Advice for Properly Adding and Sharing Dog Devices with other Hunters

Garmin dog tracking systems such as the, Alpha series, Astro 430, and Astro 900 series can track not only your own dog devices, but can also share and track other hunter's dog devices as well. Pairing your own dog devices to your own handheld versus pairing (sharing) other hunters dog devices is a different process. Please see the following guidance on adding collars to your handheld compared to a hunting partner's handheld in order to prevent radio/tracking conflicts.

Adding Your Own Collars to Your Own Handheld

When adding/pairing your own dog devices directly to your own handheld with the primary pairing method, the handheld will automatically select an available ID number for the dog. The handheld will prevent you from trying to use the same channel for two different dogs. The handheld will also spread the dog’s channels out among the five radio frequencies so they don’t overload any one radio frequency on the system. The system will ensure no conflicts happen between your own dogs. As dogs are added to the system, the Alpha handheld removes ID number options from your available ID Number list that would conflict each other. For direct guidance on how to add devices to your specific model, please see the Owner's Manual.

Sharing Your Collars with Another Hunter

Once you have paired all your own collars on your own handheld, you can share them with other hunters via the Tracking, Training, or Control codes (Share Codes), or, with the Share Wirelessly options. It is VERY important that the second hunter only add your collars to their handhelds with Sharing Codes or the Sharing Wireless methods. If that is not done correctly, conflicts can arise. For direct guidance on how to share devices from your specific model, please see the Owner's Manual .

Please see the Related Content for more information on ID numbers and Radio system conflicts.