SportDog FieldTrainer 425S SportHunter 1825 Dog TrainerAround the Pandemic household, we have always been dog lovers. Generally, where possible, we attempt to adopt rescue puppies. Our late lab/doberman mix was a one in a million terrific dog who was easy to train, understood and immediately responded to English and Japanese commands and hand gestures, and rarely did anything remotely aggressive or out of line... and then there are the two idiots, AKA the Doberman wonder twins, we adopted a little over a year ago.
These two poor dobermans were both severely abused, physically and mentally, over 30 lbs underweight each, and generally so full of energy they were horrifically destructive. Let's see, they broke my wife's knee, ran through a wall (because it was in the way), rounded most of the drywall corners off in the house, and barked at every bird, butterfly, and car in such a manner than you would think aliens were attacking. Oh yeah, I forgot that because of the beatings they had previously, every time you did try the newspaper on the nose thing or reached for them to correct them, they would submissively pee on the floor in terror.They have come a long way and are now wonderful, healthy dogs, however it has been a very long year and a half. Before these two bundles of steel wrapped in fur and powered by fusion energy, I had never considered a dog trainer (aka shock collar). In fact, my belief was that shock collar trainers were a bit cruel, however we were really having some behavior issues that a half dozen training classes still could not stop.
There were the deafening barking in the car, an instigated aggressive looking behavior which would escalate if left unchecked around ANY percieved threat, charging/clipping people and children (the male Doberman's butt at 30MPH is what broke my wife's knee), and generally acting like buttholes around other dogs. On the leash, these behaviors could be managed, however dobes are a stubborn breed and we would nearly have to throw them to the ground to get them to stop and focus on commands and then... ya know, they would pee. It was kind of like disciplining your kid in the middle of a grocery store for trashing a food aisle and was quite the spectacle with little headway being made on training. We needed another solution. The deciding factor for SportDog Dog Training Collars was when the now large 100 lb male broke out of the dog park and chased a truck for over a 1/4 mile. It put him in danger and of course was a pain for me and the truck which was nice enough to drive all the way back to escort the dog in pursuit back to me.
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| SportHunter 1825 Top FieldTrainer 425S Bottom |
THE GENERAL IDEA & OPERATION OF DOG TRAINERS
Many people mistakenly think the dog trainer shock collars are cruel because they believe they can only be used to shock/correct the dog and that is not true. The SportDog models offer a tremendous amount of training and correction options which, depending on model, include an audible collar beep, 7-99 levels of correction (stimulation/shock), and some models also can deliver a vibration. Neither of my dogs responded to the vibration on the FieldTrainer 425S model except to spin around and a circle to find the bug or alien that were circling them. They did learn very quickly that a beep is followed by a correction, so they better respond to the verbal command. They now know that even off leash, the game of keep-a-way to avoid correction now does not work, they come when they are called, and for the most part they have drastically improved simply due to the seemingly magical beep and correction which seems to occur only when they do not obey the verbal or hand commands.
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| "Are you sure I need this?" |
My female dobe is so stubborn that she has learned the progression of correction from verbal, to beep, to shock correction and decides if it is worth the shock. You can actually watch her think about whether she wants to mind and then continues the behavior until the beep and then flinches expecting the correction even without the shock. I have no solution for total stubbornness, however the SportDog collar "therapy" has reduced her independantthoughts process considerably.
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| Ahh, they look like little angles |
The SportDog collars are all molded rugged polymer designs that have sustained quite a bit of tumbles, crashes, scuffles, and water. They are not waterproof, but they are highly water resistant. Normal field uses around water should not affect the collars function.
Generally the longer the range the larger the dog mounted receiver and the handheld receiver. The SportTrainer 425S is about 20% smaller in size, of both the transmitter and receiver than the SportHunter 1825 model which is about the size of your average walkie-talkie.
Both models come with their own proprietary chargers. I was a little disappointed that the chargers were not interchangeable, however, given the various run-times and power, I can understand the difference in chargers. The FieldTrainer 425S includes a simple wall charger with two charging ends that key into the receiver and transmitter. The SportHunter 1825 has a base the receiver unit snaps into to charge while the transmitter plugs in similar to the other unit.
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| SportHunter 1825 with charger |
Both models are expandable should you have multiple dogs, however the SportHunter model allows you to specifically switch between each dog should they both be out and about together. My personal preference is to have two remotes otherwise I found I inadvertently corrected the wrong dog.
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| FieldTrainer 425S with Charger |
The SportHunter 1825 provides eight levels stimulation plus the beep. My male doberman has never been over "3". My wife and I made bets who could reach the highest number and still hold on to the receiver. Dumb idea, but a great way to kill an evening after sipping tequila and experiencing the correction levels you apply to your dog.
FINAL THOUGHTS
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| SportHunter 1825 Top FieldTrainer 425S Bottom |
The final though I will leave you with is that we tried training the old way and it just didn't work for these dogs. We didn't need this option for our old dog. In fact my wife was pretty upset with me when I brought the SportDog training systems, home because "that is just cruel". That noted, both of us are in love with the system and it has allowed us a training option to make our two sizable dogs behave and live a happy safe life.
SPECS
DESCRIPTION | The SportHunter® 1825 | FieldTrainer 425S Stubborn Dog Model |
SKU | SD-1825 | SD-425S |
RANGE | Up to 1 mile | Up to 500 yards |
EXPANDABLE SYSTEM | Expandable up to 6 dogs | Expandable up to 3 dogs |
MODES OF OPERATION | 13 | 7 |
DOG TEMPERAMENT | Stubborn | |
WATERPROOF | DRYTEK™ waterproof and submersible to 25 feet | DRYTEK™ waterproof and submersible to 25 feet |
BATTERY CHARGE TIME | 2 hour quick charge | 2-hour quick charge |
CONTINUOUS STIMULATION | 16 levels | 7 levels |
MOMENTARY STIMULATION | 8 levels | 7 levels |
BEEPER COMPATIBILITY | Compatible with UplandHunter® Accessory Beeper SD-BEEP | Compatible with UplandHunter® Accessory Beeper SD-BEEP |
KEY FEATURES | Select from 8 stimulation levels each within low, medium, or high setting | |
Ergonomic, slim-profile collar design | ||
Compact Remote Transmitter | ||
BATTERY TYPE | Rechargeable Li-Ion | Rechargeable Li-Ion |
PART NUMBERS | SR-300, ST120-SA, SDT00-12494, ST-101, SDT00-11963, SDT00-12490, ST-101SA | FT-125, SDT54-13889, SDT00-13857, SDT00-13861, SR-225 |
$294.95 | $184.95 |
SOURCES
SportDog - http://www.sportdog.com/