I have used a DT systems EDT100 on Ace, the Male for quite a while. He knows he has it on and I have hardly used it for the past two years. If I don't nick him coming out of the kennel, he doesn't perform as well as I want. When He knows it's there he does a snap up job. I want to train the puppy (Sunny) similarly. I can't use Ace's collar on Sunny b/c Ace doesn't respond w/o it and knows when I take it off.

OK:
1) Am I better off using the collar I have and pruchasing another single collar or am I better off to buy a two dog rig?
2) Anyone familiar with the DT systems Collars? Looking at the SPT 7100 and 7000 series collars?
3) Better brands, collars for the $$$?

Thanks for your time!

1.a - Good luck with the new pup. What training program are you following?

2.a - Your "old dog" is what is called "collar wise". In order to avoid having your new pup becoming collar wise, you need to do a better job of ecollar conditioning. Most modern dog training books will have a pretty decent chapter on ecollar conditioning, but the very finest is the Mike Lardy ecollar tape. You can get the Lardy tape from his website at www.totalretriever.com .
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1.b - If you are going to train/hunt the two dogs together (at the same time), you need a new 2-dog model.

2 & 3.b - Most (but not all) folks think either the TriTronics or Dogtra brands are a lot better (particularly the 2-dog models).

Tri-tronics makes a good system. I do not own one but my Hunting buddy does and swears by them. I have used it and like the controls on it very much. [Columbia makes a vest that has a perfect pocket for the transmitter. cabelas was selling last years model vest for about 1/2 price in the bargain cave.] He had the 2 dog and now runs a 3 dog. There is some fella in Michigan I think who will sell a reconditioned model. Basically he puts all new guts in the transmitter and the reciever I believe. When my friend called this guy initially he asked him what collars he saw the least for repairs. He answeresd Tri-Tronics. So that is how the decision was made about 6 years ago. I'll try and find the guys name and number. Good luck with your new pup!

Rebuilt/Reconditioned collars are also available for really decent prices at www.collarclinic.com

Let me know what you find-I am getting a PL in Feb/Mar and from everything I have read so far you have to know what you are doing with an ecollar to keep them from getting collar smart. I have checked the website Doc E suggested and it looks like there are several good refurbed collars there.

I don't have the book in front of me, but I did train pretty close to the book with Ace. Have basic obedience work going now with Sunny. I'll dig it out and get the author.

I only run one dog at a time but I won't purchase anything other than Tri-Tronics. I have in the past and have had more failures. Although that was 15 years ago.

I believe in Lardy/Smith training methods 100%.