How much does a shock collar cost? (2023)

Shock collars are training tools designed to primarily deliver a tiny electric charge to a dog’s skin to cause a distinct, irritating sensation. These training devices are attached to collars and are triggered by remote control or by certain conditions. If you’re considering buying one, you’ll likely go through two particular problems: wide price variation, and different types of shock collars. In general, a shock collar will cost between $30 and $250+ depending on the features that you’re looking.

We have one recommendation to get you started: Get the best bang for the buck. Shock collars fall mainly into three categories based on their uses. Their prices vary based on these categories and each has a plethora of features and level quality that also affect prices. How do we find the best bang for the buck? We’ll show you the common features each category has, alongside other factors you should consider. A shock collar is a long-term commitment, spanning months to even years. Low prices always have a trade-off and higher prices may mean it has certain features you don’t need.

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Remote Training Collars

They are collars meant to manually correct behavioral issues with consistent training sessions. When we say correcting behavioral issues, the idea is centered around establishing easy communication with your fur-buddy, and teaching them how to listen to you via basic obedience commands. Also known as electric dog collars or remote shock collars, they come with the most amount of features meant for outside use.

• Usual features

They always come with a remote control whose wide range varies from 100 yards, to as far as 1 mile. The correction levels are adjustable, usually from 1-10 with some models having 1-100 for fine-tuning. The amount of levels does not mean it’s more powerful, it just means there are more in-betweens in the middle of each level. Apart from using electricity, most electric collars also come with vibration stimulation and tone which are good alternative ways to signal your dog when you don’t want to use the electric shock.

Those are the main features, and some collars have extras such as a nightlight, or the ability to manage extra collars with the same remote. Certain ones have that extra function of being an automatic bark collar. More high-tech collars employ touch-screen remotes, GPS tracking, and with that, incredibly high range. These features are more for luxury and could cost a lot.

• Average Cost

Remote training shock collars can cost anywhere between $30 to $250. The collars with GPS trackers can cost around $400 to $600. Consider how, when, and where you’re going to use the electronic collar to figure out which features you need. A shock collar around the middle $140-$150 range is often a good bang for the buck. Decent hunting collars fall under these ranges, which have robust features and are meant to withstand the elements, resulting in long usage lifespans.

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Anti-Bark Collars

The main difference between a shock collar and Anti-Bark/Proximity Shock Collars is that the latter ones are automatic. You don’t have to be there for the electric dog collar to work. When the conditions are met, the collars will trigger with a programmed response or a user-set response. For bark collars, the condition is simply when your dog barks, triggering a variety of responses. For example, simple ones let out beeping sounds for about two seconds as a warning, and when your dog ignores it and keeps barking, then triggers the shock. More complex responses involve the E-collar increasing the level of shock the more your dog barks, ensuring that it counters their excessive barking, but only to a safe limit.

• Usual features

Bark collars, for obvious reasons, always have a sensor that detects barks. Some have vibration sensors placed alongside, so it only triggers when it both hears and feels your dog’s barking, not when another dog is barking. Like remote training collars, some of them have Vibrate and Tone modes, allowing for less stimulation if your dog can’t handle the electricity (Or you can’t handle using electricity on your fur-fam)

Like we said earlier, the collars have a programmed way of responding to your dog’s barking. What’s common in all of them is they allow your dog to bark for 1-2 seconds. The idea is not to silence your dog but to only minimize the barking. Some collars don’t have shock functions, and instead only utilize tone and vibrate, or with the case of the spray collar, sprays diluted citronella solution close to your dog’s face.

• Average Cost 

You’ll find that most anti-bark collars have relatively lower costs than training collars. That’s mostly due to the lack of remote features, though it’s worth noting that some remote training collars have built-in anti-bark programs, making them a 2 for 1 deal. You’ll find most collars vary from $15 to the higher quality ones at over $70. The average cost of the highly reviewed collars falls around $30-$40, so getting collars around those price ranges ought to give you good results.

Related Article: Best Shock Collar for Hunting Dogs

Proximity Shock Collars

They come in many names, often called an invisible fence collar, wireless dog fences, or electric dog fence collar. The proximity shock collar trains your fur-buddy to stay inside or away from a certain perimeter. Much like a bark collar, this does it automatically and through a programmed response. The hardware can vary from the receiver and a singular device, or the collar and multiple devices along with markers.

• Usual features

The features don’t vary much from the anti-bark collars, apart from the trigger conditions. It’s also common for them to have tone, vibrate and shock functions and certain devices only use vibration and tone. All of them have adjustable levels of shock and have set responses, like beeping for 2-4 seconds when they cross the line, before the electricity triggers. Others have progressive responses where the receiver increases the intensity as your dog stays in the no-go zone or leaves the stay-in zone for an extended period.

The conditions for trigger differ, but it’s either your buddy stays inside an area or keeps away from it. These devices often have adjustable distances, especially the keep-off collars. One of the best things you should watch out for, is the shock-free re-entry feature, especially with stay-in area types so your pet doesn’t get penalized twice for crossing an area.

• Average Cost and Bang for Buck

With different types of sensors, this has the widest price range. It can go as low as $60 to upwards of packages around $700. Based on popular opinion and reviews, the good proximity devices are around $120 to $140. Devices under this price range often have all the adjustable features you need. The high-priced packages are often for owners with multiple dogs and wide areas to cover.

Conclusion How much does a shock collar cost?

Other factors affect the prices of these collars such as alternative materials, safety features, battery life, and branding, which often come with guarantees and customer support. It’s up to you to find the shock collar that best fits your needs. It could be a low-price collar for one dog and one objective, or a high-tech, high-priced collar set for managing several hunting dogs. What’s important, is the care, respect, and attention you give to your dog, and nobody can put a price on that.

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