Misuse of a prong collar

[Washu]

I saw a girl at Pet Supplies Plus who had a pit bull wearing a prong. I've never used one, but I could tell it wasn't on correctly. The dog was pulling, and lunging in all directions every time anyone walked by. She wasn't aggressive, just untrained, and excitable. If I didn't have my dogs with me I would have offered to help her to adjust it correctly. I'm no expert, but I think I could have helped improve the situation.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by G-burg

Why not use a trainer that might employ compulsion..

That's not always easy to find. Around here, it's VERY easy to find trainers that use motivational training methods with food and toy rewards and don't allow training collars of any kind. It's also easy to find pure compulsion trainers who think that food and toys are for wimps and that "your dog should work for you". Training collars are mandatory and the only "reward" is praise. Finding a trainer that teaches behaviors motivationally but knows how to use compulsion properly and when it's appropriate to introduce it? Much more difficult.

[Good_Karma]

Originally Posted by Cassidy's Mom

That's not always easy to find. Around here, it's VERY easy to find trainers that use motivational training methods with food and toy rewards and don't allow training collars of any kind. It's also easy to find pure compulsion trainers who think that food and toys are for wimps and that "your dog should work for you". Training collars are mandatory and the only "reward" is praise. Finding a trainer that teaches behaviors motivationally but knows how to use compulsion properly and when it's appropriate to introduce it? Much more difficult.

It's the same here. One extreme or the other.

[pac liter]

Originally Posted by Good_Karma

I'm not even close to linebacker material! But the trainers I used said they DID see it happen where dogs neck was punctured by the prongs. Maybe it was in a breed that is fairly insensitive to pain???

I had to stop using my sprenger prong on my lab. He puts his head down to start sniffing and pulls like a Mac truck. He ignores corrections and is H*ll bent on sniffing and pulling. Not a lot of aggression. Just excitement and a high pain tolerance. I noticed a couple small scabs a couple weeks back. Didn't seem to bother my lab too much but still felt bad. Had to switch to the fur saver choke.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep the prong high on the neck. Even on a very snug fit, he would pull and after several minutes the prong would get pulled down to the lower neck.

My other dog, the GSD uses the prong and it works miraculously for us. She has some aggression probs and high prey drive but a normal pain tolerence so the corrections, which are a mild flick of the wrist, work effectively.

Just putting it on makes a big difference for the GSD.

My conclusion-Prongs are less effective for dogs with a high pain threshold.

[Liesje]

I would conclude that they are less effective if the dog is allowed to be constantly pulling into them. But that gets back to what I said earlier, that to me they are not a self-correcting device. You use a prong because you are OK with giving corrections (not to avoid them). That means giving an appropriate correction (depending on the temperament, drive, and pain threshold of the dog) but not using it like you would a no-pull harness. The collar itself doesn't really do anything unless the dog is fairly soft, then I suppose it might work to self-correct but IMO not really how it's meant to be used.

[Taylor]

I saw a lady who was walking her dog with the prong collar on backwards. The prongs were pointing out. oh my goodness. She should realize that if she can walk her dog nicely (obviously without the prong) then she could just take it off ya know.