Humiliated At Dog Training

[Erny]

However, the RSPCA does not recommend the use of such a collar. The use of the collar, or placement of such a collar on an animal, could result in pain being inflicted on the animal resulting in an act of cruelty being committed. As a consequence of a breach of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act the matter may proceed to prosecution.

The section highlighted (by me) could be said of any piece of equipment fitted/used on an animal. Is this the best the RSPCA could come up with as a reason for disliking the prong in particular?

[Arya]

Ruthless, do you think your dog needs a prong, to be "trained"?

- this comment

I do some private training with Steve K9 occasionally.

made me think that ruthless got professional advice on what collar to use for the dog.

Fair enough, but I had to ask ;). A prong collar seems, to me, and I am more than happy to be um.......corrected, that the tool may be not necessary, especially as the dog has been further educated.

Lablover, I'll tell you what happened to me the other day. I must say I'm female and only weigh 53 kilos (skinny bugger - not a great look LOL!) and my shepherd is 30 kilos. You'll see why I say this when I get to the point...

I use a prong collar with my girl. I like it cos it is safer and more humane than a check chain when used correctly. Some may disagree but there you go. Now I also use a lovely soft, wide flat collar on my girl and I was walking down the street with her and she was being a bit antsy. She could see a little dog up in front and started pulling, which I won't put up with when she's supposed to be walking at heel of course as she knows much better. The lead played out and I gave a big two-handed check and surprised myself, as I didn't mean to pull so hard. Poor girl, her head whipped back and she fell into line and I felt like the biggest meanie as I almost gave her whiplash and believe me, at 53 kilos I'm not that strong. My cxn was way over the top, in my own opinion - by accident. My point is, I don't believe that when fitted correctly you can do that as easily with a prong. It contracts as it is pulled when not on lock and it would take a stronger person than me (okay, that's probably nearly everyone ) to do what I did with the flat collar. So... which is worse for the dog? If she'd been on the prong, unlocked, a force two cxn would have reminded her to listen up when told to heel and leave other dogs alone. Ideally we'd all like to walk our dogs on nothing but voice control, I'm sure. But the prong isn't the tool of torture that it looks by any means. Whereas flat collars, haltis etc can be deceptive.

That's my two cents' for the day

[Rom]

Note that the definition of Pain in the Act includes suffering and

distress.

My dog exhibited the fact that she was feeling more pain (by the above definition) when she was fitted with the halti/gentle leader than what she was when she was fitted with the prong. Since the halti/gentle leader is the tool of choice for the RSPCA I wonder if they would have also thought that the halti/gentle leader was cruel in this instance? Or do they believe that cruelty has a time span...you can be cruel until the dog gets used to the cruelty i.e. stops reacting and thats OK?

Maybe we should just rename the prong and call it the 'Shiatzu Massage Training Collar'...there's much to be said for the power of emotive marketing.

[MonElite]

Maybe we should just rename the prong and call it the 'Shiatzu Massage Training Collar'...there's much to be said for the power of emotive marketing.

I already said somewhere - numerous times I had seen these collars called fursavers.

Suits me just fine.

[Ianto]

Maybe we should just rename the prong and call it the 'Shiatzu Massage Training Collar'...there's much to be said for the power of emotive marketing.

I already said somewhere - numerous times I had seen these collars called fursavers.

Suits me just fine.

This is a fursaver:

[MonElite]

Very true Yvonne.

However the book (author escapes me) called Schutzhund obedience - Training in Drive, shows prong and names it fursaver, as well as Ivan Balabanov on one of the videos names a prong a fursaver.

[Ons]

my mum is always at me about how cruel prong collars are.

yet I do not condone any sort of animal cruelty whatsoever

but i do use a prong collar

my large golden retreiver was a terrible puller, hated walking him, didn't walk him as much, probelm got worse because he would be excited on walks, got a prong collar properly fitted, lesson in how to use it, used it for perhaps 3 months, started walking my golden more frequently as walks were far more enjoyable, now he walks perfectly in a flat collar :-) with the occassional walk in a prong just for a little reminder - surely that is not being cruel at all to a dog but only to Onslow's benefit.

I still use Tilly's more frequently as she still pulls, although 15 months old just an excitable pup really still but she isn't very big so can't pull me over

So I can't sing the praises of a prong collar high enough.

[Flaves]

While walking out of Pet Barn one day with Chopper and Angel two ladies walked passd me on their way in and one said "what lovely dogs" and the other said "yeah, shame about the collars though". That kind of ignorance I can shrug off cause they just don't know better. People who claim to be dog trainers and judges really ought to know ALOT better!

I'm thinking about making covers for them for day to day use. I don't take criticism well, and someone accusing me of being a cruel owner can affect me for days even though I know it shouldn't.

When i first heard of a prong collar, i was horrified. I saw Scope use one with Blitz and Kurt.

They are great. I tried it on my arm, not painful, uncomfortable is you pulled against it.

And with fur that thick i do not think, unless it was used incorrectly, that it would hurt the dog.

They are a great iea if you are shown by a trained professional to show you how to correctly use it and your situation requires it.