choke collars - Page 6

 Right on Beau (when you get pissed QUIT!) Ain't THAT the truth. It's usually when people let emotion get involved that the more abusive training happens. 

Everybody I didn't want you guys to think I was knocking training collars. I just don't think they're the end all be all to training. They're merely a tool that can aid when used correctly. But it's not the collar you use that trains the dog. Or if it is, it shouldn't be. 

I personally prefer the prong collar over the choke chain these days...actually it's been about the past 7-8 years or so that I prefer the prong. You can give less correction and get more results, and the pressure is more evenly distributed and therefore less likely to cause trachea issue. I have one dog that revs up on the prong collar. He is handled on a choke chain but then again, it's rare for me to correct my dogs, as I said, I have fairly high standards for when it is fair to correct or not. 

I do not actually personally think that anybody that uses a training collar is abusive. I'm actually a balanced trainer, can at least with some level of adeptness use everything from a clicker to a remote collar, martingale, head collar, premier harness, prong, choke or buckle. But it's my philosophy that it's the fool not the tool. And therefore, any tool is just a tool. 

When in public and people mention the collar I simply say, notice that my dog is able to come with me everywhere because I'm taking the time to train him in a way that works for him. Or I just ignore them and go on my merry way, OR I have them wear a collar cover so I don't have to deal with it. Sometimes I"ll stop to educate with the right people. Like I said though, it's not all THAT common for me to correct my dogs, and for the most part they go in buckle collars. Though the prong truly is my training collar of choice for many of my client dogs...

 Just rambling, I started this message like 30 minutes ago and keep getting interupted:-)

I too, prefer a prong but it is simply too extreme of a correction for many pups, especially when they don't even know what a correction is. I'll start with either a choke or flip the prong backwards so it works like a martingale until the dog is comfortable with what I'm doing.

 oh with most pups I have them on a buckle until they need a correction honestly. It's the prong I like for the adults. For softer adults I often times use a snug prong attached to both rings and let them self correct. But I've used other collars as well....

i always start puppies out with harnesses, as i encourage pulling for going up the big hill this city is built on. the first collar i use is a martingale, which fluffy is still wearing at 7 months. i put a choke on spunky at 4 months but rarely used it, keeping her pulling in harness pretty much until winter hit, when she was about 10 months i started using the choke since i didn't want to get pulled off my feet on icy sidewalks. she was so used to pulling she ignored the choke and strained like crazy, making horrible gagging noises. i tried a halti-collar and she pulled so hard against that, she rubbed her nose bare. i constantly got remarks about how she hated the halti, and to take that awful muzzle off her, sigh, i gave up on that method then. i remembered something i read in a book by jack london, maybe it was white fang. something about wolves running in a pack and the leader throwing his weight into the shoulder of any wolf trying to pass him. one day i shoved my knee into spunky's shoulder and she jumped back, surprised. the next time she tried lunging in front of me i repeated it. it works with fluffy too. i have both dogs in harness when we are out, and can easily switch them both from pulling like crazy to go uphill to walking calmly, by my knees or slighty behind, on loose leashes, which are still attatched to the harnesses. i only switch to the martingale and choke when we are around other dogs, as spunky seems to forget training at that point, and suddenly starts lunging like crazy to go sniff butts.