I have another question. If the prong collar doesn't hurt a dog, then what is the theory behind its effectiveness? This is not an attack on anyone, I would like to think that I can post on this board without negativity, I think we can all help educate each other here. I don't think it's necessary for anyone to call someone else's favorite training collar a piece of "crap", so I am not going to do that. But since the prong collar seems to be the preferred training aid for a lot of people, I would like to hear from you guys why you think it is so effective without being painful to the dog. How does that work out? Why does it stop a huge dog from pulling you?
The only corrective-training-aid-whatever type collar I have used with a dog of my own was a choke chain over ten years ago when I took my husky to obedience school; it was the required collar for the class. For the dogs I have now I use my voice and a flat buckle collar, and I can walk two at a time and not get pulled down the street. I guess I am lucky in that I haven't had to use any extra training devices.
I know that none of us would ever put our beloved dogs in a situation that we thought would be damaging. We love our dogs. I am asking questions about the prong collar because it makes me personally feel uncomfortable. I have had someone do a demonstration for me with my sister's dog Winona who was a very strong puller. It stopped her from pulling, and I from what I saw it was because she was scared to death. But I don't think any of you guys would use it if you thought it was hurting your dogs. So I am just wondering how/why it works.
This is the best article I've seen explaining how and why a prong collar works, both physically and psychologicall
y:
http://www.flyingdogpress.com/prong.htmlShe says this, in part:
The prong collar, or any other properly applied stimulus, allows the dog a clear choice. All collars work by creating unpleasantness for the dog---the collar tightens, which the dog dislikes, and therefore he is motivated to act in such a fashion that the collar does not tighten. Depending on the dog, unpleasantness (the collar tightening) sufficient to motivate him may be nothing more than the pressure of a flat buckle collar. Just as some people react dramatically when they stub their toe, and others with just a whimper, dogs, too, display a wide range of tolerance to physical stimuli.
A useful analogy is that of a hearing aid. For a person with normal hearing, a softly spoken request is enough to elicit a response. Impaired hearing requires a louder tone, and some people cannot hear well at all without a hearing aid. To continue to speak to a person who is not wearing his hearing aid is a frustrating experience for both, and to become exasperated with that person for not responding would be the height of insensitivity to the needs of that individual
Read the whole article- and take a look at some of the others on her site. I found her book to be a really interesting viewpoint on dog training. She is very in tune with why dogs do things, and how to show them what you want.
