"Prong collar" on dogs... any opinions?

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One more talk, and they shut me out and said that they will continue to use it for barking and jumping, and will tug on it to correct him. When I tried to talk to them about it, my mom asked me how I knew this, was it from my decades of experience with dogs, like the trainer has? I feel so helpless...
 
Bottomfeeder;4013170; said:
One more talk, and they shut me out and said that they will continue to use it for barking and jumping, and will tug on it to correct him. When I tried to talk to them about it, my mom asked me how I knew this, was it from my decades of experience with dogs, like the trainer has? I feel so helpless...

That is a horrible situation to be in. How old are you again? Maybe you could save up some money and consult another trainer on your own dime. Maybe if you could show them results another way than they would give that method up....Good for you for standing your ground and continueing to be your dogs advocate though! Don't give up!
 
It's not really about the mother's teeth exactly, it's about how dogs use biting on the neck to "discipline" others in their pack to keep stability. That's taking it way past a nip on the neck.
 
Why put it on your dog? Seems like it's better suited for unfit caretakers and irresponsible trainers. So throw one onto your own neck and stand in front of a mirror if you must see something suffer. And tie the end of the leash to your shoe so it rips into your neck every step you take. That seems a far more appropriate use for such a device.
 
spike collars are tools that are not to be put on a dog for any long amount of time. i hope your parents dont have the collar on the dog 24/7. thats just cruel. they CAN be effective for training a large, pulling dog while teaching leash skills, then taking the collar off after the training session. eventually, you teach the dog to go without the spike collar- you stated walking wasnt a problem-if it were, i would recommed a collar with a nose leash, that puts pressure on the top of the snout-they work great and dont inflict torture.

IMO, to use spike collars for teaching a dog to not jump on counters is just lazy andmisguided. it sounds like your mother thinks this is bar none the absolute best thing for the dog, and it isnt.

your dog would respond better with positive feedback like the use of a clicker and treats, or shaking a can with rocks in it when he is doing the bad behavior and stating loudly 'NO!" or "get DOWN!" -using those together is a deterrant to stop the behavior. i have used the can and rock treatment, and stating (not yelling..) "get down!" and the dog complied and learned.

what you want to do is to catch the dog IN THE ACT of doing the unwanted behavior, as soon as he does it you stop him by distraction-whether that be a loud noise, or raising your voice, or even tossing something towards (not hitting it lol) the dogs feet-anything that STOPS THE THOUGHT PROCESS in midaction-and immediately make him change thought pattern.

my grandma was a dog trainer for years in this area, and also ran a kennel-she didnt advocate spike collars-, but she spent alot of time training people how to work with dogs, and how to understand how dogs learn. it takes alot of patience on the owners part lol..

i suggest you get rid of the collar, i just think its being misused in this situation and look for other skills that will work without invoking the fear and pain.
 
Lissaspence;4014111; said:
That is a horrible situation to be in. How old are you again? Maybe you could save up some money and consult another trainer on your own dime. Maybe if you could show them results another way than they would give that method up....Good for you for standing your ground and continueing to be your dogs advocate though! Don't give up!




I'm 14, and next to broke :(
 
knifegill;4014328; said:
Why put it on your dog? Seems like it's better suited for unfit caretakers and irresponsible trainers. So throw one onto your own neck and stand in front of a mirror if you must see something suffer. And tie the end of the leash to your shoe so it rips into your neck every step you take. That seems a far more appropriate use for such a device.




Just to be clear, this is not directed at me, right?
 
an empty coke can and some pebbles are a pretty cheap teaching tool.
 
Oh, my mom thought that it's worth mentioning for some reason that he barks excessively when the doorbell rings, and that the choke collar didn't work for that. Guess stabbing the living crap out of the dog is next...
Anywho she got mad at me for "not giving the full story", so there it is.
 
Oh, that's easy to train a dog out of.

When a dog barks at the door, he is alerting the pack to a strange noise. If the people around him stand up, yell at him, or anything like that, he assumes he's done a good job of informing you of the intruder. So the more you yell at him or give him any kind of attention, good or bad, the more reinforced the behavior becomes. If you want him to stop barking at the door, there are several steps to take. This can take a few weeks to fix, but here's what I would try:
You have control of the stimulus and the reward, so all you really need to do is expose the dog to the stimulus without rewarding his response often enough that his reaction becomes extinct.
First, ignore the barking completely, and don't even look at the dog when he barks. He will soon realize that you do not care about the intruder or the barking. DO pay attention to him and reward him (much, much) later, when he is not reacting to the doorbell. When you reward his calmer behavior, he will display it more. If you can get someone to come by your house and ring the doorbell everyday, this will work a lot faster. There are a lot more variables to be considered, and more refinements to be made, but at least give this a try. It worked for B.F. Skinner, so it ought to work for you.
 
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