Convince me that a prong collar is OK?

[Ringo1]

I must confess that I used one on Ringo at the advice of a trainer when he was going crazy during our walks. Everytime a dog passed by; he would go insane.

According to the trainer, the pinch collar is much more humane than the choke collar and won't cause the same possible tracheal damage.

Anyway, it did make Ringo a better walker; he walked like a DREAM on that thing. I hated the way it looked, though, and felt really mean.

Ultimately, I think it was the combination of the prong collar (we never use it anymore) AND the 'watch me' distraction technique that helped him be a better walker.

Good Luck!

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

I must confess that I used one on Ringo at the advice of a trainer when he was going crazy during our walks. Everytime a dog passed by; he would go insane.

According to the trainer, the pinch collar is much more humane than the choke collar and won't cause the same possible tracheal damage.

Anyway, it did make Ringo a better walker; he walked like a DREAM on that thing. I hated the way it looked, though, and felt really mean.

Ultimately, I think it was the combination of the prong collar (we never use it anymore) AND the 'watch me' distraction technique that helped him be a better walker.

Good Luck!

Thanks! I think that I'm going to (finally) try it on our next walk, be it later this morning or early afternoon. The neighborhood will be quiet -- many fewer dogs and people out -- so it will be easier (on me). He doesn't need dogs or people to be a pull-monster, so we'll see how it goes.

Funny that you mentioned hating the way it looks -- that's one of the things that I don't like about it either.

[Driller1]

The "look" bothered me too.

I had one on Rip for his yearly vet check with a GPS collar and his regular ID collar.

When we came in the door I saw people pick up their pets or, get them to move closer to them.

[DawnMTL]

Driller: I think I got lucky with that. He has a lot of fur around his neck, almost like a lion's mane, and when I put it on, it just got buried in the fur. So it wasn't bad at all. Except for me, because I knew it was there.

So, we went for our first walk with it. It went pretty well, but I realized that I have to take another link off so that it sits higher up, closer to behind his ears, rather than lower on his neck. I took off another link and will try it again later.

When I first put it on, he realized that this was not going to be fun and games. On our walk, he did the "shake out" a lot -- I guess it wasn't particular comfy. And when I gave him his first correction -- which was immediately out the front door! -- he looked back at me with a "What is THIS???" look.

So far, so good.