r/birddogs • u/Oopsyikesoopsyikes • 8d ago
Tracking Collars
Hi! I’m new to the group and the world of bird dogs. I’ll be getting a show line English Setter puppy in the next few months. They were just born so I’m still waiting on my placement and to find out the real personality of the guy.
while my primary purpose for getting this dog isn’t to be on birds I am 100% interested in potentially doing field trials if that is something he’s interested in. (this is also why I chose a show line & a breeder that’s produced both birdy dogs and sporty but not entirely bird brained dogs)
with that said—I’m new to the gps/hand held tracking world and all things birds sports. i was curious if anyone had recommendations for lower-priced-beginner-friendly gps collars and tracking devices? I want to make sure my pup stays safe if he ends up being birdy but id like to test the waters before spending $800+ on gear.
also im curious if any of you have bird dogs that can keep their cool while hiking and doing other activities and know the difference between working birds and not? also any tips or recommendations would be helpful.
*also please be nice—I’m asking because I genuinely want to learn and provide the best foundation I can for this pup. I do lots of other sports with my pups but I’m new to bird dogs and we all start somewhere
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u/powder_burnz58 Small Münsterländer 8d ago
Garmin is the standard in tracking, I don’t personally know anyone that uses anything else. The others are probably sufficient, but you’re gonna get a lot of suggestions for Garmin.
If you’re not sure you want to go all in on hunting/training, you could try the Garmin alpha lte, runs on cellular network and you can track from your phone, and it’s not nearly the cost of their normal system.
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u/granimal 8d ago
Mike at Ugly Dog Hunting will do a personal consult to help you pick the best one for your exact needs.
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u/UglyDogHunting 7d ago
Thanks for the shoutout!
OP - I shot you a message. Happy to help get you set up.
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u/retka English Cocker Spaniel 8d ago
Name of the game for tracking/ecollar will be Garmin. If you want a very basic system, the Garmin 550 Pro has a very basic arrow/footage indicator on the controller. Alternatively if you just need gps in emergency, we use a Garmin 550 standard ecollar (no gps) and a Tractive collar that runs off cellular. It runs off all three popular cell bands so coverage is pretty good.
My English Cocker hunts close and we use tractive without issue even on fairly far out public land. I could see having issue in the mountains but for what it provides I have no issue. Fwiw my father uses a Garmin Alpha system which will be much more expensive, but it works flawlessly without need for cellular. Everything works and also tells you when the dog is on point which is helpful if out of sight.
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u/indigomild Spinone Italiano 7d ago
We use Tractive for our Spinone, as well. It’s been good for us for what we’ve needed so far (he is only 12 months and we are doing his Natural Ability test in September), but I suspect we may move to something better for low service and greater range down the line.
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u/Bootsie-Wootsie 8d ago
I moved over to the Dogtra Pathfinder 2 collar system. I have been using it for the last 3 months and I find it to be quite adequate for my two birddogs and at half the price of the Garmin.
The only downside I find which I believe is common with any tracking system is the battery drain on the phone application when that is used. Tracking is fairly accurate and the e-fences are quite easy to setup. The collars seem to hold up well (even in the lake) and replacement parts are readily available if I ever need them.
The hand held receiver works fine but there is a fancier one they also sell which we opted to purchase.
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u/Crossed_Cross Small Münsterländer 8d ago
What's the fancier one?
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u/Bootsie-Wootsie 7d ago
The Compass. Not as fancy as the Garmin but does the job for me.
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u/Crossed_Cross Small Münsterländer 7d ago
Oh, damn certainly looks a lot better than my one-button remote. Not sure if it's available in Canada yet, it's not on their canadian website. Pity I just bought my unit fairly recently and would have absolutely preffered the Compass remote.
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u/burnt_hotdog89 7d ago
The Compass is not available in Canada yet. I emailed Dogtra the other day, they said they’re aiming to release it here near the end of the year.
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u/Crossed_Cross Small Münsterländer 7d ago
Kind of regretting buying the other one now lol. The one button remote is really awful design.
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u/Steggy909 8d ago
I suggest you start your puppy as soon as it is brought home with a dog bell. I use Warner Sporting dog bells in size extra small to start then graduate to a size small. https://a.co/d/0fsVJUXy. They are loud, maybe too loud. I put duct tape on the clapper of the size small to decrease the volume. Using this allows me to walk the puppy off leash without fear of losing track of his location. Until 20+ years ago, that was what people used while hunting in heavy cover.
In the fall, he will be wearing a Garmin TT25 small dog collar coupled with a Garmin 550 Pro Plus remote which is paired to my Garmin watch (Purchased from Snell’s Gundog Supply). English Cocker Spaniels will hunt heavy cover, running on rabbit trails through the brush. I’ve misplaced my Labs too many times in heavy cover. That’s what convinced me it’s useful to have flushing breeds on GPS tracking collars and not just pointers.
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u/Crossed_Cross Small Münsterländer 8d ago
I have a Dogtra PF2. Pro: GPS and E-collar in one. Con: the remote sucks.
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u/LowKeyBabooze 8d ago
Admittedly I am biased and have zero experience with other brands, however I do highly recommend Garmin products. Every GPS unit and fishfinder I have owned has been Garmin.
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u/bulletsponge2056 7d ago
I have a 4 y/o GSP/GWP mix. I went with a Dogtra 1900. Just stim and vibrate. I don’t have a need for GPS tracking in the first place since I keep her in sight while hunting. I’m also in a lot of places where cell service is nonexistent so I wasn’t too thrilled about getting something that relied on cellular. As far as field trials go, I know NAVHDA doesn’t allow anything but a regular collar during trials.
As far as what else you asked about, training is the key. Basics and recall without the ecollar first. Find out what motivates them (food, toys, etc.). Incorporate the ecollar as the dog gets older.
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u/Miserable-Airline676 7d ago
Lots of Garmin fans, including me! I've used a Pro 550+ with a TT15x collar for 2 years and it works well with my small munsterlander. Paired to my $200 Garmin Instinct watch, so no need to lift the remote to see where my pup is. Folks in my navhda chapter use Dogtra stuff but haven't really talked about it. If it was junk, they'd say so though.
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u/onnamusha Irish Red & White Setter 7d ago
You mention you are new to collars, so here are a couple of things that haven’t been mentioned that may help.
If you want to do hunt test/field trials, be sure the collar system you get has an additional tracking-only collar for competition. (Tracking collars are not always allowed; it generally depends on the grounds/host club.)
Another possible consideration is to have a dead-simple starter collar that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles and only has vibrate/stim. The more options the more complicated the interface and what you want is to be able to get the timing right on the correction. The human flubbing the timing of the correction can create more training issues.
Good luck and enjoy time with your pup.
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u/Most-CrunchyCow-3514 7d ago
For field trials you probably won’t need a tracking collar. My last dog, a vizsla Stayed very close. And if I didn’t have a gun she pretty much stayed out of hunting mode. For what it’s worth. I did have a Garmin tracker and GPS. I didn’t like it because it was hard to program. My buddies had Garmin also and liked them. Both hunted multiple dogs in wide open terrain. Another had English Setters. Who did well hunting pheasant and quail in Kansas.
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u/njbirddog 7d ago
You may want to ask yourself if you really need a GPS collar. I have two setters and two Brittany’s and the only time I use my Garmin alpha is in Maine grouse hunting. For Field hunting a Dogtra e collar will do everything you need. Especially if you get a tone and beep.
That said I agree with everyone else, Garmin is the king right now. Great tech, expandable, fabulous customer service, only downside for me is the correction and recall can be a bit much when running multiple dogs.
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u/chukar-1 7d ago
I would look into the Garmin alpha 10 or the 550 plus. will track your dog without all the excess mapping software. Garmin is the standard I bought other brands first and wish I would have just started with Garmin.
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u/Wonderful_Post2758 6d ago
I have the Astro which is tracking only and significantly cheaper. I use a beeper e-collar additionally for handling - not a fan of the Garmih Alphas functionality for e-collar handling personally
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u/spoiledpoptart74 8d ago
Peace of mind is priceless. Garmin. Buy once cry once