[Bustersmommy]

I need to know how to use it correctly.I used this site http://www.leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm
to make sure we were putting it on right.We had to remove four links and all is good in that area.
Now i want to take Buster for a walk to try it out but at the same time I do not want to hurt him.
If someone could give me step by step instructions on how to properly use one while walking your dog and how to use corrections with it such as pulling ( buster is a big time puller ) Thanks in advance for you help

 

[Shay78]

I think I need one as well. Rex pulls BIG time no matter how many times I say no or stop!

 

[angie7349]

I use a traffic lead for Tora, they are the really short leashes . It keeps her right next to me, which I like having the ability to just grab her if anything goes wrong. I don't wnat to have to fish her back in and that is also the most effective in keeping her choke chain in the position that it is supposed to be in. With the longer leashes I find that it falls out of place but keep in mind I use a choker so they have slack than a prong. A prong may stay where it is supposed to with a long leash, I dunno. I just say no when she starts to pull while giving a gentle tug on the leash. I think that part is universal. Good luck

 

[i love remy]

I think I need one as well. Rex pulls BIG time no matter how many times I say no or stop!

Rex is WAY too young for a prong collar! Focus on positive reinforcement rather than punishment while he's still young. You haven't taught him how to properly walk on a leash, so correcting him for pulling with a prong collar is not fair to him at all.

 

[Shay78]

Ok Cool. I did get one but I will take it back

 

[i love remy]

Ok Cool. I did get one but I will take it back

Nah...don't take it back. You can still use it when he's older. You can buy more links to put in it as his neck grows instead of having to buy new collars as he gets bigger.

 

[Shay78]

Oh ok cool! Thanks! At what age should I start to use it? Im just so scared he will be pulling me up teh block when he gets bigger lol. Im light weight and he pulls now and I kinda loose my balance lol

 

[i love remy]

I started using a prong on Bella at about 8 or 9 months. I wouldn't recommend it for dogs under 6 months of age. Bella already had some grasp of "walk nicely on leash," so I used the prong to reinforce that. I still use the prong, and I still carry treats with me on walks, because she isn't fully trained around distractions yet. Right now to help with Rex's pulling, you can carry a baggy of treats and give him one every time the leash goes slack. (I occasionally give Bella a treat when the leash is slack, she's walking perfectly by my side, and she's looking up at me.) Or, you can carry his favorite toy, and every time he walks nicely by your side, play a quick game of tug with him. Gradually phase the treats and play time down to just a couple of times during a walk. Turn him into a gambler...make him think he has a shot at hitting the jackpot at any given time.

 

[Shay78]

Ok cool! Thanks alot for the advise! I will try it on our next walk!

 

[Bustersmommy]

Buster is 6 1/2 months but because of his weight and size it was recommended through a few on the forum that I use a prong.We used a choker, hated it, used a regular collar hated it, used a harness and hated that as well as none of them worked.Well we went for a hike today and took the dogs swimming as well and I found if I give a quick "pop" and say heal he stops pulling and stays by my side of course with praise and all by the end of our walk he was right by side so I am very impressed by the collar and his behavior.

 

[Thor]

I just tried the prong collars this weekend as well. We rescued a year and half old Boxer, that was pulling like crazy (almost ripped my arm off) on the first walk. I, too, used the referenced link for proper fit.

I can not speak highly enough about it. The Boxer walked perfect after about five minutes. Corrections, if you can even call them that, are hardly needed. Since it is a prong, just the slightest upward tug makes a world of difference. It took maybe 2-3 of those and she walks perfect now and didn't seem to mind. I always call my dogs to the collars, instead of going to them, and she ran to it the second day, so obviously she doesn't mind it.

For kicks, I got Zeus one too. He is only 4.5 months old, and probably too young for one (no flaming please), and he responded really well too. Zeus has been trained on walking on leash since seven weeks, and pretty much has it down. I only tried it with him because I was going to walk the both of them and wanted that extra contro in case he got too excited with his new pal.

It should be noted that I also used the rubber tips for the prong collar. I was all about going conservative at first and for $2.99 a pack at Petsmart, it was worth the "trying out."

These collars are just "tools" so I probably won't use them much longer.

 

[chillis]

Harnesses work for me...

Instead of using a prong collar I got harnesses for my two AB's. I have notice a big differnce in them wanting to choke themselves to death with the choke collar and with the harnesses they don't even try to pull. With in reason anyway.

 

[Invalid Character]

The first couple of times I walked Franky, he was almost ripping my arm off. I started giving corrections by a slight tug on the leash accompanied by the command of Easy. Which, to me and Franky, means don't pull on the leash. I've had him about two weeks now, and he only pulls for the first block or two of his walks. If he's pulling hard, I stop dead in my tracks, put him in sit and turn around and ignore him for a minute or so.

Now, he's gotten to where the command "easy" means walk with an almost slack leash. I started training him tonight with semi-heel work. I'm not going to show him, so I don't care about the perfect heel. But, I issue the command of "by my side," which to him, means slow down and let me grab the leash all but a foot and a half or so and walk next to me.

I use a regular leather collar and a standard nyon leash that 's six feet or so long. He has respoonded very well. Our walk tonight, which is about 4 miles/1 hour of walking, went really, really well. He's not to the point of automatically sitting everytime I stop, but considering that only two weeks ago he got renamed, he's doing incredibly well.

I was going to get a harness, but I don't see a point to it right now. I think that if you're a good pack leader, you're animal has no choice but to do what you will it to. I love my dog to death, and I never do anything cruel to him, but I have to constantly remind myself that he's a dog, not a human. I do not let him perform any unaccepatble behavior whatsoever. I think that if you establish that, you're training in all areas will be so much better.

I'm not trying to turn this topic into a discussion of what constitutes Alpha dominance. Merely, I am simply telling you what works for me. I only give one or two treats, if any, during walks because of the risk of bloat. Admittedly, I don't know much about it. I just know that I prefer to wait at least an hour and a half before/after feeding to walk him because of it. So, any positive reinforcement is performed through really making a fuss of "Good Boy." It works well for me, I hope that this helps.

 

[PitBullRoyalty]

I personally hate prong collars!
I feel they really don't work all the time, as a very determined pit can have such strong pain threshold that it wouldn't feel the prongs (seen it before) and it can cause serious injury to itself.

The best things I have seen so far are both by Gentle Leader, one is a head harness and the other is a body harness.

The head harness provides alot of control, both of the body and the face (great for semi-aggressive dogs that don't need a muzzle but shouldn't be trusted fully while they're in training). The main problem is of course that it sort of looks like a muzzle (though your dog can still breathe, pant, drink, and even bite if it wanted to). This makes people think, "Why is that dog nasty?". Another con is that the dogs are more adverse to this strange object on their face and will try for days to remove it during walks. They eventually get used to it, I actually trained a 180 pound rottie on this. He looked more like some sort of rottie mastiff cross because standing up he used to hug me around my neck with his arms. In other words.. he was over 6 feet tall. Frigging gorgeous and gentle, he only got rough during his walks. he couldn't help it because he was 3 years old and never walked. long story short, I was able to place him with a 5 foot tall 100 pound woman and they live happily ever after. I love that dog..

The body harness commands slightly less control, but I have seen instant results from horrid dogs. The harness is worn like a regular one, except that the leash attaches at the front of it's chest. This means when you stop, the dog has no choice but to stop also as it cannot pull outwards in front of you. When you stop walking, the dog gets to the end of the leash and then automatically turns to look at you. This is great because it keeps all attention on you, which is where it should be during a walk. Plus, this harness buckles in a certain way so that you don't have to lift a large dog's arms up. Plus it doesn't look like a muzzle and is normally very accepted by any dog. The one con is that you have no control over the dog's head, so your dog must be absolutely fine around strangers and other dogs if you approach them. If you use any sort of collar you won't have face control anyway.

So either of these work, it just depends on your dog and what you are training them for. For obedience I recommend the head harness, for general walk training I recommend the body harness. And no, i do not work for Gentle Leader. LMAO!

I've just seen many results from their products.

I think it's www.gentleleader.com

 

[Stormy]

I tried a gentle leader on Storm and it makes her more worked up. My goldy uses one and yes I've had people ask me why he needs a muzzle and I explain to them the difference.

I find the prong works great for Storm when there's no other dogs or cats on the road. Once she sees one of them nothing stops her.

 

[PitBullRoyalty]

Stormy, is she pawing her mouth and rearing up on her hind legs (like a horse)?
She is simply throwing a tantrum and trying to get it off because she's being controlled and doesn't like it.


All dogs pull that crap with the head harness, I like the body harness better but it's not as usable if your dog's mouth has to be controlled. You can get a dog aggressive dog to behave near another dog while wearing the head harness because everytime your dog goes for the other dog you can give a tug to the lead and bring the nose back towards you (and shut the mouth).

You're right, it does look like a muzzle. It only looks like a muzzle when pits are wearing it, but when goldens are wearing it nobody even asks. Stupid world. :?

And you are correct about the prong, they will not stop a dog with high pain threshold.

 

[Stormy]

I had an awful time on Friday a small white fluffy came out trying to take on Storm, she was pulling so hard to attack it and it wouldn't let up. With all the current problems in Australia I can't risk having her declared dangerous by attacking it (she was on her lead this dog was roaming).

The owner finally came out and I told them to get their dog as mine would bite it. The owner said to me "good it might teach my dog a lesson". :shock: I said no my dog will do damage to your dog and the woman still was like who cares.

By the time I got my 2 dogs away Storm had done some damage to her throat via the prong collar. She coughed up a bit of bloody mucus the next day. I've placed her onto soft foods only and have brought her a body harness instead.

So people beware if you have a truly dog aggressive dog the prong can actually do more harm then good.

I'm going to start reporting all these people from now on if their dogs are roaming and I also need to find out the exact law on what would happen if Storm did damage to a roaming dog who charged her when she is on lead.

PitBullRoyalty, she has done the rub and carry on, my goldy did as well when he first started on a harness. Storm now does the lip licking etc. I know with my goldy that it's a warning sign that means he's getting really worked up and distressed.

 

[Cookies Mom]

I swear by the prong collar! CC walks good (except if she sees another dog,) and then treats will get her back in control.

 

[PitBullRoyalty]

Those nasty little fluffy white dogs!
*looks at the one sitting by my feet*
They are some of the nastiest dogs by nature, mostly because their owners don't bother training them
and think they're bad bahvior is cute. Her parents were typical poms so she has those guard genes
which is what the pomeranian was bred for (strange as it sounds).

I have to work with her everyday to ease her instincts, but I was expecting that aspect.
I'm one of the few who researched the breed before owning one.


The best body harness IMO is the gentle Leader one
*goes to find link*

http://www.premier.com/pages.cfm?id=74

That is the official site of the maker, as you can see the D ring that you attach the leash to is located on
the front of the chest versus on the back of the dog. And you don't have to lift your dog's legs to put it on.
From that link you can click on the different words on top to bring you to how to use it, overview, etc.

I've seen great results in control, including a one year old pit that was never walked. She accepted the harness
over a collar and she didn't pull once while wearing this. I'm going to buy one for my pom.

 

[Vertes3]

I TOTALLY agree with PitBullRoyalty.....gentle leaders are AWESOME!!! I used a choke chain for a while, and that didn't work, and I just had my dog going between weazing and walking by me, and yanking on me, LOL....quite embarassing actually, and I felt aweful for my dog!! Actually one time he was pulling so hard to get at a squirl that his tongue turned blue....and that was the end of the choke collar for me!! I tried those rubber prong collars too, and it didn't even phase him. :?

The gentle leader works like a charm, and ya it kind of looks like a muzzle, but it does the trick!!