The Secret To Choosing a Dog Training Collar
No commentsTraining a dog can be a rewarding experience, especially if the dog that you are training is your own. Having training aids can be a great help, if you know what you are doing. Items such as training collars have proven to be effective, if used in the right hands. If you are unsure and have no expertise in dog training, then training collars have the capacity to seriously injure your dog. This article is going to attempt to explain about the different types of training collars on offer and which ones you should be considering using. It is also advisable to get expert help as well.
The first collar to investigate is the prong collar. Whilst it actually looks to be the most evil of the collars, it is actually the least likely to cause harm, although if people want to abuse the collar (and the dog), they will find a way. Under normal usage, when the collar is pulled, the prongs that make up the leash pinch the dog’s neck. The thought behind this is that the reaction is similar to the of the dog’s mother’s teeth used to reprimand the dog when it was a puppy. The collar is reasonably safe. The most likely problem will be if the collar is not fitted correctly. If the dog continually pulls on the leash though, the prong collar might not be the best one to use.
Prong collars can be quite easily adjusted by adding or removing some prongs until you get the fit right. A rough guide to fitting is if you can fit a finger between the collar and the neck of the dog. Any looser than that and the collar will not be effective.
The Halti collar, also known as the Gentle Leader, is more akin to a harness than a collar. It fits over the dog’s face and works by closing the dog’s mouth when the leash attached to the collar is pulled. The theory is that if you can control the dog’s head, you will be able to control the whole dog. This type of collar is especially good for pulling or aggressive dogs.
Head control in this way does present the trainer with some difficulties. Most dogs will not take kindly to have any sort of restriction placed over their face and nose, so the dog might take a while to get used to collar. Also, by pulling on the head, it is possible to injure the dog’s neck or back, so you need to take care when using a head collar.
Choke collars can be very effective in controlling a dog. Sadly, in the wrong hands, choke collars can be exceedingly cruel and can hurt dogs. Control lies within the trainer themselves. If you genuinely think that a choke collar will do what you want, but you are not sure how to use one properly, seek expert guidance.
Correct use of a choke collar starts with correct fitting. They work by tightening around the dog’s throat when the leash is pulled. Equally, the tightness should be released when the trainer eases up on the leash, but if the collar does not fit correctly, this might not happen resulting in undue distress to the animal. If your dog is one that continually pulls on the leash, then the choke collar is probably not the right collar to use.
An electronic dog collar has the propensity for harm. Whether it is used to abuse dogs though rests entirely with the people that use them. Used correctly, electronic dog collars are a very humane way of training a dog. In inexperienced or malevolent hands though, they can hurt dogs.
Electronic dog collars work by passing small electric charges to the dog via a remote control, which is handled by the trainer. The amount of shock that is passed to the dog is completely under the control of the trainer. The rule of thumb is that the shock should be sufficient to make the dog’s ears twitch and no more. The amount will vary upon the size of the dog of course. Should the dog cry out when the shock is applied, then the shock is likely to be too strong.
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 6:16 am and is filed under Dog training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
