We generally use the greyhound style martingale collars on our dogs for their everyday collars. They can't pull their heads out, but they won't tighten up like a choke chain will.
For training, over the years I've used choke chains, Haltis, Gentle Leaders and prong collars. I was 15 and had a large, boisterous dog and the trainer recommended a prong collar. It worked great with her - I was much more able to control her.
Over the years, with the Gentle Leaders and Haltis coming out, prong collars seem to have fallen by the wayside and many deem them to be cruel. We were at my dad's the other day and he saw my 14 year old son trying to walk 6 month old (and almost 50lb) Jake. He said "You should get a collar like we had for Nikki."
I hadn't thought of it, but after he mentioned it, we may get one. I've been reading some about them and have found that they seem to cause less trauma and injury to the dog's neck than a choke chain. It may give the boys more control over Jake.
What do you use?
'98 Suburban
'73 Apache Roamer (hard sided popup)
"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."
~~Madeleine L’Engle
I use a prong collar and feel it is very effective and cannot tighten enough to actually choke a dog. It needs to be fitted correctly and that is the key. I certainly would go with it in the case of the boys, but train them carefully on how to use it.
The collars on our 2 beagles are NASCAR collars. Very loose and they can slip out of them easily. But, we never leash to it. We use harnesses so that they won't choke themselves if they see a rabbit and try to run after it when we go on walks. Generally, they walk beside or in front of us, but only pull if something catches that beagle nose (which is more often than not).
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2006 Dodge Durango Limited (HEMI!!)
2004 Forest River Rockwood Roo 26RS
States visited - Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, California, Kansas, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Nevada
For day-to-day wear, my dogs seem to prefer the nylon cord choke collars (my Aussie HATES collars and can "run out of" a metal choke collar!).
But I own regular strap collars, martingale-type, and choke collars; and a prong collar, which is what I used on the Cattle Dog for his obedience class. Made a real gentleman out of him while he was being socialized around strange dogs; and since there was no tug-of-war involved, it was easier on BOTH of us!
I've seen dogs get out of the Halti-type halters, so have never used one myself.
Deb
Ed, Deb, and 2 dogs
2004 Gulfstream Conquest LE 28'
2006 Jeep Wrangler toad (Deb's) / S-10 Dragracing Truck! (Ed's)
Most of our training is off lead so we only have one type of collar for the Border Collies, quick release nylon collars with embroidered dog's name and our phone number, and Martingales for the Greyhound.
Mark
Mark & Renee
Jasper the Greyhound
Working Border Collies: Duncan (retired), Rae, Gyp (retired), Jody, Peg, Bette, BJ & Nell
2001 Chevy Express 2500 Cargo (rolling kennel)
2007 Nash 22M
Hi,
I use LL Bean's Leather Collar with a brass Name plate. Very Classy.
A Special Thanks to the couple at Hemlock Grove CG in Maine that showed me theirs.
When you can train your Dog there is no need for anything else.
Happy Camping
Jim & Rhonda Titus
Cash, The Brindled Boxer
Bruno, The Flashy Fawn Boxer
2004 Cedar Creek Silverback 28LRLFS 5er
2006 Ford F-350 Lariat FX4 CC 6.0 PSD
Reese 16K Kwik Slide
Tuxbury Pond RV Resort Site #96
We were using a martingale, but we were still having a hard time with the pulling. I switched to a gentle leader head collar, and absolutely LOVE IT. It was so easy to teach heel with it. Now we are in the process of re-inforcing heel so we won't have to use the GL.
We use two kinds. One is the Greyhound choke collar. The other is
http://www.triplecrowndogs.com/shop/product.htm?loc=204. We have used this one while doing Agility Training. It also will not over tighten around a dog neck or in flicked injury like the metal ones.
Tom & Bonnie
Crossville, TN.
Aspect 29H 2008
Class C passed Class A owner
Pontiac G6 There is NO such Thing as a B+
We use regular collars with the snap fasteners for everyday use. But when they are on leash we use the "Gentle Leaders" ... work like power steering! LOL They are also better behaved with those on. I have the little strap that fastens to their regular collars for added safety feature. I think the Gentle Leaders are wonderful gentle way to control on leash. Doesn't hurt them.
I had a trainer that used a choker collar and I fired him and got another trainer that used treats and praise to train. Much better results!
When my GSD was a puppy I tried to use a gentle leader with her for leash training purposes but once the GL was on her she was throw herself all over the place needless to say this wasn't a very effective walking device. After trying to get her use to it for a month I gave up when I saw no improvement in her reaction.
After the GL I went straight to a prong collar and I wouldn't have it any other way. We only use the prong for training purposes. I highly recommend a prong collar to people with larger or unruly dogs. Once Maddison is fully leash trained I will still put the collar on her for walks. The prong collar provides me with an added sense of security, I have had numerous children and adults run up to me while walking her and want to pet her, due to the fact that she is still a puppy she gets excited sometimes and without the collar I know that she would be anxious to greet them.
I have also tried the Martingale collar with her for an everyday use but when I had her outside on her run she figured out that she could pull her collar away from her neck and chew on it. She managed to chew through the collar within 20 mins and walk away. Thank goodness that she only walked over near our tree and sat down. So this type of collar only lasted 3 days in our house which is too bad because I love the way they work. As of right now we are using a typical soft collar on her.
Very loose and they can slip out of them easily. But, we never leash to it. We use harnesses so that they won't choke themselves if they see a rabbit and try to run after it when we go on walks. Generally, they walk beside or in front of us, but only pull if something catches that beagle nose (which is more often than not).
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