Prong Collar

[woodedareas]

I am wondering if any one uses or recommends the light use of a prong collar for whoa training. I was advised that properly and lightly used it will assist in Whoa traing and also be an intial step to using a E collar.My dog seems to be doing well without such a collar is the sensation on their necks a good starter for an E collar. I initially began to Whoa my dog when feeding him and generally for a young dog he is reasonably responsive.To me the prongs seem to be over kill and rather tough. This advice came from a trainer.
Thanks

[RayGubernat]

I use a prong collar in my training. I believe it to be significantly less harsh than a choker collar and probably a tad harsher than a leather pinch collar with the points filed down.

I find that my dogs transition very well to the prong collar from a wonder lead and also transition well to the e-collar from the prong collar.

I transition to the prong collar for heel/whoa drills in the yard after establishing the behaviors with a wonder lead and just prior to doing steadiness work in the field. Initial bird contacts in the field are done with the prong collar in place.

If the dog is properly prepared it will not take much in the way of a correction with the prong(or pinch collar) to get the behavior you want around birds. If the dog has not been prepared properly, you will be pulling and hauling on the dog with the prong or pinchj collar in place which can indeed be somewhat harsh.

Put another way...it ain't the tool that is good or bad, it is how the mechanic uses it.

RayG

[Ron R]

I also use a prong collar in my heel/whoa training. What I have found is that a after a couple of snaps of the collar and the dog seems to try to understand what you want due to the instant presure. If you are working with a cooperative dog you should'nt need the prong collar after minimal sessions. Some behaviors to look for is when you snap the collar and the dog looks up at you means he is trying to understand the command, wich is the best case scenario. The worst case would be if the dog is soft and just lays on their belly with a scared and confused look. At wich time immediately remove the collar and try another method. I have never used it in the field but that sounds like a good idea. Good Luck

[woodedareas]

Thanks for the help. I have a rather soft dog so I am going very slow and cautiously with him.I need as much training as he does and so far everything has worked great.I guess we are both undergoing training together.
Thanks for the help.