Gentle, Leaders, Halties... Prongs

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Postby Ellena » November 27th, 2006, 6:44 pm

Who uses what and why?

I don't use prong, never have.

I do use a gentle leader on 3 of the dogs

A no-pull harness on another

2 dogs are too new and one of the two is too sick so they have't gotten any walking training in the 1-2 weeks they have been with me.

I use what works for each dog but im curious on what works for others. :D
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » November 27th, 2006, 6:50 pm

I tried the Gentle Leader for about a month and a half - Inara and I both hated it. It chafed her nose horribly, and every time we stopped moving she was down on the floor trying to get it off. It completely defeated the purpose of obedience classes.

We have tried the Sporn Walking Harness - works well, didn't teach her anything.

We have since moved to a prong, and I love it. Not so sure Inara does, although if she hears it jangling she comes running. Walks are immensely more pleasurable with her, and she is actually learning what I mean when I say "with me," or "stay on your side," etc. My prong gets two thumbs up! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Postby mnp13 » November 27th, 2006, 7:50 pm

I am not a big fan of anything that controls your dog for you.

In the literature for the GL (or maybe the Halti, I can't remember, but they both work on the same principle) it likens the head collar "correction" to the corrections given by a mother dog to her puppies. Corrections given between dogs are corrections based in dominance, therby making all of your interactions with the head collar on a dominance action, not a training action. "Training" through dominance is not teaching your dog anything other than you can dominante it.

Your dog learns not to pull with the head collar on because when it does, his head is pulled down or to the side. Well, what happens when you switch collars and you don't have that aid? You go right back to the beginning.

Also, the collars stop the dog with a down and back motion that is likened to the way a horse halter works. Dog are not horses. A horse is taller, heavier and has completely different psyology. Their neck is long and supple and easily handles any pulling a puny human can dish out. A dog is shorter than you by a long shot, making the corrections go in an up and back direction - the exact direction that a dog's head is not supposed to go in. My dogs can hit full speed in a couple steps, I'm sure yours can too. And when they hit the end of that leash against your bodyweight you will crank their head to the side just because of the design of the collar.

According to GL they have never seen an injury from the collar. I personally think that is bunk. Moving a dog's head in a completely unnatural way is not not going to cause injury, especially if it happens quickly.

Though I have heard you can transition from the GL to a flat collar, the method of correction is completely different. You go from dominance to compulsion - which is not the same.

I have prongs for both of my dogs, though I rarely use them. You use a prong collar to teach, not to control.
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Postby DemoDick » November 29th, 2006, 1:27 am

I am not a fan of the GL at all, for the reasons Michelle posted. I'll use whatever collar (flat, prong, martingale, etc.) is appropriate for the dog and the situation.

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Postby msvette2u » November 29th, 2006, 2:02 am

We used to do adoptions at Petsmart for a year and a half before I got my job as ACO here - every weekend we took dogs there for adoptions, and saw tons of GL in use. I hated it because the dogs were pulling their owners all over, with their heads turned, I preferred, and recommended, Martingale collars for new dog owners to use to train their dogs with.
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Postby luvmypitties » November 29th, 2006, 12:05 pm

I have had different experiences with the the GL. My great dane that was in on rescue. I got him one and it worked wonders on him. No irritation, no pulling or anything. I started using a commmand such as heel in conjuction with the GL and even when off leash he would stay by me with the command. I never had any problems awith the GL and it actually worked quite well. He was 8 months old and learned the heel command very quickly with using the GL which showed him what was expected of him. there was never a time where he tried gettig it off or that he was pulling to where his head was at his side or anything like that. Maybe I had the case of a good dog??
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