Pronged Collars Revisited
I've recently had some interesting correspondence with someone
who read that article and took me up on my invitation to educate
me further on the subject. Here are the relevant sections of that discussion: Dear Andrew, I just came across your web site and find it very informative and helpful. I would, however, like to take you up on your invitation for responses concerning your article "Pronged Collars". True, it looks like a medieval torture device, yet I was convinced that it is quite humane by a very simple challenge another trainer once gave me: try it on yourself. The sensation, even with a fairly good tug, is merely a prickle, and is in fact much less uncomfortable than the hard bite of a slip chain (which I also tried on for comparison). The reason is twofold: (1) the prongs lie at a fairly flat angle--they in no way poke into the skin, but rather serve to give a sensation that some claim to be similar to a mother dog giving a gentle corrective mouth grasp to a puppy. (2) The design of the device causes a very even pressure all around, distributing the effects rather then causing painful pressure at the point opposite the lead. In my view, the prong collar should be used quite differently from a slip chain--it's a different kind of tool with a different purpose. With the prong, the dog always corrects himself, e.g. when not following properly at heel. He goes the wrong way, the collar tightens--his doing, not mine. I *never* give a "jerk" correction with a prong collar. That's not what it's for. And of course it's only one of many tools. I use it mostly to work on heeling because of the automatic feedback it gives the dog for leaving possition. Other training is on a flat leather collar. The prong collar has proven quite effective for me in this use, and I see no evidence that it upsets the dogs--they sit quite eagerly with tails wagging as I put it on them: "Oh boy, out for a walk!" Unfortunately, I think a lot of training classes do hand out prong collars simply as a way to keep unruly dogs under control. I don't think this is inhumane--the collar commands the dog's attention even though it really (honestly!) doesn't hurt--but I believe it degenerates into merely "controlling" behavior rather than actually dealing with it constructively. Thanks again for a very helpful web site! Yours, Stuart Milliken Hi Stuart, Thank you so much for taking the time to write to me. It's the first time anybody's been able to put the case so clearly in favour of pronged collars. I'm delighted to hear you can back up your claims having actually tried one on yourself - that's exactly the sort of thing I'd try myself! One thing I'm curious to know - you say the dog corrects itself when it moves away from the heel position. Does this *always* happen? Do you ever get a dog which doesn't correct itself? Or hasn't yet figured out *how* to correct itself? If you don't mind I'd like to mention your comments in a future issue of my newsletter - so far I've only been able to give my subscribers my hitherto one-sided and rather biased opinion of pronged collars. In the interests of equality it's only fair that I should show the other side of the coin too! Regards, Dear Andrew, You said - What I meant by this is if the dog, say, misses a right turn or suddenly tries to dart away after a squirrel, the distance he puts between himself and me will put tension on the leash and hence constrict the collar. In other words, his own actions directly and mechanically cause the weird prickle correction--not a leash correction given by me. This--to me anyway--is the big and poorly understood difference between a prong collar and a slip chain. The p.c. is not typically used for handler-induced jerking corrections; it has its effect automatically whenever the dog puts tension on the leash. The s.c. is the opposite: I don't ever want it throttling the dog through leash tension; it is primarily used to give a handler-induced "jangle" message to the dog. Thus there's no issue of the dog knowing how to correct itself--if "to correct" is being used in the sense of causing the correcting stimulus (the prickle) to occur. Of course, whether the dog heeds the prickle and corrects his *actions* is a different matter. But in fact I have found that where dogs may relentlessly pull on a slip chain (sometimes to the point of choking), they'll immediately stop and "whut?!" with a prong collar, and adjust their position to relieve leash tension. In other words, dogs can blow off real pain (a tightened slip chain) but just hate that annoying little prickle-- this is so quintessentially dog! There is, however, an important matter of the amount of leash slack. I tend to maintain relatively little slack on the leash with a p.c. so that the dog gets feedback sooner rather than later when wandering out of position. I find forging or straying to the left far more of an issue than lagging or cutting across me, and so the geometry of this is pretty simple. With a slip chain, I generally keep more slack in the leash to allow freer movementfor a (handler-induced) correction. But maybe this is just me. I should also say, that I only used a p.c. on my "good" dog for a very short while, to work on heeling. The tool was very helpful in teaching her, and then we went back to flat leather. I'm now dealing with a "problem" dog, a young 75 lb. GSD x Greyhound with a narrow head. This dog spent his entire first year of life chained in a dark cement stairwell (sheesh!), and is now terrified of the outside world. When he panics, this very lithe and powerful dog can easily slip a flat collar, and on a slip chain he can literally throttle himself until his tongue is blue. The prong collar has been a godsend for him--it puts the brakes on him when he panics without causing any physical harm, and it can't be backed out of. The p.c. has become a real enabler for this dog, and in fact he's becoming a superb heeler! "If you don't mind I'd like to mention your comments in a future issue of my newsletter - so far I've only been able to give my subscribers my hitherto one-sided and rather biased opinion of pronged collars. In the interests of equality it's only fair that I should show the other side of the coin too!" Not at all. And I certainly don't think a prong collar is a cure-all either--as you're clearly aware, any of these things can be misused or abused. And please point out: *Never* leave a prong collar on a dog outside of the actual dog-handler interaction time. (1) it can very easily get hooked on something and (2) you want to save the weird prickle for training; you don't want the dog getting used to it in everyday fooling around. Yours, Stuart Hi Stuart, Misunderstanding between us over the use of "to correct". When I said "Do you ever get a dog which doesn't correct itself? Or hasn't yet figured out *how* to correct itself?" I'd meant does it correct its "actions" - please accept my apologies for the confusion! I understand exactly what you mean by the dog causing the stimulus to occur by its own actions as opposed to the prickling sensation having been handler-induced. So what I was really meaning was - once the dog has caused the prickle by moving away from you, what then? You obviously don't pull on the lead at all, so unless the dog moves back to your side of its own accord, it will by definition still have the prickle sensation around its neck and will still be walking some distance away from the heel position. And what happens in such a situation? Though you seem to imply that the dog will automatically move back to your side to relieve the sensation. Do you ever find this doesn't happen? And if so, what do you do at that point? Thanks again, Dear Andrew, One can still "actively" use the leash, even with a prong collar, to guide the dog back into position. The dog is typically still moving, so it's a matter of giving a bit of corrective direction to the movement. This would typically be in the form of a brief, gentle tug. And of course one can verbally call the dog back, make inviting thigh pat sounds, etc. as well. And in fact one can also do, say, an abrupt right turn to "catch" a straying heeler, just as one does with a slip chain. For this, however, I keep more "spring" in my leash hand to avoid an abrupt "pop" at the collar. The goal is to give just enough tightening to get the dog's attention back. And unless he sits and braces like a mule, the dog generally does get back in position quickly and easily. Note, however, that my goal is to have willing and happy dogs; I've never had to deal with real orneriness. If I really had to fight with a dog that wasn't basically keen on cooperating, then I supposed working on nice heeling wouldn't be my immediate training concern. Stuart Recommended reading - "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".
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