By: The Grit Staff
Prey drive is a double-edged sword. It gives our bird dogs the desire to push out and find the feathered game we seek. It also gets our dogs into trouble. My shepherd cross Bailey had a phenomenal nose for birds. She once led me 250 yards on an air scent into a single sharptail. I know, because I measured the distance on my onX map.
When Bailey was younger, her drive also led her on a few too many off-game chases. If she got on the track of a deer, it was nearly impossible to recall her, even at the prompting of a training collar.
It’s almost a taboo topic, despite the fact that virtually every dog owner has a similarly stressful experience. Even if it’s a neighborhood dash after a rabbit, combing the streets for your dog is disconcerting at best. They could be hit by a car or picked up by animal control. You could raise the ire of your neighbors or even get cited by the game warden.
Not long ago, there were few options to recover a missing dog. Traditional GPS collars work off a combination of satellite signal and radio connection. For decades, these have been the best way to keep track of your dog. Unfortunately, if your dog runs out of radio signal, your receiver will have no information. GPS collars are also plagued by short battery lives, making extended use impractical.
Garmin’s new Alpha LTE collar is a whole new animal. This device doesn’t use radio or GPS signal, but relies on the cellular network to relay your dog’s position. The Alpha LTE connects with Garmin’s Alpha app on your smartphone. This device is far more portable and easy to use than most dog collars. However, it does have its limitations. We tested the Alpha LTE over several months of gun dog life, and here’s what we like.
The Alpha LTE is inexpensive compared to most electronic dog collars. At 300 bucks (plus app subscription), it is a fraction of the cost of a premium GPS collar and handheld. Sure it is JUST a tracker, without any options for dog correction, but we tried it mounted on an entry-level bark-and-train collar. This gave us an impressive do-it-all rig for under 500 bucks. It’s worth noting that there are similar collars now on the general dog market (Halo, Fi, etc.) that have a similar price point.
The battery life on the Alpha LTE is so much better than a GPS collar. It opens up the option of just leaving it on your dog. If your little buddy likes to escape the yard while you are at work, or if you are on a long all-day hunt, this unit can run the entire time. If you change the waypoint intervals, Garmin says you can actually squeeze out several days of battery life.
The Alpha LTE is also versatile. Slip it on your dog’s collar for a quick after work run, or you can mount it on a regular GPS collar for a backup connection. At a mere 51 grams, it’s easy to justify throwing it in your jacket pocket or console. We liked the robust housing and found it held up well to knocks and scrapes.
The power light helped mark our dogs on evening walks, and there’s the option of turning on the much brighter LED lights. The collar slots are a bit tight. We found some thicker leather and nylon collars wouldn’t pass through, but the popular PVC coated collars work well. If you mount the Alpha LTE on a Garmin GPS collar, be aware this will reduce the minimum collar adjustment. You might have to switch out to the short flex band if you are running a TT25 on a medium sized dog.
Like other Garmin collars, there’s only one button on the unit. Occasionally this led to frustration toggling through modes instead of turning the device off.
The Garmin Alpha app is easy to download and use on both iPhones and Androids, although we’d prefer if the track information were easier to find and reset. The waypoint intervals are reasonably accurate, but there is a bit of a lag in the app recording your dog’s current position.
We did notice that the unit takes longer than a GPS collar to actually connect and pair to the app. It's probably best to turn the unit on 10 to 15 minutes prior to actually dropping your dog just to make sure it's paired in time. With the Alpha LTE, you also have the option of pairing it with a GPS handheld, giving you more adaptability.
Here’s the big question: is the Alpha LTE a stand-alone bird dog device? Unfortunately the answer is no. For the hunter that mostly pursues birds in close-to-town covers, the Alpha LTE is almost a stand alone device. If you need correction options, just pair it with a training collar. If you want immediate feedback on a pointing dog in thicker cover, then pair the Alpha LTE with a bell and/or beeper collar.
Other hunters that rely on a GPS collar will still find the Alpha LTE a useful addition. When combined with a TT25, you have the most accurate and foolproof gun dog tracking device possible.
Ultimately, we see the Alpha LTE as a beneficial addition to a ‘town and country’ bird dog toolset. While other cell-based dog collars address the needs of general pet owners, the Alpha LTE is currently the only offering that integrates that technology with a robust sporting dog management system.
