When you are training your dog, whether for the field or at home, you will want to consider a dog training collar. Dog training collars deliver stimulation to the dog that lets him know when he is behaving inappropriately. It is important to realize that this stimulation does not hurt the dog, it merely lets him know when to stop and teaches him obedience. When you have a dog, he depends on you to help him become an effective hunter and good companion dog - it is cruel not to train him.

There are basically two types of stimulation collars. Those that provide continuous stimulation and those that provide momentary stimulation. This is often referred to as a "nick." Some dog training collars will provide both types of stimulation. They are both useful in their own way.

For example, if your dog suddenly starts to take off running, you can use the continuous stimulation. This should stop the dog in his tracks. If he does something slightly wrong, you can give him a nick. Dogs have a very short memory span and scolding the dog after the fact is ineffective when it comes to training. If you let them know at the time of the infraction that they are doing something wrong, you will have a better behaved animal and training time will be decreased.

For larger dogs, especially pointers and retrievers, you are going to want to have a collar that has a stronger frequency for stimulation. Stimulation is given by you as you hold the hand held device and transmit the frequency to the receiver on the collar of the dog. Smaller dogs require less stimulation. You can control the amount of stimulation that you give to your dog at any given time. You are better off to start with the least amount of stimulation when first training so that, if necessary, a stronger amount will have a bigger impact.

With gun dogs such as retrievers, pointers and spaniels, range is something that you really need to consider when looking for dog training collars. The longer the range, the better, especially if you are hunting with a pointer who covers a much wider range than other gun dogs. Once your dog is fully trained in the hunt, you will then want to affix him with a tracking collar so that you can know his whereabouts as he goes about his natural instincts of hunting.

Dog training collars can also be used for dogs who are not used for hunting, but for pets. When you are using the dog training collar, you should not just rely on the stimulation, but also issue a command when providing the stimulation. This works when you are within earshot of the dog. This way, the dog will associate the command (such as "Stay" or "Down") with the stimulation. Soon, you will not need the collar as he will associate the command and become an obedient pet.

There are many factors and features to dog training collars. The type of collar that you choose is determined by the type of dog you have, his size and the type of hunting that your dog does.