How important is a training collar?

[anna&jacksmom]

I have been using a Prong collar on Anna for training ever since beginner obediance. I have also been working intermitantly with her on her buckle collar. Now she heels perfectly with the buckle collar and sits and lies down and does everything with the buckle collar that she used to need the prong to do. She does this in any setting with other distractions and such. Will I set her training back if I just use a buckle collar from now on or would it be ok to do this as long as I keep the prong collar incase she decides she doesn't want to listen? I know it is not a cruel device but she listens really well without it she even responds to corrections with the buckle collar on better than the prong corrections. I think this has to do with her tags making a loud noise in her ear rather than any harshness of the correction she is pretty sensitive to noise, but she has a high tollerance to pain. If it is ok to use the buckle all the time how should I approach the problem of going against her trainers advice? I don't want to offend her but I want to use the "softest" method that will work for Anna. Thanks for your help :)

[rottnelmo]

Could it be that Anna is responding so well to the buckle collar corrections because she is still wearing her prong? Try working her with out the prong on at all and see how she does. You can always change it up, put the prong on one day, then the next you dont.

I know with Elmo if I have his prong on and then switch to his buckle he is a dream, but if I am just on his buckle with no other correction on, he may test me a little bit.

Being a trainer myself, I know that I am open to listening to my clients. Discuss with your trainer where you feel you and your dog are at. Show him/her how your dog is working without the prong or any sort of correction collar. I find that when clients tell me they are ready to do something, then are not able to actually show me...then they may not be. I dont stunt their growth, but help them acheive their goals.

[anna&jacksmom]

I don't think I was clear enough on that last post. She is working very well with only the buckle collar. I think this is because she learned with the prong on though. I actually talked to her trainer about this on Saturday and when she watched she agreed that Anna was probably responding to the noise of the tags in her ear because she really was behaving better with the buckle collar. The trainer was just as supprised as I was. I still feel like the prong collar is necessary if I am taking Anna anywhere where there may be other dogs who have access to food though (like a barbque or picnic) as she is agressive about other dogs eating food which she thinks should be hers. She IS getting better about this finally though. Thank you for your reply.