Safe age for a choke chain

[jjmcintosh]

What is a safe age to begin using a 'choke' chain for training? Is there a better training collar. I have heard many using the gentle leader. Is the 'choke' now frowned upon?

 

[Shakira's Ma]

Yes the choke is frowned upon, I believe there is something to that effect in the BW rules that you read before joining. The Gentle Leader, I have been told, no personal proof, works great. Good Luck with your training.

 

[shannonmac]

I have had great luck with the gentle lead and have since moved kneesaa to a halter. it works better because instead of stopping them from pulling by their neck, which can hurt them, it pulls their entire face down, so all they end up doing is looking at the ground. I had no problems with kneesaa pulling when she was on her gentle lead. also with the halter you can control her whole body. I definitley reccommend a gentle lead and then moving to a halter!
good luck!

 

[Jan]

There is no safe age for a choke collar. The discussion of them here is not allowed!!!

I would suggest that you try the Gentle Leader or the Sense-sation harness.

 

[Vela]

In all reality, with proper training, they only thing you need to train your dog with is a regular leather or nylon collar. There is no need for "devices" if you invest yourself and your time in training. Those things are "quick fixes" for problems that can be corrected through simple training with time, patience and the reward system. For hard pullers I have heard good things about the halti's and gentle leaders. Personally I just use a regular leather collar and have been able to teach mine to walk on lead quietly with persistence and time. Choke collars, in my opinon, should never be used. Again, this is all just my opion and statements on what has worked for me personally. There are always exceptions and sometimes you have a problem that needs to be addressed by a qualified behaviorist or trainer, that of course if a different situation.

 

[jjmcintosh]

My apologies. I have re-read BW rules and retract my earlier post. I am looking for opinions on the best suitable lead training. Anyone who has had sucess with a particular trype of collar or harness, please let me hear your opinions.

It is not my intent to support or promote negative training. I was looking for insight. I do not impore the use of negative training, nor do I wish to. I have tried to train "no-pulling" by stopping each time the dog pulls, waiting for her to come back to me. I have tried turing around and going back in the house. I have tried "NO PULL". Quite frankly it upsets me to see her pull so much and I am trying to stop that... I guess two wrongs don't make a right. I apoligize if I offened anyone, certainly not the intent.

 

[Vela]

I would try the halti or gentle leader in conjunction with the stopping and not moving at all until she stops pulling and then as soon as she stops pulling give her a treat. Even if she only stops pulling for a second. Then proceed, if she continues to pull, stop again until she stops pulling period, even if you have to stand there for 20 minutes. Over time I beleive she will improve and then you can probably go back to a regular collar and continue the same methods if she tries to pull again using a regular collar. It may take quite a while depending on how stubborn she is but I think she will come around. Once she stops pulling you can then teach her how to heel using the same methods. Just start small and reward each positive thing with a treat and rather than tell her no pulling or saying anything, just stop until she quits pulling. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[gmacleod]

Is there a better training collar.

Yep, a good old-fashioned flat buckle collar There is *nothing* that a choke, prong or other device can do (other than their potential to cause physical trauma to your dog) that can't be achieved with a standard collar and positive reinforcement.


Just a reminder of Boxerworld's rules here:

Topics inappropriate for discussion on this site include:
__discussion of deliberate use of devices or practices that cause or have the potential to cause physical trauma to a dog. Boxerworld does recognise that people do have genuine questions regarding training tools (prong collars, mousetraps etc) and methods, but we support and promote wholeheartedly positive training and behavior management, that is, teaching the dog what to do by using positive methods, not teaching a dog what not to do by causing it discomfort and pain. Any threads which appear to promote "negative" training and methods will be closed.

If you do have genuine queries about those sorts of devices, you can find information at http://www.boxerworld.com/training and by searching the forums for any relevant previous threads.

 

[gmacleod]

Any collar, leash, rope, chain or other device around the neck of an animal has the potential to inflict trauma if that is the deliberate intent of the person on the other end of the leash.

This thread, however, is not about ways in which people have the ability to cause pain and trauma to their dogs, and if it heads any further in that direction it will be closed.

Where plain flat collars have the advantage over other types is that there is little potential for trauma to occur unless deliberately and forcefully inflicted, and the correct use of the collar does not include causing discomfort or pain to the dog.

 

[SammynDqtz]

I would suggest a body harness. My dogs (boxer, mutt & Bichon Frise) use them. I got the first one 9 years ago for my boxer and won't go any other way. They have worked out well for me. No choking either, no pressure on the neck.