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Thoughts on prong collars? Need HELP!

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Binky:
Ahhhh- Sophie is out of control! We have been sooo soooo busy lately that we haven't had time to take Sophie out in public much.  And now I am afraid to!  I was walking her the other day and there were summer people staying in the house at the end of our road (we live out in nowhere so usually, there are no people/animals on our walks).  Their beagle came flying out to see us and Sophie went nuts- growling and barking and almost pulled me over.  I managed to turn us around and get away but this weekend we finally took a day off and took all the dogs to a doggy "parade" and "show" (just a cute little small town thing, very informal and Chicklet won "cutest" :))  I had Sophie on a gentle leader harness which had been working great-got it after the beagle incident.  We get to the dog area and she literally pulled me down and DRAGGED me across the pavement to get to a dog, growling and barking the whole time.  My pants ripped open and my knee is all torn up.  So embarassing!  Fortunately, she was fine once she got close to the dogs. 
Why is she like this?  People were afraid of her (she's 6 months and BIG).  I went and bought a prong collar which the breeder reccommened but can't bring myself to use it-it looks so mean.  Does anyone here use one?  Does it work?  Sorry so long but she is going to weigh more than I do soon and I can't let her be so crazy!  here are some pics- almost as big as Binky already.

ruffian:
I have used them, and will again if need be, Tonka will pull until he chokes and a prong prevents that like nothing else on the market. 

I use is on Gage occasionally as well if I am walking all 3 dogs I need to use it on him as well, alone he listens well enough on a choke collar. 

I am a firm believer in having control of your dog, if that means a prong then use it.

They make rubber covers for the prongs, get some of them if it will help you, but they do less damage than a choke and a dog can break its neck if it runs to the end of a leash on a Gentle Leader/Halti. 

Prong collars are a training tool, and should be used as one, you may not need to use it on every outing, but if you are going into a high stimulus area then it would probably a good tool to have on hand, IMO. 

jesday:
When we thought we were going to have major problems with Syrus running after deer I asked our trainer about a prong collar. She wasn't against them as long as used correctly and for training only.

She did say there was a drawback with heavily furred or double coated dogs as it is hard to get the prongs to make contact with the skin to be effective.

I found I can control both dogs at the same time by myself with a full chest harness on them. I'm not sure why, but they can't run away with me like a regular neck collar or gentle leader.

I can't believe I'm posting the picture below, not very flattering  but it is of me after Sophie pulled me full out like a sled, chasing a dragonfly. You can sort of see the scuffed knees. I still have some gravel embedded in one. >:( She  was only wearing a regular collar. The following day I took both of them for a walk with chest harnesses and a deer jumped right out in front of us. They started to take off after it, but I was able to plant my feet and hold them both! With proper "Leave it" command of course.

Might be worth a try if you haven't already. :)

ZooCrew:
I use a prong collar for Keiko although I'm in the process of once again weaing her off of it (did once in the past and she regressed to pulling once we added Gunther to the family).

I was against the idea in the beginning but I am a converted believer.  I had a harness I was using with her, but it really wasn't teaching her not to pull, only that she couldn't pull with it on.  And if she had it off, forget about it.  I figured something around her neck that was similar to a regular collar would help with training.

I am considering getting one for Gunther but am undecided as he really only is a pest for the first 1/2 mile or so on walks.

but I digress.  yes, they work great.  Just make sure it is fitted properly.  Someone had a link on here at one point on how to properly fit a prong collar but I have no idea where.
And Keiko is a double coated breed being husky/shep and it worked on the first correction.  The only problem with her is that I leave her buckle collar on so sometimes the prong collar is going over the top of the leather collar but since she's doing well I rarely need a correction anymore and we're slowly weaning her off of it.  Hopefully it will stick this time.   ::)

Gevaudan_Jo:
I use a prong when walking Zero! he is VERY strong- and if he wants something, i do sometimes have a hard time keeping him to my side. I believe as long as they are used correctly (and only when walking/training) they are very effective!

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