I am communicating that he or she needs to return. I know they understand because they do. The collar I use has a quoted range of over 3 miles though I have tested it to 1.4 miles. Sorry that them nice people on the horses killed all of your animals by having packs of dogs rip their heads off (am I wrong)? Now as for the bear, when I go camping I do not pitch my tent until I see some bear scat, black bears here in the east they are, nothing like the browns found more west. See the bear analogy is not made up, it's real, they are in the Catskills and New Jersey as well, I have been 20 feet from one in Tennessee https://www.flickr.com/photos/136279...7659534288740/ . My dogs can beat any bear, if they chose they could bite the bear in the ass and not be there when it turned, not that I would allow this, but in all seriousness the bear is going to catch me as it has no chance to outmaneuver or overtake a Shorthair. That said I do not know what type of dog you have, nor will I say that all dogs can face this situation and come home, mine could. However if I kept them on a leash all the time, what could they learn about independence.

Different mentalities, I suppose.

I would not knowingly put any dog in a dangerous situation.

When you are communicating to your dog that is out of sight to return, what do you do if it doesn't? Hit the button again perhaps? Turn up to juice to make it more urgent, perhaps? That's usually what happens. Or, do you go to your dog to make sure it isn't injured, trapped, or too afraid to come your way because of the situation it has got itself into.

Then you would never own an English Pointer or English Foxhound or a Harrier, I would, but we have far more German Shorthaired pointers in the USA to choose from.

I wonder would the UK and world be a better place if this Shorthair was never knowingly put in danger? http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...ntless-4410890

Good question as to why my dogs always return, because they do. Actually after hundreds of miles of training hikes, I suppose I have faith in them, and they have faith in me. See once they hear my whistle or their collar siren activate, they instantly go into search mode for me, and I more or less become their prey until they find me and all is well again. If you haven't experienced it, I agree that it must be hard to comprehend, but I never have to chase my dogs, they chase me, which means that I am never lost.

Lets just hope they never get injured, trapped or lost somewhere. Out of sight is too far. A dog should be insight all of the time unless it is a working dog eg police dog or search dog. Even then though they aren't really out of sight. I feel we are all going to have to beg to differ on this subject.

Out of sight can be 30 feet away in a corn or wheat field where the pheasants hide. I do understand that most people do not understand the joy of freedom that I experience while watching my dogs play as dogs were meant to play.

Now should a Westie run miles ahead of it's owner? No I would say, but my dogs come back at 35 miles per hour, because I have gotten lost again, but to my great relief I am always found.

If they get injured or trapped I can find them with the beeper on their collar, which is why it is there in the first place. Thanks for pointing out this very important safety factor of an upland beeper collar.

So you think Staffies are all dangerous AND you use shock collars. Brilliant. Just...brilliant. My older dog knows to stay with me, to watch me, and she stops and recalls on a dime. I've called her off deer, squirrels, rabbits, other dogs, etc. My younger dog is learning this but he had to bond with us first. Both were rescues with unknown backgrounds. I've done it all with positive reinforcement.

And frankly? I'd rather keep my dogs on leash than ever use a shock collar them. They should be banned.

And if they're 3 miles away you're going to hear that beeper how?

They make GPS collars. Handy things. I'd use one of those if I needed to.

I do not use shock collars, I use a beeper to locate my dogs, and a stealth silent vibrator to recall them as said without any sound. Now I do not call my dogs off of game, their job in life and what they enjoy most is chasing whitetail or geese and rabbits, so why stop them from their passion. I do not think that staffies are dangerous, I know this http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/a...2_1441470a.jpg

CIAO

I do not have English Foxhounds that run miles away and a human must be on horseback to follow. German Shorthairs stay with their handler or hunter because no shot can be made from miles away, 50 or 100 yards is a more common distance for a shorthair to be, farther in open farmland that is cleared. The German foot hunters dog, is owned by the person with game that can be eaten and hasn't been ripped to shreds. The beeper is audible from several hundred yards, but if I blow my whistle, doesn't matter how far they are because they are now at my side, why, because they love the handler who let them run. However the vibrator is operated by a radio frequency signal that does travel several miles in optimum conditions.

PS. you can let your dog chase every deer and squirrel, or rabbit that it chooses, because none of these can be caught by a staffie. However if you are afraid that your dog is going to kill something, you know best.