Halo Collar
I’ve been spending a lot of time with our new dog Iris1,2. Enough so that it’s become my first priority cutting in my work, tennis, and other chores. Iris is eight months old now and she’s a handful. I’m pretty committed to training and spending time with her. She’s sitting on the couch next to me as I type this up. It was cold out this morning which made me think about how thankful I am for our Halo dog collar. I stood inside the den eating cereal watching her roam the back yard for a good spot to do the doo. And since a lot of folks ask about it, I figured I’d just write about it here and send them a link.
It’s not my first rodeo training training a dog. I’ve had three now and can’t say it gets any easier. While she’s young, I still want her to be able to run wild because that’ll make her happy. I have no clue why some people seem to think that having big dogs in small yards or indoors is acceptable. Dogs are just domesticated descendants of wolves and wild canines, who for instance, have a territorial range that averages over 100 miles. My last two dogs had free roam because I was in a remote location but unfortunately, our current yard is just over an acre in a neighborhood. I walk her the loop around the hood and let her fetch in the yard and pond. She’s at the age now where she’s accepted we’re the lead dogs in the pack, but she’s still testing it every so often. I got somewhat comfortable with her off-leash out in the yard, but after seeing her go after a cyclist or golf cart several times, I knew I’d have to add a fence to be a good neighbor and for her safety.
We ordered the Halo Collar3 to give it a go because we really like the idea of taking the fence with us when we travel. I’ve been using it for about four months now and there will be no need for a fence. And no, there aren’t any promotional strings attached here even though they did email me asking for a positive review in a support ticket and I am using my referral link in the reference below. The best I can do is an honest write-up here for anyone who might stumble upon it.
The Halo Collar is a satellite GPS powered collar that allows you to create a custom fences. It has three levels of encouragement and three levels of prevention feedback. There are various audio cues for encouragement and prevention. When your dog gets near a ‘fence’ boundary or beacon, it gives warnings and when it retreats it gives encouragement. The collar also has static vibrations and electric shock when they cross the boundary. We spent the first couple of weeks two training alongside the instruction videos. I think Iris and I both got bored of them after a while even though they’re well done. She responded pretty quickly to the encouragement feedback because well… she loves food and treats. That was the easy part. She mostly picked up on the beacon training before I was ready to let her roll outside. The beacon is like a small radius fence line. I tested the electric shock on myself first just holding it in my hand and I started her on the lowest setting because I’m more of a positive reinforcement sorta person and I didn’t want to create an adverse reaction to wearing the collar. She already knew the boundaries of our property because we’ve been leash training her within them and do not allow her into the road unless she knows we’re going for a walk.
Setting up fences is easy. You just walk the collar along the board and click to add fence posts. The GPS is accurate to within a couple of feet. ( we have version 3 if that means anything ). Most of the initial time she spent outside with the collar was closely monitored watching and calling her when she got a whiff from the distance and started easing off of our property. Then she got away the first time chasing a walker who had passed by down the road, ignoring the various beeps and whistles and just shaking her head every time she got shocked like it was a mild irritation. So I got her back onto the property and cranked up the electric feedback to 3 ( 1-15 setting ). That was all fine and dandy until she started running with a neighboring dog along a fence line and took off to the other side of the property again… just shaking her head when the emergency feedback happened. I turned the feedback up to 5 ( 1/3 power ) for the next time it happened, because I knew it would. The last time she ran off, it was because she started swimming in the pond, and for whatever reason, whenever she gets muddy she gets excited. She got a whiff of a deer trail along the back of the pond and just took off into the woods not even stopping or shaking her head for the shocks. They shocks are not constant, they’ll hit three at a time and then break for a couple of minutes before they continue in threes. I looked back at the app afterward, and she had 24 shocks and had been out of the fence line for about 16 minutes which means it’s about a two-minute break between sets.
I crunk it up again to 1/2 power ( 8/15 ) afterward and have left it there. We had about five or so outdoor sessions prior to the last escape so I know she knows, the deterrent and/or reward for coming back just wasn’t strong enough to keep her from running. I heard a story of an acquaintance whose dog had another electric fence product who would just move close enough to the fence line and sit there long enough to let the battery run out so it could run loose. I know Iris wants to chase those deer and we have a lot of them around our house so it isn’t going to be easy. Aside from other dog walkers, golf carts, and bicycles, we also have a pond full of turtles, dragonflies, and fish she also wants to catch. The main thing is keeping her out of the two roads which border our house. Although the collar is for her safety, I’ve seen other folks strap up their dogs to a shock collar with a remote and just buzz them for bad behavior. When I mentioned shocking our dog to others, I always have to explain how it works and tell them how I tested it on myself first so they might understand my sympathy.
The Halo collar works, but only after you’ve trained your dog to pay close attention to it with rewards and punishment. She now responds almost perfectly to the border warnings and has only crossed a couple times in excitement to visit other dogs walking by and quickly returned. I’ve had family dogs that would just dig out under our fence and would be lost for hours while we drove around the neighborhood calling for them. At least now I can see on a map exactly where she is. There is a much larger range than an in ground wireless fence where once they’ve crossed they’re free. I charge it nightly and have yet to have any glitches with upgrades or the app. I’ve set up fences around some common areas we travel to and she still responds to the border warnings albeit a bit tepid at first because she doesn’t know where they are. Another feature I really like is the remote signals feature. I have one set to whistle, so I can just tap a button on my phone to send the whistle to her collar and she’ll come running back to the back deck or front door. I put it on her about four to five times a day so she can nose around and hang out in the yard. I still mostly keep tabs on her whereabouts, but I’m now comfortable enough to do other things while she’s out.
Iris now knows she’s headed out as soon as I offer to put on the collar. She gets excited likely because I usually pair the time outside with chunking the frisbee or ball. I’m just thankful I didn’t have to fence in the yard and don’t have to suit up early in the morning to head out into the cold. Overall, it’s another one of those how’d I live without it things. The piece of mind far exceeds the cost and it’s just one more thing that makes living with a dog more rewarding.
- Iris – David A. Windham – https://davidawindham.com/iris
- Dogs/Iris – TIL – David A. Windham – https://davidawindham.com/til/notes/dogs/iris
- Halo Collar – https://www.halocollar.com