I’ve been reading some reviews on bird dog retail websites about the Garmin GPS dog tracking systems on the market. Quite frankly, I don’t think they have it all right. Let me tell you why.

If you want to know about dog tracking, talk to guys who run hounds on bears and mountain lions. I’ve recently gotten into big game hounds and have made some contacts locally and on the internet. These are the guys that know dog tracking. A bird dog runs big if he is 400 yards out from his handler. This summer a couple of friends and I ran a black bear for over 17 miles from where it was jumped. A lion hound may work a trail for 5 miles before catching up to the cat. Houndsmen use the tracking equipment for what it is worth and therefore know what works and what does not.

I currently have an Astro 220 with DC-30 collars. There is a new Astro on the market and also a newer collar called the DC-40. I have heard very few positive comments about the function of the DC-40 collar over the old DC-30. It takes longer to key in to the receiver and simply doesn’t track as well. I think it was a case of Garmin trying to get a new product on the market without much testing. Possibly Garmin will make the necessary improvements to the DC-40, but from what I’ve been hearing, they underperform the older DC-30. The problem is that it is becoming difficult to find the DC-30 collars because houndsmen are buying them up since they were discontinued early this year. Anyone thinking about buying a GPS tracking system should visit biggamehoundsmen.com and read up in the product review forum about the latest reviews from the guys who know.

I have been using e-collars for over twelve years to train dogs and believe that when used correctly as a training tool rather than a control tool or punishment device, they can facilitate dogs learning whether they are at 4 feet or 400 yards. Two keys to their use are correct timing and using as little electricity as possible, just enough to feel it. Almost every time before I put a collar on a dog I test it on my skin. I am constantly amazed at how the placement of the collar makes a big difference on how strongly it is felt. Try placing the prongs of an e-collar on your hand shock in on a low constant setting, then move it one inch and try it again. It is surprising how different the perceived level of stimulation is.

I am concerned about how those differences affect a dog if the collar shifts around a little bit, it may be further from a nerve now and require a little higher level of stimulation, then shift closer to a nerve and be felt too strongly. I hoped that the SCG-LBM adapter device would be the solution. The idea is that you would have seven points of contact rather than just two and would therefore have a more consistent level of stimulation.  The advertising promises to revolutionize electronic animal training; dogs will automatically jump 50 IQ points and move to PhD level programs in just a day or two.

I bought one to try it out. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to make any difference. After a fair bit of experimentation on my skin and using it on several dogs, I don’t think there is a difference. It is a novel idea, that with six more prongs that it is more likely to come into contact with a nerve and therefore would only require a low level of stimulation and be more consistent. It just doesn’t prove itself out.

The other advertised feature the SCG-LBM adapter touts is that a dog can wear the device much longer without causing irritation to the skin, whether it is on a bark collar or on a training e-collar. I can definitely see where there would be less wear on a dog’s skin with more contact points. However, it won’t work with any of the three different bark collars I have (Innotek, dogtra and tri-tronics), because either doesn’t fit between the prongs, or it would interfere with the vibration receptor on the collar between the prongs.

I have used this device with both my Tri-tronics G3 and Dogtra 200 training collars. It definitely works, I just don’t see any improvement over the standard prongs that come with the collar.

I love Motorola radios and use them on most of my bird hunts. They are small, light and work clearly over a long distance. My hunting companions and I usually go to a good spot and then make a plan to meet at lunch and each hunt our separate part of the country with our dogs. With the radios, we can keep in contact throughout the day.

My biggest frustration with the radios is that annoying “roger” beep when you let up on the PTT button. Not only does it make that annoyingly loud beep at my radio, but it broadcasts it to everyone on my channel regardless what they have their radio set to.  I can’t imagine why motorola would design such an annoying feature into a radio. It finally came to a head when I was hunting with my sister on her trophy muzzleloader elk tag this last week. (An awesome hunt, BTW.) No matter how low I turned my radio that maddening beep was loud enough to wake the whole aspen hillside. That was enough incentive to push me to figure out the solution; it was easy, but not intuitive.

To turn off the “roger” beep (a.k.a. courtesy tone) on the Motorola walkie talkie, simply turn off the radio, hold the “+” button (channel up button) down as you turn the radio back on.

When I finally got the “roger” beep turned off, I felt like Fiona on the Shrek movie after she kicked Robin Hood’s  %@# and said,  “Man, that was annoying.”  (youtube link) One funny movie.