spike collars

[allformydogs]

I am one of those who does not believe in the prong collar. I am not trying to be insesitive to others and their training methods, I just don't feel that prong collars are a long term fix of a problem.When conditioning an appropriate behavior punishment is rarely the fastest way to the means. I agree that more time and consistent praise when an appropriate behavior occurs will be the best long term solution. Yes, I do have experience with large dogs who are able to pull me about. My Saint Bernard is 200 lbs, and more than capable of first pulling me off my feet, and then secondly drag me about with ease. Never has he worn a prong collar, and when we are in a new situation that his focus may be diverted from me I will use a gentle leader (much better than the Halti). Even a boy as big as mine can't pull me about with that on. The problem people have with the gentle leader is an incorrect fit. Any veterinarian would be willing to help fit your dog in one of these. Yes, when they are on, they are on tight, but it does not hurt the dog, and these are harmless devices that work without piching your dogs neck for a response. Yes prong collars do can and do work, to each their own. I personally however have never seen anyone misuse a getle leader in anyway, and I definatley have not seen someone put one on their dog to make it look tough!! Well, that's my opinion.

[Schwinn]

The problem we had was Daisy was always rubbing her face against our legs trying to get it off. I don't know who it bothered more, her having it on, or us having raw legs. That's when the prong collar was suggested. Now, we find that if we put the prong collar on, she knows it's walk time and doesn't pull, but if we put her cloth collar on (which we use for going to the car, or short trips where she's only on a leash for a few minutes), she pulls and pulls. The prong collar becomes a signal that she is to walk with us. We have tried to walk her with other collars, but she's hyper and will constantly pull, despite corrections and reminders. (She's not a bad dog, she just gets carried away!) We find now we don't even pick it up unless we are taking her, because as soon as she hears it, she is sitting in front of us trying to stick her face in it. We find that she seems happy, and we don't have any real issues with her, so we stuck with it. We also found that with a regular collar, when she wanted out, she got out. I suggested it was because her collar was too loose, but one time she got out, and we could not slip it back over her head. (Between that and getting out of her locked crate, we've nicknamed her "Whodoggi").

[mastifflover]

But prongs are only safe when used properly, and only when training. As soon as we were finished the collar comes off, even when I used to leave Boo off lead at the park the prong collar comes off for his and other dogs safety. My Neo was very strong and muscular and heavier boned. I honesly do not see how a gentle leader is going to be comfortable for a dog with double dewlaps. His face would mushed up and not be able to pant or breathe properly these dogs are much more heavily jowled than a saint or an OEM. If you think a gentle leader would hold one of these guys back from prey you would be mistaken. After speaking with numerous breeders of Neo and Dogues and Cane's they all recommended prong collars. I agree all dogs are different but I am not going to make my dog uncomfortable while trying to train that would make things much more difficult.

[Schwinn]

Originally Posted by allformydogs

I personally however have never seen anyone misuse a getle leader in anyway, and I definatley have not seen someone put one on their dog to make it look tough!! Well, that's my opinion.

Also, anyone who would put a prong collar on to make him look tough has a WHOLE set of other issues! But that's an entirely different discussion.

[lilith_rizel]

We have tried multiple ways to get Cano to walk properly and nothing has worked so far. Do the prong collars actually work? Where can they be bought? And what is the pricing?

[mastifflover]

They are not expensive and they can be adjusted so you can add or take out links. They do work, I think better than any other types of collars. When Boo was healthy he weighed 185 pounds of muscle and stubborness ok and love. He could without a moments hesitation pull me flying down the street. With the prong one correction and we were walking like a well trained dog no pulling no lunging. They work but you need to have the collar not to loose you should undo it to put it on and it sits high on the neck like a show collar, I would see if there is a trainer in the area that would give you a quick lesson on how to use them properly. You can put it around your leg and tighten it and you will see it does not really hurt it is more of a pinch hence the name pinch collar.

[lilith_rizel]

Can they be found in any pet supply store? I am really thinking of getting Cano one. He's only 65 pounds, but boy can he knock me off my feet if he lunges! Plus after him being able to break his chain, I don't think I would do well walking him without him knowing how to properly walk.

[DogueLover]

I picked my prong collar(s) up at petland. I believe petland also has them. I priced them out and found that petland was the best price. I bought one and it fit for around 3 weeks, then I went searching for just "links" to put into angels collar, I found that buying another collar was cheaper than buying the links seperately. I ended up using 1/2 the links out of the new collar just to get it to fit.

Check it out, and I agree that having someone who would know, ( a trainer or someone else who uses the collar) show you how to use it correctly will be a HUGE benefit for you.

My suggestion to anyone who is getting one of these collars for the first time is to put the collar around your leg and do a "correction". You will know how very little correcting you need with a prong collar. My biggest beef with choke collars was finding one big enough for around that HUGE NOGGIN on my baby . She wears the collar only when we go walking, the rest of the time she doesn`t have a collar on at all.

Do any of you watch animal cops on the ANIMAL PLANET channel? Every time I see a dog with an embedded collar I just cringe.

Good luck with the collar, and I am sure if you need help, you can log on here and everyone who uses them will be happy to help

[doggy lover]

Pinch collars scare the crap out of me. My last dog went to puppy classes, and so on. I got really upset one night when the trainer put a pinch collar on a golden retriever. The dog went running for the door and the trainer pulled hard on the collar, I was waiting for the dogs head to pop off. The poor dog started yelping, that was the end of my trust with that trainer. Travis was 120 lb dog and we used a halti and choke chain on him, the halti checks first and if needed the choke checked in. My daughter who weighed half the dogs weight could walk him. On regular collar he pulled until he coughed the same on the plain choke chain, but togeather they worked great. My new pup enjoys being walked on a harness and does not pull, he does a little on a plain collar. As he is walking on his harness if he starts to get ahead I just tell him to walk nice and he looks at me and just slows down. Sometimes I think he is saying well just hurry the hell up lady but he is very good for a 6 month pup.

[Kariia]

Prong collars are good for HUGE dogs. (Neos, Dogues, St Bernards...anything that can pull you over and drag you while running 20 km an hour. Except for Whippets and Greyhounds)

Choke chains are good for medium to large dogs (anything that can pull you over and drag you a couple inches.)

[Rottielover]

I call the prong collar a miricle collar. Harley heels really nice, never pulls ( 9 month rottweiler pup)
But angel my little crazy one. We tried a gentel leader for about 2 weeks until we noticed she started to become very hand shy. Not a good thing. So a trainer suggested the prong collar. She now runs to me when she hears the clinging of that collar, she welcomes it. Not all dogs can handle a gentel leader. depends on their personality.

[DogueLover]

I agree that prong collars can be miracle collars on your dog.
If used correctly you will never hurt your dog and Angel loves hers. She walks along really nicely with it on and will run to me the minute I pick hers up.
The trainer who corrected that golden needs to be reprimanded for that action, those collars can seriously damage your dog if you do that. Obviously this trainer didn`t know that.

Angel wears hers on walks where she has to be on a leash at all times ( town bylaw) but at home she doesn`t wear a collar.
At 9 mos a puppy could pull you around if they wanted to but sounds like you are using the prong collar correctly Rottilover, and the dog doesn`t see it as a torture device, sounds like she sees it in a positive manner. Good for you.

[Rottielover]

The puppy ONLY wears a buckle collar, he has aced 3 diff OB classes so far, and we are continuing. Angel, well the pulling was something we could not work with, so we decided to make it easier on both of us....

[doggy lover]

I seen a trainer use a prong collar before and was totaly discusted, she had it on a GR the dog was scaired and ran for a door, the collar caught and the dog was yelping. Needless to say I had no respect for the trainer after that, by the end of my dog Travis's classes her and I had a big arguement. My dog passed the classes and she said I should come back with him for higher training classes and I told her not over my dead body, I really disliked her and her training methods.

[tenderfoot]

You go girl!!!!
I am always so impressed when people have the gumption to tell a trainer just how they feel when they see something out of line. Too many people stay silent and the trainer never hears what he/she should.

[Melinda]

In our obedience class if you showed up with a choke collar of any kind, they took it off and replaced it with a cloth one, if you showed up a second time with it you were tossed out of class and your "refund" was donated to the humane society, if you were observed striking your animal you were warned once, the second time your animal was removed from you , the spca was called and a complaint was lodged against you for cruelty to animals.

[dogznfish]

We do not permit anything other than flat collars in our agility classes for safety reason. Fortunately I haven't seen a dog injure him/herself by catching a collar on equipment and I have no intentions of seeing it happen. Outside of class though, what collars people use is their own preference. However I see more people incorrectly using a pinch or prong collar than people who use them correctly.

I have also asked people to leave class for even swearing at their dogs. There's a difference between calling a dog "Pokey-bum" and calling them "you little *****." I lay out my terms on the very first class to the students and the majority don't seem to have a problem with it.

I prefer my students to tell me what they did and didn't like about class. How am I supposed to improve my classes and as an instructor without feedback??? If I were to be on the shouting end of someone who hated my class I'd be asking myself, what did I do that cause this and how do I prevent and improve on it?

Deanna

[tenderfoot]

Again I am very impressed. The dog world would be sooooooo much better if we had more people like all of you!
Here's my new moniker -
DogznCatznFishnHorseznParrotznLizardznMarsupialz
Wow, to think there was a time when it could have been those plus 10 more! Glad to see we are getting more reasonable in our old age.

[babyrocky1]

I think I have posted this before, but, it has helped me so much with my "pit bull" that I felt I should add my two cents worth here too. I tried the martingale collar, the choke collar, a trainer insisted, she is now longer my trainer, both the gentle leader and the haltie and as much as the prong or pinch collar scared me I was about to go that way when someone suggested a "sporn harness" I think thats what its called. I have one of those leashes with the long handle and the short handle, in combination with the harness his walking properly has increased about 85% He still pulls just before we go into the yard at times but overall this harness is the VERY BEST thing Ive ever had..Rocky pulled even with the leaders and haltis...so much so that he had a calouse around his muzzle :sad: Also because of the constant, tugging I ended up with arthritis in my sI joints Just thought Id throw that out there if anyones in the same boat. I know that different dogs prefer different collars . This is not just a regualr harness, its kind of like a pullie stystem. When the dog pulls the harness pulls his paws up just the tiniest bit, but its enough to get his attention without hurting him. His muzzle is finally back to its beautiful self now. He doesnt mind the harness at all-he hated both hte leaaders and the haltis.