Advice on collars???

[princessEmEe]

I have my puppy (5 months) in a harness to help us when we go on walks and it won't hurt her. She just started her first week of puppy class and I was told(by the instructor) for more control it is better to get her a choke collar. To train and get better control of her. I don't want to hurt her. Need Advice???
What has worked for you?

 

[gmacleod]

Nevermind the collar, I'd get a better trainer - one that understands the concept of positive reinforcement training that teaches the dog what it is you actually want, rather than use of force to stop them doing stuff you don't want. This person is suggesting about putting a device designed to choke an animal into submission on a puppy - a puppy who likely doesn't even yet understand what it is you want yet :( That's no way to train.

A decent site for finding a better trainer is www.apdt.com You still need to check, of course, but anyone listed there should be using only modern positive training methods - not the old 1950's slap on a choker, pull and jerk stuff.

 

[tianthai]

I agree with gmacleod. You might want to look for a new trainer. I trained my dog to walk nicely by using a very simple method, you pull, I stop. Every time he pulls I stop and make him sit next to me until he was calm and ready to go further, it was very hard to do as we had to stop many times for a short walk. But he learned how to walk nicely in about two weeks. Also I used (and still use) a lot of treats to train him. My dog would do anything for food.
Many people tried to convince me to put a choke collar (also electronic collar with remote control) on my dog as he is really strong. I tried both collars on my neck, they hurt. So I cannot imagine that they won't hurt the dog.

 

[Jpep]

agree 100% with others, you should only be using positive reinforcement training. I had a trainer suggest a choke collar once and said theres no way I'd use it, he was fine with it and understood my concerns. Funny recently I checked back in with him and now found out he doesn't condone chocker use anymore and has switched to gentle leader. I like to think I might have had something to do with that.

 

[princessEmEe]

Thanks!

Thanks so much for the advice. Emee and me will be taking long short walks. With the sit approach. Emee wears a harness now so that when she pulls it won't hurt her (to breathe)should I still be using that?

 

[Jpep]

definitily use the harness and possibly look into others. not sure which oine your using but I'll assume its one that clips around their back. Look for one that clips in front or go with the Halti gentle leader that wraps around muzzle. The halti is an awesome harness, I have 100% perfectly walking dog when using it, the thing I don't like about it is it looks like a muzzle and people actually think shes wearing it so she doesn't bite (it doesn't put any restrictions on opening of mouth) but it gives you control over there head and doesn't give them the power to put there weight and pull you with there shoulders and chest. If for some reason you don't like Halti go with one that clips in front of their chest that will still give you more of an advantage then one on there back. Gentle leader also makes one like that and its what I usually use. My GF always uses the halti though.

 

[princessEmEe]

great thanks. I will look for that at my pet store.

 

[Jpep]

if you look at my dogs site (in sig), click on the april 06 pics and shes wearing it in most pics there, she still has that harness to this day (don't mind how skinny she is we had only had her for 2 months and she was abandoned left to fend for herself on the streets.