Who would have thought walks were enjoyable?

[skiba]

I've been trying and trying with loose leash walking for a while now with no success. So for every walk Oliver and I have been on since he was little has been me trying to teach him to walk nicely while he tugged on ahead. To say the least, it was no fun and frustrating. So I started looking at collars. Choke chains cause trachea damage, Oli hated the Halti with a fiery passion and harnesses made him pull more so I decided to try a prong collar. I agree that just because it looks like a medieval torture device doesn't mean it is. This sounds silly, but once I got it home I put it on me and the prongs really don't hurt. So earlier tonight I took Oliver out on a walk with it on and the difference was night and day. We were gone 2 hours, the entire time my arm was at my side and not being ripped out of it's socket. I think he was okay with it too, his ears were up and his tail wagging.

 

I'm curious as to how long I'll be walking him with the prong collar and when to wean him from it so he walks nicely with just his normal collar.

 

Edit: He's pretty hard-headed, maybe because he was 1 of 2 of the puppies that ran up to me and were biting my pants the entire time? I heard that the pups that come right up to you tend to be more aggressive and strong willed? Wish I'd have known that

[njnovice]

I've trained both my dogs not to pull with a prong collar. Honestly, if I take them off the hook, the dogs run to the door excited because they know they're going someplace fun.

 

Sinead needed one for a couple months, but now I walk her on her regular nylon buckle collar. She walks fine on a loose leash with that now. I always kept it on the dead ring for her, because she didn't need too much of a correction.

 

Mick still wears his prong if I'm walking him in a store or in public. If I'm walking him on the property, he walks fine on a loose leash. Otherwise, he's on a prong with the leash snapped to the live ring. He will ignore a dead ring correction.

[himistroytheboy]

I've been trying and trying with loose leash walking for a while now with no success. So for every walk Oliver and I have been on since he was little has been me trying to teach him to walk nicely while he tugged on ahead. To say the least, it was no fun and frustrating. So I started looking at collars. Choke chains cause trachea damage, Oli hated the Halti with a fiery passion and harnesses made him pull more so I decided to try a prong collar. I agree that just because it looks like a medieval torture device doesn't mean it is. This sounds silly, but once I got it home I put it on me and the prongs really don't hurt. So earlier tonight I took Oliver out on a walk with it on and the difference was night and day. We were gone 2 hours, the entire time my arm was at my side and not being ripped out of it's socket. I think he was okay with it too, his ears were up and his tail wagging.

 

I'm curious as to how long I'll be walking him with the prong collar and when to wean him from it so he walks nicely with just his normal collar.

 

Edit: He's pretty hard-headed, maybe because he was 1 of 2 of the puppies that ran up to me and were biting my pants the entire time? I heard that the pups that come right up to you tend to be more aggressive and strong willed? Wish I'd have known that

 

 

Cute pictures!!

[Vickkers]

i tried the gentle leader and that just caused issues with my dogs...

 

I sit on the stairs to put on the prong collars and they will line up and take turns coming up and sitting between my legs on the stairs sticking their necks out for easier access to put their prong collars on... it's SO cute!

 

I walk all 5 of them at once usually (or sometimes just 4 if the chew toy decides she'd rather stay on the couch) and the prong collars are a life saver... I can walk them individually on flat collars but there's something about the pack mentality and competition that just doesn't work (for my kids and me) with a flat collar in a group.

[njnovice]

i tried the gentle leader and that just caused issues with my dogs...

 

I sit on the stairs to put on the prong collars and they will line up and take turns coming up and sitting between my legs on the stairs sticking their necks out for easier access to put their prong collars on... it's SO cute!

 

I walk all 5 of them at once usually (or sometimes just 4 if the chew toy decides she'd rather stay on the couch) and the prong collars are a life saver... I can walk them individually on flat collars but there's something about the pack mentality and competition that just doesn't work (for my kids and me) with a flat collar in a group.

 

If I walk both of mine, Sinead will wear a prong. They walk nicely shoulder to shoulder, but she'll start pulling.

[BCjetta]

I would try walking him with it for a month or so and once he's always good, start walking him with the prong collar on but the leash hooked to his regular collar and then transition to just the normal collar from there.

[MaggieDog]

I do an even more gradual transition than BCJetta.

 

Step 1: Get the behavior you want reliable with the regular prong.

Step 2: turn the prong inside out (prongs out) and see if the behavior is maintained. If so, move to step 3, if not, go back to step 1 for at least a few more walks.

Step 3:begin clipping the leash to a regular collar or harness toward the end of the walk. Gradually switch the leash earlier and earlier in the walk until you can start out on the flat collar.

Step 4: get rid of the prong.