Prong collar- 3mm. 3.25mm, 3.8mm?

[kimble]

I would like to get a prong collar for my Rottie girl. She knows all her basic stuff and is good with distractions....except for cats. I'm tired of giving her a level 10 correction where cats are concerned, and want to move to a prong to give me more control.

The prongs I am looking at come in different gauges- 3, 3.25 and 3.8. What is the most suitable thickness for a Rottie? I want the prong to be humane but effective.

Does anyone also have any feedback re quick snap prongs?

[RottiMomCT]

I have this prong collar for me 80 pound male: Prong Collar

I added extra links for the correct length...I think the smaller links give you a better fit on the collar and deliver a better correction. I also use a nylon choke collar as a backup to the prong in case of a link coming loose or anything else...

Make sure you have your trainer show you the proper way to use the prong...used incorrectly it can do serious harm.

BTW - our trainer calls a prong collar 'power steering' for your dog! I am weaning Ben off the prong in preparation for our venture into competition obedience...

[Grisu]

Tassilo got switched to the prong and it has made a huge impact. He follows commands extremely well and does so without much of the tugging on the leech. We're getting there... Lots to do still though.
I agree with RM to have someone trained show you the proper usage of the collar.

[alexav]

My pick for your purpose is a Herm Sprenger, 3 mm. The 3.8's are WAY too thick and heavy. They look like something you'd train a grizzly bear with!

I like the 2mm for fine tuning advanced training if needed.

And yes, definitely work with a trainer to use this collar properly!:)

[kimble]

Some of the members of my local schutzhund club use prongs but they are fitted incorrectly- loose, low and the neck with the rings in front instead of the side.

I have yet to find a trainer who will admit to using a prong. :( But most of them train the smaller breeds with a more thinly muscled neck anyway.

[RottiMomCT]

Speaking of incorrectly fitted prong collars....my uncle has a wildchild Irish Setter. They came to visit my Dad and my grandmother begged me and hubby to show uncle how a well behaved dog is (we had Ben with us).

So, out comes Ben, on properly fitted collar, then, out comes Cooper (wildchild), on prong collar that was HUGE (big links) and huge in terms of fit...I could have put this collar over the head of a Mastiff! So, hubby shows uncle how to properly fit a correctly sized collar (he used Ben's small linked collar), and then demonstartes how much better the dog will behave when properly fitted.

Since Coopers collar was huge, it sat way at the bottom of his neck, offered little if any correction (mainly because because uncle didn't give them) and it was basically useless.

My aunt was amazed at the difference in the dog with a proper collar...used to have to hold on for dear life, even with prong...now, properly fitted, Cooper walked like an angel, and very very very few corrections were needed, and those that were necessary, were light. We had an extra small link collar in the car and gave it to my uncle. Cooper is now back to basic training and from what I hear, he's doing well ;)

So, yes, a properly fitted prong makes all the difference...as does patience...

[Muckdogs]

My reply, as always on this. Use the thinnest one you can, but add extra links for proper sizing. Smaller links give a far, far better correction than large links, and the better the correction the better the response. HOWEVER, if you anticipate having to give hard, repetitive corrections, the smaller links will most likely fail and come apart. Therefore, a backup is good to have on as long as it does not interfere witht eh operation of the prong collar. Of course, if you have a hard dog that you have to give repetitive hard corrections to, you could always shaprent eh prongs ont he grinding wheel to a nice point..... But, before you take that step, I would look into an ecollar first.

[Mattweiser]

ditto what Muck said.

:)