Customer Reviews

PetSafe Pawz Away Extra Indoor Pet Barrier, ZND-1000

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The zones work great, within the limits listed below.

Good Points

1. Has a A, B, and AB setting which lets you control individual dog access to areas or objects (such as separate food bowls for special diets, rooms, etc)

2. The shock is mild but definitely uncomfortable (I tested it on me before I used it on the dogs). It is milder than the strong static shocks I regularly get around the house.

3. The dogs quickly learn to avoid things that cause shocks.

Limits

1. Collar wear is recommended to be limited to 12 hours due to rubbing by the stud on the neck. This can be a problem with intelligent dog and schedules requiring longer wear times. Intelligent dogs can quickly learn that the collar is the source of the shock and can wait until they are not wearing it to get into the forbidden.

2. The range increments listed (2-12 ft) are not dependable. I find mine, with direct line of sight, is half that or less.

3. The six available range settings are not enough. There are times that 1 or 2 ft increment is too much.

4. Area of affect is spherical. Keep this in mind when deciding where to use them. Depending on the range setting, just walking by the counter or under the table can set them off even if all you intended was to discourage Fluffy's nose from appearing on the counter/table top. The only way to alleviate this is to find some way to dangle the zone from the ceiling to correctly limit the reaction area to those 3 ft off the floor.

These zones are a terrific investment. Our dog is very intelligent, so my wife and I devised a plan. I always put the collar on before we take the dog outside. He gets so excited that he associates the collar with going outside and never puts 2 and 2 together. He has figured out that the source of the shock emanates from the zone though.

Even so, he doesn't mess with them. After numerous episodes of his destructive shenanigans and many failed attempts at containment, this finally did the trick!!

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 :D

This 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 4-6-2011
Ok 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)

We purchased the disc as an add-on to the Innotek contain n train system. While it took some time to get our 2 dogs conditioned to the underground fence and the remote trainer, the disc worked right out of the box... Within a day, both dogs avoided the area and after less than a month, both dogs seemed to respect the zone whether they had their collars on or not. We've had one disc for around 3 months and just ordered a second one for another area of the house because we love how well the zones work.

This product simply did not work. I have two beagle puppies, 6 and 10 months. The 6 month old puppy didn't seem to even notice anything. The 10-month puppy twitched a little every few seconds but kept right on doing whatever she wanted to do.

I put the collar on my wrist to see if it was working and because I wanted to see what I was subjecting my dogs to. It was working, but the range was sporadic - sometimes up to the three feet advertised and sometimes I had to be very close. The shock was very, very mild. I have since bought a SportDog 400S collar and it works great on the lowest setting, though of course it is manual so I have to actually be watching the puppies to correct anything. But the point is, my dogs are not immune to the shock training...just the ZND-1000 is not even close to powerful enough.

A word of caution - I bought the product from [...] because they were cheaper than amazon at the time (wish now I had bought from amazon because they have a better return policy). When I returned it they took a 20% re-stocking fee, so I lost $27 for the two collars and systems. Check the store's return policy before you buy this!!!! The packaging is hermetically sealed and it is impossible to get the system out to test it without destroying the packaging, so if the store wants all packaging intact for a return you are basically totally committed to the product whether it works or not.

We purchased our first zone and collar a few months ago and have added 3 more zones since. I don't know what we would do without them.

We have had two cats for several years and added a dog to the family about 5 months ago. Needless to say, trying to get dogs and cats living together was quite the adventure. We initially started by putting up gates to keep the dog separated from the cats. The cats got the upstairs and the dog got the downstairs for obvious reasons (needs to go outside via a first floor door). But we knew we couldn't live in this situation forever and we definitely wanted the animals to get along and live together. However, as soon as we took down the gates, the problems began. First, our dog LOVES cat poo. So he was constantly getting into the litter box. Second, he LOVES the cat food. So he'd end up eating most of their food. Plus, there was no safety zone for the cats. He could chase them all over the house and they couldn't get away from him. The dog is a small beagle and our two cats are fairly large. In fact, the dog is only a few pounds larger than the cats. So there was no way to make a "cat door" that only the cats could fit through. It was quite the dilemma and very frustrating.

Let me first say that we were very much against electric shock methods. However, other methods weren't working and after reading reviews on this product as well as others, we felt that this was the best solution. Concerned about using electric shock, I tested it on my hand first to ensure it wasn't too much. It is definitely a good jolt, but nothing excessive. I wouldn't describe it as painful, but very uncomfortable.. something you want to get away from.

We started by placing the zone near the entrance of a room where we put all of the cat stuff (litter, food, water). At first, it didn't seem to be working. The collar emits a beep when it applies a shock. It would beep and our dog acted as if there was nothing happening. He just looked at us like, "what's that beeping?" The problem is that the instructions say to allow enough space for your fingers between the probe and the skin of your dog. Well, this proves to be too loose and doesn't apply a shock. So I tightened it a bit more; just enough to ensure it touched the skin, but wasn't bothering/irritating the dog. This did the trick. He started walking into the room, got shocked, let out a scared little confused yelp, and backed away. HE HAS NOT COME CLOSE TO ENTERING THAT ROOM SINCE. One shock and he has learned not to go in there.

Since then, we have purchased additional zones and returned the food and litter back to their normal spots. We have a zone near the litter to keep him from eating the poo. A zone near the cat food/water to keep him away from that. A zone remains in the original room so the cats have a safe place to go. And a fourth zone is located next to some nice furniture that we don't want him playing on. He has quickly learned not to go to any of these places. He patiently waits for us when we go into one of these zones. In fact, we can remove the collar and he still won't go into these areas. So even if you are very concerned about constantly shocking your dog, I don't think you need to be. One or two shocks is all it takes to keep them out of an area.

Pros: It works! Variable zone distance is nice so you can have a large area or a very small area. Batteries have lasted a long time.

Cons: inconsistent distance increments. doubt you can really get 12' diameter.. more like 8 to 10 at best. Some zones had to be incremented to the 3rd or 4th bar just to get a few feet in diameter. Make sure you understand that this is a diameter and not a radius. So don't think you'll put the zone down and have it extend 12 feet from that spot...you would only get 6 feet (if you're lucky). You have to cut the collar to the desired length and it tends to fray quite a bit after a few days.

Would have rated it 5 stars if the distance thing was more consistent/accurate.

This thing is awesome. I could use at least 2 more!

I have the Ultrasmart fencing system and bought the disk as an add on. it works with the same rechargeable collars that the fence uses and allows me to keep my 3 rowdy mutts out of our game room without the burden of installing a gate.

I've seen negative reviews on this system and the only reason I can think of for this is because they don't realize it is an EXTRA zone disk, you have to have a system with a compatible innotek collar or its just a piece of plastic.

We have a Wiemaraner and a Rhodesian Ridgeback (about 80 lbs. each). When they start playing and get excited, they can be a real handful and out of control. We have the contain and train outdoor fence (which is so awesome, they don't even try to escape it) and decided to add a zone. We use ours in our stairway to keep them from chasing each other up and down the stairs. It's perfect. We were able to completely remove the baby gate. And they won't even step on the first step until they're told it's ok. The Innotek products we have are the best investments we could have made for the dogs' safety and our sanity.

I bought this product when my Brittany developed a bad habit of sneaking upstairs to do his business. The first time he wore the collar it beeped and then shocked him and he never got past the beep again. My only wish is that they would put a velcro closure on the collar for easier on/off when letting the dog in and out of the house.

Great product; Keeps our dog out rooms that we don't want him to go, has run thru it on occasion, but well worth it for 99% time.