A lot of respect for this handler - Page 5

LOL Sunsilver, it was rhetoric question

(*Blind people are taught to listen for the 'clink' of the guide dog's choke chain. It helps them know what the dog is doing. Not exactly sure of the details, but ALL guide dogs trained by the CNIB wear choke chains or martingale collars.) 

Most legitimate SDs I know work on prong collars as well because a lot of people don't have strength in hands, or mobility issues, ballance issues etc and dogs are still dogs no matter how well they are trained. If the prong is taken away it's going to be a whole different ball game. 

UK Guide Dogs for blind people wear harness with a handle, when working. The owners may be recommended to listen for a 'clink' when their dog is off-lead for R&R, but never had anyone tell me this. Have seen many guide dogs wearing flat collars. Check chains exist here but are not highly favoured; especially given methods used when training guide dogs here nowadays. No longer got a lot of blind handlers 'on tap' to ask, these days, but I will try to find out more on this one. NB the very idea of Guide Dogs being trained with prongs, or electric collars, is just funny !

Hund, you'll notice my post said martingales and what the CNIB spokesperson called "check collars", which I'm pretty sure is another more PC name for choke chains.

And of course, they wear the standard guide dog harness with a handle, plus a leash attached to their collar.

Sunny - I know yours did; my response was due to what BE said about 'legitimate service dogs' and prongs. But I have to say the (apparently optional) use of check/'choke'/martingale ie chain-link collars is becoming rarer and rarer here, not just with Guide Dogs but with every kind of Assistance Dog (our general term for 'SDs'), from those which serve by doing 'propping up' or loading washing machines, to those which Alert on Diabetes, Epilepsy and such.

The UK Trainers across this whole spectrum of helpful canines just don't rely on the more 'physical' training tools any longer (where they ever did).

Yep, quite a few orgs use prongs and so do a lot of SD Handlers. Prongs are not bad. They simply apply pressure, no more, no less.

BE I did not disbelieve you; just noting that on this side of the Pond our Assistance Dogs of whatever variety are not trained with prongs. I know how they work; so, I would expect, do most people who train 'service' dogs.
I don't personally rule out any 'tool'; there is always the chance it will suit a dog for whom other things don't work. But I don't much enjoy using a prong collar, even if the 'pressure' on muscles is used correctly and the prong is fitted right. They really are not very popular generally among UK dog folk; in fact there are those who insist they are painful and should be banned. I am just intrigued that the approach is so different between our two countries, and yet both successfully train and use thousands of dogs. It does raise interesting questions ...

 

You people going very out off topic what have the last posts to do with the opening post can someone explain this...........

 

Um, because it's the PDB, and keeping people on topic here is like trying to herd cats??  

@ Sunsilver:

@Black Mal: Sorrreee !

Meeow ...