Greetings, After reading the posts from Vilma, Karen, etc., I decided to check into getting a prong collar for my 16 mo. old boy. He walks nicely and resonds well to a buckle collar when I walk him (his mama), but he'll pull when walked by others. I have tried the Gentle Leader and, although it helps, he spend most of the time rubbing his nose on the grass or tunneling in between legs trying to get it off. What a lovely sight this is!
After reading the posts about prong collar success, I made a purchase. I purchased the conventional one - the one that you directly clip on and off versus the slip type. Before we took our first walk, I did a bit of research on how to properly fit the prong and how to use it. I found the following article: http://www.leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm It not only perfectly addreses how to get a proper fit (with beautiful pictures!), but it also addresses the difference between the live and dead ring. I understood the article to suggest the live ring (the one that controls the slack/tightness of the collar) is used for obedience training (for corrections) and the dead ring is used for controlled walks. For the experts out there, is this your understanding also? I did not realize you had a choice in where to attach your leash depending on the purpose (obedience vs. walks). The article also addresses the fact that the leash should be attached to the right of the dog's neck, not below the neck like buckle collars. Why this is, I don't know. Anyway, we had a very nice walk this morning with the prong collar. It's a pain in the butt to get on sometimes (my fingers aren't made of steel so I have a hard time pinching the prongs together), but it worked for us! One question I do have, has anyone had problems with the dog's hair getting caught in the collar? Does anyone have a bald ring around their dog's neck? It seems as if this might be the only problem with using prong collars on long coated breeds. Thank you for the prong collar posts. I think my mom can now walk without having a tunneling Berner up her butt anymore. Sincerely, Julene Stelmak and Gus (who, by the way, greets us with whatever he finds to put in his mouth everytime we come home -normally it's a couch throw pillow. His whole body wags and it's the cutest thing)!!! Los Angeles, CA
