Which Collar Should I Use?

You don't need to hurt your dog to train it.

Our program uses Dog Psychology as the primary training method. We think it is cruel not to train your dog and have to use collars and leashes. Dog training is all about you having a relationship with your dog and the dog responding to you. If you don't win the dog over psychologically, all you are left with is force, compulsion and bribing with food to try and get your dog to behave.

We recommend you train your dog so you don't have to use training collars. . .

Choke Chains

Using choke chains, jerking hard and calling that dog training is the violent old-school. Please call us before you think you need to hurt your dog to train it and maybe cause:

1) tracheal and oesophogeal damage,

2) severely sprained necks,

3) transient foreleg paralysis,

4) recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, and

5) hind leg ataxia.

We only would recommend a choke chain if the owner needs a collar that is the most sure bet that the dog won't be able to slip out of or if you need to get something around a dog's neck fast to get control. Choke chains work great on certain giant dogs with super-thick fur too dense for even a prong collar. Otherwise, choke chains are pretty much just plain wrong.

We don't care about your Schutzhund III German Shepherd police dog. If your dog is so trained, why does he need a choke chain anyway? The bottom line is most people aren't going to jerk the crap out of their dog because they learned as a child that violence is wrong. We are not talking about the old family dog wearing a choke chain, we are talking about compulsion trainers whose dog training method is based on correcting dogs.

NOT ALL DOGS ARE FUR BABIES There is a time and a place in dog training for the rough stuff, like to save an aggressive or dominant dog's life. The good news is 99% of dogs don't require trainers or owners to get really very physical at all.

Maybe you need to be honest and ask yourself if you really know what you are doing before you start jerking, choking or getting real physical with your dog.

Maybe it is not worth permanently hurting your dog.

Maybe it would cost less and the dog might not get permanently ruined if you call a professional dog trainer.

Haltis & Gentle Leader Halters

Another well-intentioned, but dangerous fad.

Don't listen to armchair dog trainers and behaviorists, amateurs and part-time pet shop trainers. These dangerous halters come off and can cause cervical and spinal injuries to dogs if the dog lunges because it turns the head.

Veterinarians usually like Haltis and Gentle Leaders because they sell them. If the dog tries to bite, you can pull the leash and close the dog's mouth because the halter is worn around the snout.

We feel these are unnecessary for 99.9% of dogs. They have their use however and are excellent in extremely rare instances. In our opinion, these are not so much a dog training tool but a crutch for people that do not understand animal behavior or what a dog thinks or feels.

Dog head halters are stupid because they don't teach the dog anything, they know when it is on and off, dogs usually hate them and flip out and try and get it off, that and you risk spinal injury to your dog if you use one. What is really stupid about Haltis and Gentle Leaders is that they are not even dog training. All they are is a restraint to subdue dogs. We have seen dogs with their noses raw like hamburger from rubbing their noses on the cement to get the horrible thing off of their face.

Haltis and Gentle Leaders are analogous saying that a criminal is rehabilitated if you put handcuffs on him or her. Logic and experience tells us that as soon as you take the handcuffs off, the criminal will re-offend.

Usually the worse the dog trainer the more they use Gentle Leaders, Haltis and. . .

Clickers

Yes, we know it is not a collar. The reason we mention clickers here is they are the epitome of what does not work in real life and the nonsense people need to look out for when they are hiring a dog trainer.

Somehow clickers and food works better than your voice according to someone who made minimum wage training dolphins at Sea World. So the story goes.

Do you really think your dog is even going to hear the clicker over the screeching tires of the car that is going to run over its head because you forgot the treats?

Flipper won't defecate on your sofa.

Thousands and thousand of dolphins aren't euthanized because they turn aggressive and do things like bite the owner or a family member in the face. People don't get their homeowner's insurance cancelled because of their dolphin and have to buy an Assigned Risk policy for ten years that costs three or four times as much.

Cllickers and training with food seems logical to some people. What is sad is how much more they and their dog could have had.

Pinch-Prong Collars

Pinch collars have saved many dogs lives and only should be used, if at all, for a short time just while training. They are now very popular with women, kids, seniors and people with injuries or disabilities. It only takes about 20%, or less, energy to get the same or more response from a dog wearing one versus a flat buckle collar.

Many small people with dogs bigger and stronger than them have gotten their dog trained and did not have to euthanize it because the owner kept an open mind and tried a pinch collar.

Dogs nip eachother at the neck to correct eachother, not jerk or choke. Often dog owners have their dog on a belt buckle flat collar and jerk and choke their dog a lot. Maybe it would be better to use a pinch collar and tug two times instead of ten and not be so violent with the dog.

Consult a real dog trainer, not some kid at the pet shop or side-liner holding classes in the park or at the SPCA. The pinch collar is a tool. Half of the homes we go to the client already has a pinch collar because they hear at work and from their friends that pinch collars often work good for getting hyper or very strong dogs under control. We recommend not using any collar, but you have to start somewhere. We don't tell people which collar to use, just the ones not to use.

Almost always people who are against pinch collars have never used one. Usually these people are living in an imaginary dream world where they fantasize about getting their dog under control or off-leash obedient with lots of yummy treats from Mommy for their furry human baby.

What is mean is a dog not getting trained and left out-of-control and having to be euthanized. Usually Food-Bribery dog trainers are the first ones to tell you to destroy your dog when the treat training does not work or later on when your dog turns aggressive.

How could anyone be against something that saves many dogs lives?

The pinch collar was developed by a veterinarian as a safe and humane alternative to choke chains. Pinch collars are what you use on small dogs with easily damagable half-round tracheas like Jack Russel Terriers and Dachshunds with really delicate necks. People who say pinch collars are dangerous are wrong--pinch collars are the safest collar. Again, we say it is mean to not train your dog and have to use collars and leashes.

We recommend you train your dog so you don't have to use training collars. . .

SHOCK COLLARS

Like we said above. . .

Maybe it would cost less and you won't permanently ruin your dog if you call a professional dog trainer FIRST.

We are not against electronic collars because they do save many dogs lives and are humane when used properly.

Our experience is that Joe Sixpack out with his dog on Saturday often does more harm than good and often ends up with a nervous, broken-spirited, skittish dog.

Electronic collars are supposed to be a tool of last resort for Off-Leash training and behavior modification.

Call us if you are looking for something better. . . .

John Vinton's Better Dog Training

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