How To Properly Fit A Prong Collar and Uses

http://www.leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm

Prong collars in my opinion can be life savers to small people with big dogs. Prong collars are training tools and do not have to be used long term.

***Never leave a prong collar on your dog unattended!***

Many people are a bit leery at first about prong collars because some think they look like torture devices. I was one of those people! But, after struggling with a pulling Deja pup, I finally decided to look at them and see what they were all about. I went to the pet store and put one around my arm and pulled. You know what? It didn't hurt at all like I thought it would. They get the dog's attention but aren't painful and you won't accidentally choke them like you would with an actual choke chain.

Another thing I want to go ahead and mention is the fitting of any training collar. Most people almost ALWAYS have their dog's collars entirely too loose and the collar hangs down at their shoulders. Fitting a collar in this fashion just allows room for the dog to back out of the collar! My dogs wear their collars higher on their necks and they are tighter than what the average person would fit on their dogs but, I don't want my dogs getting loose.

Here's another way to look at it (and I wish I could remember who actually told me about this) as far as collar placement goes...actually, let's create a scenario.

You are walking your dog on a flat buckle collar and they are just pulling away. In no time at all, they are huffing and coughing and wheezing about and it sounds horrid right? That's because the collar is too low.

Take your hand and push it firmly against the lower part of your neck in front, down near the shoulders. Imagine if that was a collar and you were straining against that part of your neck. That's pretty painful huh? Is it hard to swallow without moving your hand?

Now, take your hand this time and firmly push the front of your neck directly underneath your jaws. Its NOT painful. If you were wearing a collar, your head would almost be forced to remain in an "up" position as well, not allowing much "leverage" to pull forward if needed (where your head would normally move in a downward position when pulling).

It is for that reason that I keep my collars tight and high on my dogs' necks. Comfort and function.