PetSafe Pawz Away Indoor Wireless Pet Barrier Transmitter, Extra Add-A-Barrier for Dogs & Cats

If you own an obnoxious young Siamese cat like I do, you understand the frustration of demolished house plants, tracked-all-over counter tops, and strewn trash. But not anymore! To my great suprise, cats shock-collar train really well :DThis device is really easy to use, though you won't be convinced after the first day. You DO have to make some adjustments to the system before it starts working the way it was designed to (zapping mr. kitty so he learns to not be into stuff!)Some little pointers you need to know when setting up your system.1) Placement of the trasmitter (the fire alarm looking thing): be sure you understand that on the maximum distance setting (6 notches) it is only projecting a radio signal out 6 feet in any direction (a total diameter of 12 feet). So, if you set it next to your house plant, kitty is only going to stay a maximum of 6 feet away from it (which is plenty to make your plant feel more comfortable ;o)2) Collar fit (very important!!): this system will not work AT ALL if you do not have the collar tight enough! Remember that animals have fur, and it will mat down under the collar after about an hour. My mistake was to adjust the collar to a comfortable fit, which basically left the contact prongs just floating in fur (they have to contact the animal's skin in order to correct/zap them). So, the first day I was a little frusterated when Khemos just laid all over the transmitters and never got zapped. There were a lot of warning beeps, but no response from him. The next day, I got smart and adjusted the collar to a VERY snug fit, and was sure to move the hair out from under the prongs (you should be able to get just a finger tip under the end of the prongs when fitted correctly). And that's when the product started to work.....and boy did it! :D Don't be afraid that it's too powerful for a cat though. I zapped myself when I was testing it, and where it made me drop the collar (I was not expecting the shock when I got shocked) it didn't stop my heart or "hurt" me *lol*Also note to be sure not to make kitty wear it all the time. It will eventually irritate the skin at the contact points, and there can be some hair loss. We keep Khemos locked up in 'his' bathroom at night, and put the collar back on him in the morning when he has run of the entire house. Also note that you can save the battery life on your transmitters if you turn them off when not in use.If you have a long haired cat, you may want to shave a little bit of hair under the neck when you first start using this collar. You won't have to keep kitty looking that way forever (don't worry ;o) as the collar tends to train pretty quickly. It doesn't take long before the warning beep is enough to send them running away from the transmitter.MORE HELPFUL INFORMATION 4-6-2011Ok folks....I realize that I've already written enough about this product, but there are a couple additional pointers that will help you get the most out of this product:1) Both prongs must be touching the skin at the same time in order to transmit a shock/"static correction". So if you're testing the collar on yourself before applying it to your pet, you will need to be touching BOTH prongs in order to experience.....well, the experience ;O)2) If you happen to have a kitty with razor sharp hind claws, you will probably have to replace the handy-dandy collar this unit comes with (our's was scratched to smithereens within 6 months). After spending a great deal of time trying to find a replacement collar that would easily thread through the receiver's slots, the thought occurred to me that I could easily make a new collar! So I went down to our local JoAnn's Fabric store, and purchased about 18 inches of black, 3/4" wide elastic. To construct the collar, simply cut the old collar off the buckle, and thread one end of the elastic through it. Pull about 1 inch through and stitch through both layers to secure the buckle (it's easier than it sounds). I chose elastic over plain nylon web for it's stretchiness, and it's made a BIG difference (don't know why Innotek/PetSafe hasn't thought of this yet!?) The elastic gives a little making the collar MUCH easier/faster to fasten to a snug fit on a squirming cat. It also helps the prongs stay in better contact with the skin if the animal scratches the receiver out of position. Lastly, I think the little bit of give provides a more humane fit (which i know is a weird point to make about a 'shock collar' ;o)

They are small enough to fit anywhere and can even hang on the wall. They work great with the collars to keep the dogs off furniture and out of closets.

I did a review of all the pet barriers and selected PetSafe Ultra for my dog. What a mistake. After spending two months with the PetSafe support people and going through 2 collars, they finally admitted the following will never work in the following circumstances:1) a Petsafe unit next to or in the vicinity of any Invisible fence product. The invisible fence units are to powerful and make the PetSafe units not function2) a Petsafe unit near any metal objects. The support people actually asked me if there were bicycles near the unit or the wire as that would cause it not to work. Bicycles?? come on.3) the indoor unit will never give you more than about 3 ft of range from the collar.All three of these make the PetSafe Ultra and the indoor barrier unusable alone or together. The collar and the exterior unit were finally take back by my retailer for PetSafe. Unfortunately, Amazon will not let me return the indoor unit because it took too long working with PetSafe to get to the bottom of the problems in the poor design.I have since purchased a unit from Perimeter Technologies. No issues, 1/2 the price and works great even next door to an Invisible fence. My wire and his are within 1 ft. of each other and they work perfectly with the Perimeter Technologies unit.Bottom line DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT or any PetSafe units if you expect reliability and good design.

This device works great with my puggle (pug/ beagle mix).As a 2.5 year old hound, she's gotten a lot better about minding but can't stay away from the cat food, other dog's food and litter box. I'm tired of chasing her away from the other animals' belongings. Though she hates being squirted with the water bottle, the hound in her just couldn't take "no" for an answer.I finally gave in to these shock devices and I LOVE THEM!The first month, she'd test the shock device and I knew when she was shocked. After her first daily shock, she immediately became the lovable, minding, non-alpha dog that is buried down very deep. I joked that I should just shock her on purpose for she became such a desirable dog :)After months of use, she avoids the restricted areas. The quiet warning noise is enough of a deterrent so she's not shocked frequently anymore. Though she still stares at the cat food from a safe, shock free distance.If her collar isn't on and I'm not hovering over her with a squirt bottle in view, she still goes straight to the cat food, cat poop, other dog's food, etc. So she has to wear it all the time.The battery in the collar and base stations last a long time. I haven't replaced them yet and it's been at least 3 months of continuous use. I don't turn off the base stations at night, just the collar when she goes to her kennel. Which I remove for her sleep.The collar has to be tight to her skin because of the dense puggle fur. I leave her regular collar on too, so I have to make sure the prongs don't touch the other collar because then she's not shocked. (She tests this too).Overall, I'm a happier person because I don't have to stand over her armed with a squirt bottle or yell at her for eating cat food/ poop and the other dog get's to eat at his leisure too.If you have a hound, I would recommend it. I have three base stations and love them. I'd buy them again.I wouldn't substitute this as training, you still need to train your dog :) It just helps those who are persistent, even when they know what they're doing is naughty.The only downside is the cost, but it's cheaper on Amazon than any pet store I've been in and I have three so it's not too bad. At the price of keeping your sanity and dog, it's well worth it.