Everyone knows that training a high-energy, excitable (large) pup takes patience.
However, I had no idea how difficult training this type of dog to heel could be.
Regular collars didn't work in the slightest. Every walk was a battle. Training went slowly... very slowly.
Choke collars did more harm than good. Every walk was still a battle, but now I was causing my dog to gag audibly loud. After a few weeks of trial I found I was wearing my dog's neck raw (to the point that there was a bald line across the front of her neck).
The gentle leader collar was actually quite nice for training, though it had its issues when just walking. The biggest problem with this collar-type was that my dog was somewhat averse to it (she didn't like wearing it and would try to bat it off every time it was put on her). Also, as an excitable pup, she loves to play, and this collar is, unfortunately, somewhat restrictive.
Enter the shock collar. I was hesitant to use any fancy gadgets with my pup, but after trying the alternatives I gave it a shot.
When I got the collar I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be doing as much damage as the choke collar had done, so I went through the entire range of shock levels (there's 10) on both my arm and my neck. On your arm it will cause an electro-numbing sensation (if you've ever been shocked you know this feeling) and a muscle jump. On your neck it will sting and cause you to jump. On levels 1 and 2 I didn't feel anything. After levels 8-10 I wouldn't get myself shocked. Note that in both cases, though, no lasting damage is done (cept maybe a little muscle tightness - like you just worked out).
So with that cleared up, I tried it out on my dog. After 2 tries she understood that she only got shocked when she did something wrong (note that this is a perfect time to find the right power level: enough so that they visibly react, not so much that they audibly react - I trained "stay" while I did this). After 5 tries she understood that the sound meant a shock was coming (there's 2 buttons - one sound, one shock). After the first day (2 hour long walks - with leash and shock collar) she understood that she shouldn't get excited over dogs and squirrels or attempt to get out of leash range. After the second day (2 more hour long walks with leash) and a "heel" refresher course (taking 1 step and rewarding if she stays by me or correcting if she doesn't, then 2 steps, then 3 steps, up to 10 consecutive steps - I always make her do 10 of each interval before moving on) with and without the leash, she was walking without a leash. And she's been walking without a leash ever since (the past month).
As mentioned, it can be used to train other activities other than walking.
Also note that it seems to be good in water. My dog's been completely submerged swimming multiple times wearing the collar with no problems.
Annnd the range really is nice. 100 yards may be stretching it (I don't let my dog get that far away), but I've had no problems with 30-50 yards (which is pretty far if you're just using it for playing while walking).
And last but not least, the only thing that may be a potential problem is the batteries. The collar batteries are tiny circle batteries that supposedly have 2 weeks worth of "on" time - according to the manual. This made me hesitant at first, but as I only use the collar 2 hours a day, and the "on" time should last 336 hours, I shouldn't be needing to get replacements for about half a year. The remote, on the other hand, just requires a 9V battery which should last about as long as a remote control battery (a long time).
Either way, hope this all helps someone out there (and maybe even answers a question or two).