Opinions

[Gayle.]

Its taken me 6 months of solid daily loose lead walk training and dozens of tips from here and other people to get where i can finally enjoy walking my year-old staffy x. And she still needs constant reminders to walk nicely!

Hear, hear! It took months of patience and perserverance to get my boy to walk reliably on a loose leash and in the early days a check chain was useless as it required the chain to be loose for a brief moment to "pop" it to give the correction....but it was never loose. He pulled so hard it was permanantly tight and did nothing to teach him to walk beside me.

I found the various no-pull devices a godsend because once he had one on, he wouldn't pull and I could start some positive reinforcement and praise for walking nicely.

The Sporn harness was my personal favourite as it's comfortable for the dog and effective as a no-pull/correction device. My new favourite is the Sporn Pack Leader....it's a lot more comfortable than the Halti or Gentle Leader head collars and more effective in giving a correction because if the dog isn't pulling, it simply hangs loose and doesn't give a constant slight correction like the others do. Plus it has a padded nose band so doesn't leave a mark across the dogs nose. And it really only takes a very slight correction to be effective.

Now he's great. I can walk him with a flat collar or a correction chain and he doesn't pull. And if he starts to forge ahead, I just need to say "Back here" and he comes back.

In all honesty, I think it's down to personal preference. I've now been through three levels of obedience with my boy at our local club and had a variety of instructors and they all have different opinions. Two of them recommended limited slip collars, one says they are totally useless. One recommended a head collar, another says he wouldn't pass a dog wearing a head collar in graduation if it was up to him. Harnesses are not allowed on dogs at training; prong collars are illegal here.

Whatever works for the dog and handler is the best tool to use at the time. Overall, I prefer my voice and a pocketful of treats, but to get to the point where either of them were effective, I needed the right tool for the job.

[Silvawilow]

Check chains are not supposed to choke a dog! A quick 'pop' on the chain and the dog stops pulling and walks nicely beside you.

I would much prefer to use a check chain on a dog that pulls and teach it not to pull, than have a dog that chokes itself constantly on a flat collar. Like most training tools, check chains can be great if they are used correctly on the right dog.

Beyond legal requirements it depends on the temperament and maturity of the individual dog, not it's age imo

I agree with both JBBB & Haven

I use a flat collar on one of my dogs, a martingale on another and a check chain on the third. All 3 have completely different temperaments, hence the different equipment used!