I need an effective dog shock collar. Recommendations?

Sport dog are really solid but pricey. I got the highest rated one on chewy (I’m not field training a dog, just need to get his attention when his lab brain wonders) and it’s plenty for my needs and was like 40 bucks instead of 150.

I've been very happy with the Educator but I think it's $200-ish. If you're someone who always owns a dog or two it's worth it. There's a Tom Davis dog trainer on YT that endorses a collar brand, I've watched enough of his content to say that's probably a safe bet as well.

SportDog been great to me for many years, very durable.

I have a young pup. I think she's part hound and very stubborn but this collar works really well. I've only ever used beep and vibrate but she listens it it very well.

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Definitely. I was a little unclear on OP, but if the dog knows "here," "come," or whatever the recall command is and disobeys for whatever reason, then the e-collar is used to reinforce that command.

Collar conditioning is the process of introducing the dog to the stimulation to teach them that the stimulation is a correction. Believe it or not, some dogs just don't get that right out of the gate. They get shocked and they freak out/get confused/don't understand. Disclaimer: this is somewhat nuanced dog training and may be more than OP is interested in getting into. Not saying OP absolutely has to go this route, but it is the best way to train the dog to understand the collar.

An easy way to do it is to take a command the dog knows well, like "sit." At the lowest level the dog can feel (can be determined by watching for any reaction, like an eye, ear, or slight flinch), apply continuous stimulation and give the sit command simultaneously. The second the dog's butt hits the ground, stop stimulation, praise and reward. Do this once a day for a few days with 10-15 reps per session, but don't apply stimulation every single time. Maybe every other time. It's a baseline way to (1) teach a dog to be comfortable with pressure and (2) teach the dog how to turn off pressure, which is ultimately the goal of using an e-collar. Once the dog gets comfortable with the collar on sit, expand to other commands like recall, and switch from continuous stimulation to momentary (a nick). At that point, the process becomes "sit," and if the dog hesitates at all, it gets nicked and the command reinforced. Same with here, down, heel, etc.

Conditioning also a good way to determine the dog's working level of stimulation. Some dogs are much higher than others. My current dog operates on a low 2 on her collar, and if I hit her with a low 3, she yips. This is also the importance of getting a good, consistent collar. You want a 2 to be a 2 every time you hit the button. SportDog has had issues recently with inconsistent stimulation.

I tried a cheap one from Amazon and wasn't happy with it. Finally gave in to spend the extra on SportDog and it's been amazing. "pricey but worth it" fits the bill exactly

I went through 3 remotes on my last SportDog and had to purchase the last two. Their customer service is terrible. Most of my pro trainer buddies have been switching over to Dogtra or Garmin. I've had the 550 pro for current pup for 3 years now and had no issues so far. Also like that it can switch from the tube remote for training to the sport remote for hunting.

Garmin for me, my current one is 9+ yrs old no issues. It also has a built-in light so maybe useful for you to find dog in dark. I use that feature when setting up decoys in dark and black lab is running around

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Garmin for me, my current one is 9+ yrs old no issues. It also has a built-in light so maybe useful for you to find dog in dark. I use that feature when setting up decoys in dark and black lab is running around

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The light on the Garmin collar has been extremely useful for me too. I didn't expect to use it as much as I do. Great for letting the dog be a dog while I'm setting up in the dark.