Even though it makes no logical sense, there is a deeply ingrained belief that dogs should somehow just know how to walk nicely on a leash. That’s why, instead of recognizing our dog’s lack of leash manners as a sign he needs more instruction and guidance, we take his pulling and weaving very personally. We get impatient and frustrated. We throw around words like “willful” and “stubborn” and phrases like, “he knows” to explain our dog’s lack of loose leash walking prowess. We feel embarrassed, even mortified, when our dog lunges to the end of his leash in an attempt to steal a kid’s ice cream cone or when they dart in front of us to chase the neighbor’s cat.
A prong collar is a visual indicator to all who see your dog that “you’ve got this under control.” But I decided against using one with my big guy, and here are my top five reasons:

1. It doesn’t teach him the right thing to do

There are certainly people who swear that putting a prong collar on a dog and giving it a good yank every time he pulls will eventually lead to him “falling in line.” But here’s the thing: I’m not looking to control my dog – I’m looking to teach him. I want to communicate new information to him so he knows what it is I want. We might think we know that our dog understands what a collar correction is communicating, but if you’ve been using collar corrections as a matter of course on your walks without any significant behavior changes, it’s likely your dog isn’t really clear on what he’s doing to merit a leash yank. I’d rather teach my dog the one thing I want him to do than expect him to guess what it is he’s doing wrong. Aversive methods like prong collars shut down behavior rather than encouraging/teaching new or different behaviors. Less behavior doesn’t mean greater control.

2. I’d rather mark the times he does it right than the times he does it wrong

When we “correct” a dog with a prong collar, we’re telling him, “You’re doing it wrong.” And since we’re focused on “corrections,” we rarely notice or point out when he’s doing what we want. This is a shame, as it’s far more informative to your dog to know when he’s doing it right. Not to mention, if your dog doesn’t even know what “it” is (in this case, “walk close to my side with slack in the leash”), letting him know via a collar correction that he’s wrong is not very helpful information since you haven’t taught him what you want him to do instead.

3. I can accomplish my training goals without pain or discomfort

I’ve read many comment threads about the pros and cons of prong collars, and the advocates of this device always come back to, “If used correctly, it is an effective training tool.” The room for interpretation in the word “correctly” in that sentence is reason enough to give me pause. Not to mention that a determined dog lunging after a squirrel can tune out not only your voice yelling at him to stop, but also the physical pain of his prong collar digging into his neck until after causing himself serious damage. But in addition, even if this ‘used correctly’ statement is true, if you can achieve the same (even better) results using reward-based training methods, why incorporate pain or discomfort at all? There are some pretty serious possible side effects to prong collars including severe injury, increased anxiety and increased aggression. Contrast those with the side effects for rewards based training – a stronger bond, increased trust and better communication between you and your dog. Even if you totally screw up rewards based training, you might end up with a fat dog that only “listens” when you have food. If you totally screw up with a prong collar? Those training mistakes are a lot harder to correct and could leave your dog with lasting mental and even physical scars.

 4. I want to be a favorite teacher, not a bad boss

When Gomez and I walk down the street, we sometimes get comments like, “Wow, that dog really minds you!” and “He really knows who’s boss.” These are intended as compliments, but the underlying assumption is that a dog needs to be “controlled” or “bossed” to walk nice on a leash. As if the reason he’s happily walking along by my side is because I broke down his will or put the fear into him. In fact, the reason he happily walks by my side without pulling is because I taught him to do that. Think about your favorite teachers or bosses: Why are they your favorites? Chances are they were good at making the subject matter fun/relatable, encouraged your interests and abilities, made sure you understood your assignments and cheered your successes. It’s unlikely they took your good work for granted, gave unclear direction and spent more time pointing out your mistakes than praising you. That more likely describes your least favorite teacher or boss.

5. All dogs learn the same way

A lot of well-meaning people with big, exuberant, strong dogs use prong collars to “achieve control/compliance.” Part of this relates to the misconception that some dogs just need a “heavier hand” than others. But from the smallest Yorkie to the biggest Mastiff, all dogs learn the exact same way. In fact, all animals learn the same way. Rewards based methods don’t rely on folk wisdom, gut feelings or “tradition.” They’re based on the actual science of animal learning and have been used to train every kind of animal you can think of — from hermit crabs to bears. Would you put a prong collar on a hermit crab? No, because that would be absurd. Would you put a prong collar on a bear? No, because you’d fear for your life. So why would you put one on your dog? Because he’s too good-natured to protest? For more information visit on http://www.dogprongcollar.com/.