[quote=nikki1979]...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...[/quote][b]Nikki,
I agree with you. The prong collar, in my opinion, is unjustly seen as an instrument of torture by some. There could nothing further from the truth. They are, once again in my opinion, a valuable aid when training your dog.
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Walter & Garland - Camp Canine caretakers
Gen. Gretchen - 4 y.o. GSD - Special Forces/Seal/DOTL Cloudbusters
Gen. Missy - GSD/Aussie - Special Forces/DOTL Rainbow Division
2003 GMC Sierra 2500HD
2008 Puma 25RBSS TT
I believe I saw an episode of the Dog Whisperer and they had a prong collar. Can't remember which episode. We use a harness to walk Dixie Dew and she wears a little pink nylon collar (studded with diamonds of course)every day. She seems to pull harder with her collar than with the harness. Actually she does not like the harness at all. I think it means that she is not in control of the walk and that is not her favorite thing.
Veronica, we have 3 large dogs. We use prong collars while training them to not pull, then graduate them to choke chains. Currently one of them has rather suddenly become dog aggressive so we are using a halti and prong collar combo.
A properly fitted prong collar is a perfectly reasonable training tool. don't forget to train the people first, then they can teach the dogs. Even a small child can learn to train a dog, but you gotta train the trainer first.
Sampson has a plain old wooven fabric collar for off lead work and a shock collar when my wife must walk him with other dogs. We stopped using a metal choke because it was wearing his coat off around the neck. If I'm walking him with other dogs, I'll use a nylon lead with a loop at the end. Our biggest problem is when my wife walks him. He weighs almost as much as she does and he doesn't recognize her as an alpha presence. He changes his mind when she reaches the point of activating the shock collar. We've looked at the prong collar, but with his heavy coat I honestly don't think he'd feel it. The Halti collar wont stay on so we're looking at a rolled leather collar which is an alternative for dogs whose head conformation just won't work with a Gentle Lead or Halti. If the rolled leather works out, I'll post the results.
Pat & Roger Fisher
2004 Mountain Aire 3501
2007 Honda CRV EX-L 4WD,
Sampson(The Beast) Bouvier Des Flandres
For Chaos, we have a plain old everyday nylon 'choke' collar, with 1" webbing. No nylon buckle though ... it's a complete circle that just slips over his head. He broke the nylon buckle on his first 1" collar when teased by a rabbit hopping by when he was tied to the MH.
We've never used a choke chain or prong collar on Chaos, even though he was an assertive dog, all 95 lbs. of him. He responded well enough to other means of control and voice command.
We also have a pulling harness, which we use sometimes when hiking. He likes to "help" me up hills and the pulling harness makes that easier for him.
With the setter it's just a plain nylon collar with a clip for fast removal if necessary, not a buckle. With the hound we've used a choke collar, prong collar and a Sporn harness. I personally don't like choke collars because they can do too much damage. A prong collar when used correctly can be a life saver, but it's not particularly effective on a bloodhound because of the skin folds. We use a Sporn harness now. It controls the dog by pinching under the armpits where it can't do any damage. It's not painful but uncomfortable enough to allow for complete control and we've never had an issue with it slipping off.
Lady has a purple nylon collar that buckles. She only wears it when we take her out for camping, walks or the vets. Otherwise she never wears one. For walking she also wears a harness.
For everyday/ID use my Andy has a leather collar with chrome diamond studs.. for walking/training I use the metal choke collar. I tried the harness, but as some of you may know, Siberians are escape artists and you would not believe how he can contort, stick his paws straight out, hump up and slide out of the harness! I would not have believed it if I had not seen it over and over when he was younger. Now, he never pulls hard enough to really utilize the choke function of the choke collar, but it is a safety net for me "just in case" ... especially when he sees small critters jetting around in the trees or on the ground!
Dak
1977 F250 Ranger (My Baby!)
1992 Sierra 21' TT by Cobra (pictures coming!)
Escapee #22435
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