Garmin Alpha Series

Anyone run their dog on a garmin alpha handheld and TT collar? I just picked up the Alpha 300 recently and am getting familiarized with setup and customization.

How do you guys rig your dog’s collar with the long VHF antenna? I’m running a TT15. Do you let it just dangle in its natural position or do you try to tuck it into the dogs collar/vest/etc so try and contain it a bit so its not flopping around so much? The manual says to leave it with the antenna facing up but also says you can use the provided zip ties to secure the antenna to the collar. My box didn’t come with any zip ties so I’ll have to use some that I have lying around for that.

Also, is there anyway to configure the side buttons on the Alpha to be the training buttons (i.e. continuous or momentary shock, tone, vibrate, etc) rather than the 3 top buttons? The side buttons are much more intuitive to use when not looking at the handheld

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Do you let it just dangle in its natural position or do you try to tuck it into the dogs collar/vest/etc so try and contain it a bit so its not flopping around so much? The manual says to leave it with the antenna facing up but also says you can use the provided zip ties to secure the antenna to the collar.

I don’t do anything extra with the antenna. I think you only need zip ties if the dog has a big neck and the built in collar attachment doesn’t wrap it around enough.

One thing I’ve noticed is people put them on backwards a lot, the antenna should be on dogs right side which puts the antenna on the front edge of collar. It doesn’t curve quite right the other way around.