Prong Collars…. Hmmmmm…
Yep, I’m going to talk about prong collars again. Prong collars as they are known now, they used to be called pinch collars but that’s many don’t like that term. It’s more or less the same as calling a choke caller just that, descriptive.
I guess my biggest issue with those who advocate the use of these collars is that they try very hard to explain that the collars do not hurt. But for those of us who use the “common sense” train of thought I say this; how and why do they work if they do not hurt? What happens to make the dog stop doing what they are doing? Also, when I hear dogs yelping after have a correction inflicted on them with one of these collars, explain to me what is happening if it doesn’t hurt.
Why I really hate these collars -
They inflict pain when a correction is given.
Whatever the dog is doing is associated by the inflicted pain.
Dogs who have these collars continually pulled on become accustom to the pain; therefore corrections must be given harder.
People believe that using these collars does no harm.
People believe the “it doesn’t hurt” idea.
Many trainers use them as a quick fix to behavior problems.
They cause many fallout behaviors.
Humans attempt to yank away their dog problems; yanking can become a real habit when this is how we “STOP” behaviors.
They can create more problem behaviors than you started out with.
When we yank a prong or pinch collar it is only to “stop” a behavior; they do not teach a dog what to do instead when we want them to stop doing something.
I have witnessed dogs react hugely to being corrected on a prong/pinch collar. I have also watched as a dog who was jumping up on their owner become more and more frantic as their owner was instructed to continue to “correct” the behavior. The dog started simply jumping on their owner; but as the human yanked and yanked on the prong collar the dog became frantic trying to somehow stop the assault.
Just Google “prong collar injuries” and see what comes up. It is very disturbing.
When I googled prong collar injuries I came across several companies that sell collars that actually hide a prong collar from the public. The collar is still on your dog but those seeing you with your dog think you just have a regular collar on them. This alone speaks volumes.
Sadly I am seeing these collars more and more as humans seek the “quick fix” for their dog’s behavior issues. When we attempt to yank away our dog’s “issues” we really do our dogs a disservice. There is no education given, no help, no assistance to work through a problem and fix it by teaching our dog what they should be doing. Yanking on a collar as an attempt to stop behaviors is just that, it is not training. We are letting our dogs know that if they do something we don’t like, we will yank on their collar and inflict pain.
I will never stop and allow an interactions with a dog on a prong collar. The risk of a fallout behavior going bad is much higher when we inflict pain to the scenario. I will smile and walk by, but we will never interact.
Haven’t we evolved beyond inflicting pain on our dogs in attempts to train? Many have but not all. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Stand up, speak up and stand behind the “do no harm” promise to our dogs.