You probably overused the prong so that he basically ignores it now. Go back to a flat buckle or martingale and take the time to retrain proper behavior. If you need to bring the prong back into the picture down the road, it will be more effective because the dog won't be so used to it any more.

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And since he wears the prong he got half of his neck shaved.(Like it pulled a lot of hair from around his neck)

I am not sure how the prong is shaving the fur. I have never seen this on my dogs.

 

You might want to see if it is fitted correctly and tightly enough. It is supposed to stay put and not go around and around on the dog's neck, pulling hair.
Leerburg Dog Training | How to Fit a Prong Collar

 

you fitting it and placing it properly?

Here's a good description.

 

whoops, was going to post the Leerburg link too.

 

What kind of collar are you using and what are the size of the links? It sounds like it might be fitted improperly if it is pulling out hair.

 

How exactly are you correcting him on it?

 

I'm guessing it's too big, probably the prong size is too big and the collar size is too big if it's not effective and is pinching and pulling out the hair.

 

Change the wear completely, swap onto harness if you don't like The Canny Company Limited - The Canny Collar - The Best Collar to Stop Dogs Pulling on the Lead, thus you would operate not with his head but with the whole torso.

 

I disagree with this advice... Head halters are not something I'd use on a GSD(or any dog). There can be damage to the snout and neck if used incorrectly and you should not use it as a correction collar.

 

Yeah use the small prong size links even for big dogs. You may need to buy a few extra links to fit it. What are you using the prongs for? If. It's to keep the dog from pulling its likely your fault for not releasing tension when the dog is in proper position. Without a release in tension the dog has no incentive to maintain the right position.

 

Prong collars are easy to abuse,and losing hair around the dogs neck? I'd lose it and find a new trainer before you start to abuse a new tool!

 

does your dog wear the prong constantly? don't become
dependent on a certain collar or leash when training is
necessary.

 

The UK uses them because certain breeds have to be muzzled in public in many of the locations. I think they get away with the halti's instead of a muzzle, so they are popular. The site that was linked above is based the UK, I think.

 

I don't think that's true in the UK, I think maybe in Ireland muzzles for certain breeds are required. I've only been in England 5 years but I've never seen a dog in a muzzle in public here. There also aren't many leash laws. I could be wrong about the laws, but I really never see any dogs muzzled and most are off leash.

 

Prong collar properly fitted on my foster dog. Works like a charm.

 

I replied before adding, anyway, I have heard from many people head halters can be dangerous, and it makes sense; when my dog whips her head around in excitement I think her neck would break if I was holding onto her via a head halter. Will never try one.

 

Do you have the smaller links? Made a world of difference for me .

 

Well, it's hard to answer to everybody at once but i will try my best..
The Prong is on the higher part of the neck(Like they show on the videos)
I'm not using the prong collar to correct my dog on every single move he makes, because mostly i correct him with verbal cues.
The main reason i'm using the prong collar on my dog is to tame him on unusual circumstances, like when another male dog suddenly appears on the street and gives him the bad look, or when a cat jumps from nowhere.

 

So you are correcting him when another male looks at him? That sometimes will backfire and he'll see the correction as coming from that other dog, not what he was doing.
Tame him? You mean train him, I hope!
There are exercises to work your dog instead of correcting. LOOK AT THAT(LAT) is worth trying. Redirect, be proactive set the dog up to succeed. Try to have him be engaged with you so he'll be more neutral to what is going on around him(carry high value treats or favorite toy that he only gets on walks or in his training sessions).

 

My meaning in "gives him the bad look" is when another dog walks
next to us and start snarling and barking at my dog, so i'm sorry if i didn't explain myself properly because i wrote it after i got back from work and i'm writing this comment while i just got back from work too.

 

Well I think you just answered everybody's question! I think we were all wondering what it is your trying to achieve?

I had a BullMastiff/Mix who never was good on a leash. He was OK and not out of control not going to snatch me off my feet but he was just not a pleasant dog to walk on a leash. I used a prong on him and he could care less!

The fault was not with him it was with me, I never used a prong on my following dogs and got excellent result, I adjusted my training on my following dogs and never used a prong on them.

I would lose the prong and forget about the E collar.

Does he accept treats from you? I never did the treat thing myself on walking but it does work. You need to get close enough to the "target" and then treat the dog. Maybe a minor correction to focus on you and treat again.

That works with people and dogs just avoid contact keep people from touching your dog, don't let him get close to other dogs and cats (which is why I have a no chasing the cats policy...but I have cats so it was a side benefit) or distraction but if he spots one...minor correction and treat.

Maybe you might need a trainer to help but I would much prefer this approach than going from one "gizmo" to another.

And I'm pretty sure that since you have spelled out your goals other can provide some help!

 

You have either given enough nagging corrections with the prong that the dog is willing to work through it, or the prong is raising the excitement level of the dog when a correction is given.

At this point, I would go one of 3 ways. I would either teach leash pressure with the prong to the dog so I could steer him away from the stimulus without giving a correction, go to the e-collar and use the Lou Castle Game Chasing (crittering) protocol, or go to a flat collar and work on LAT.

Whatever you choose, doing what you are currently doing is not going to fix the situation, and getting a bigger hammer for the dog isn't going to fix it either. You have to adjust your training to the dog, not necessarily the tool you are using.

 

This is exactly the same advice our police K9 trainer told another person in our class. He referred him to a martingale collar or flat with stronger corrections and no more nagging with the prong. The dog is doing so much better in class and when the correction is given the dog looks at the handler like "oh sorry, im paying attention now."

 

You aren't leaving the prong on all the time are you?

 

I wonder this, too. Otherwise the fur loss makes no sense

 

If he left it on all the time it would have imbedded itself in the dogs neck

 

It depends on how long it's been on though. Rubbing fur might be the first thing, especially if it's too loose.

 

Certainly possible. It only takes about 3 days of constant prong collar wearing (if it's snug) for it to imbed in the dogs neck and cause visible wounds. When I saw this there wasn't much hair loss though so it probably isn't what happened.

 

Where did you see this?

 

Oh jeeze, I didn't know that would happen so fast!

Just another reason to take it off when not in use!