Opinions on training collars? - Page 1

Hi all, Opinions wanted at what age is proper to start using a training collar? I just wanted feel everyone out. Thanks.

^{There is already a thread from the knwoledgebase}

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^cheers

Depends on what you consider a training collar?  A fur saver, pinch or e-collar for proofing a finished dog.  Some dogs never need anything stronger then a fur saver except maybe for final proofing.  Some need stronger earlier.  Too many variables with individual dogs to give that an answer.

 For what it is worth, I never use more than food or a tug or other toy for young dogs and do so without any type of correction on any type of collar. The dog will tell you when it begins to ignore and/or challenge, and in my experience, that is often way down the road, well past 6 or 7 months. We have a 13 month old pup in our club and to date, no work has been done on him using a prong or anything other than his fur saver. Food and toys have always been his motivation and he is doing very nicely. When necessary, we will boost the power of the corrections, but we try to avoid them if possible. This gives a dog who, given good and appropriate drives, WANTS to work.

I like the methods of Winifred Strickland and she recommends starting training collars on puppies at 4 months.  She uses the fat nylon training collars.  Until then the regular buckle collar can be used and you can work with your puppy that way.  You don't want to hurt their throats and if your puppy pulls a lot, I would stick with a buckle collar and use treats and praise until it gets the hang of things like heeling and coming.

MomofBeckett