Prong/Pinch Collars

[southerncomfort]

I am looking for pros and cons...When training I use the Nylon Choke Collar, and Zeus my 5 month old does great "in class" with it. Outside of class, just walking the neighborhood he becomes a major puller, I do correct and he gets better about 5 minutes into the walk, although I have heard many times about throut damage. I went to an event with the local Rottweiler Club and over half of the owners there used the Pinch Collar and swear by it. The dogs wearing the pinch collars did seem to be very good about not pulling. I dont have any problem training him not to pull but if the choke collar is an injury risk, I would rather not take it. Thanks in advance.

[Dale Green Young]

As with ANY collar, it is a training device vs. a solution. I will tell you right now that I have no use (and have never) for a prong collar. Many people swear by them. If used correctly they are effective TOOLS, but should NOT be used in lieu of training your dog to walk on lead. I don't know that I would have a 5 mo old pup on anything BUT a flat buckle collar, to be honest. I have worked with over 500 rescue dogs, and have met maybe three that I'd put a prong collar on for a week or two to get them to hang themselves or otherwise kill themselves with their lack of manners/training. I have also used a prong on one of my own dogs (three times, to be exact) during a class in which he was showing aggression to another dog. The nylon choke that I was using was not delivering a correction serious enough to make this behavior stop, and refocusing the dog and the other dozen options I had tried was not working. He no longer shows aggression to this dog in class, and it's been 7 months.

Instead of training the dog to "not pull on lead", how about training your dog to "look" at you when you're walking.

You are going to get a lot of very different answers. In the end, the decision is yours with the helpful advice of a trainer who works with rottweilers. I would not recommend that you put a prong collar on your dog caus eyou saw someone else do it. The show dogs you've seen are used to the show circuit, and are usually very well trained and participating in other forms of obedience as well.

[RottiMomCT]

My Rottie boy was on a prong collar for about 2 weeks during his first round of obedience class, and again for the first 3 classes in this second round (different trainer for second round). He was 'weaned' off the prong with a variety of different methods, the most effective being a training exercise with the prong, and doing immediately after with the regular choke collar. I am now going from the metal choke collar to a flat collar with a choke chain built into it. A correction with the new collar is effective, and he's beginning to figure out that the tone of my voice alone will let him know if he's not doing what I want him to....he gets a low voice for a warning, and a high pitched 'happy voice' when he's rewarded (along with lots of scritching behind his ears!).

The first class we went to the trainer gave me a HUGE prong collar for him (well, he IS a Rottie was his reasoning...!!) and he BROKE that one! His new one is much smaller (I think it was labeled a 'Fine' link collar, and I fitted it with 'Comfort Tips (little black rubber nubbies that go over the end of the prongs), and he now knows that when any collar goes on him along with his leash, it's time to behave and learn, and of course, have fun! Just a collar on him means we're going out in the yard for playtime :D ...and he knows quite well what that is!

I have a tough time at the beginning of my walks as well as he wants to sniff everything, and I usually allow him a few minutes to get accustomed to the surroundings (even though we walk the same trail every day!) and get his pent up energy in check...

Good luck - it WILL get better - trust me! I thought I was nuts when I adopted my Rottie boy last year - he had very little obedience training and he was 18 months old, and 85 lbs of energy! He was enrolled in classes about a month after we adopted him, and we worked with him about every other day, for about 10-15 minutes a day, always ending on a positive note and before he got bored...any excursion out of the house while on a leash is an opportunity to keep training your dog!

[rottnChyna]

We recently started using them on our 2 dogs when we too them to the kennel and the owner saw how out of control they were. The Rusty our golden retriever was actually worse than Chyna our rott. The improvement was immmediate. Now that we're in training with them the prong collars are a major asset. I always thought of them as cruel.

[RSQRottweiler]

Sebastian (10-11 month old neutered male)HAS a prong collar, as well as a "choke" collar. That doesn't mean we use them. . .he is great with just a flat collar on walks and during mini training sessions.

Audrey