Our trainer doesn't allow prongs and likes gentle leaders. What are your thoughts?

Hi Cindy,

Thank you so much for your very quick reply.

No, the instructor does not allow prong collars in her class. She likes the gentle leader and feels she has had success with it. Her daughter is training her new dog in this class and she is using a gentle leader on him. I gather this is a personal preference issue among dog folks. But, I am more prone to your thinking. I think we will only have a problem if something excites Dante enough for him to lunge as he did yesterday and with his strength, that is precisely when he/I could get hurt, (I'm really more concerned about hurting him and turning him off to agility work).

I'm glad I wrote you right away so that I have a week to figure this out. I'm inclined to think that the Gentle Leader may be useful in correcting constant pulling on walks, but so is the prong. I do worry about a 75 pound lunging jerk on a neck. I'm leaning toward persuading my son to work with me this week on getting Dante used to the leader, just in case I have to use it. I think I will then talk to the instructor about what I think was going on in Dante's mind yesterday and of my concerns about injuring him. I can take the leader with me, but only use it if absolutely necessary. If trainer/dog teams work individually, I will choose not to use the leader. After next Sunday, my son will take charge again and hopefully, it will be a moot issue. I know I am a neophyte at all this, but my instinct says it isn't worth the risk of physical or psychological injury. And personally, I'd rather have something pinch my skin evenly around my neck than having my neck jerked to one side.

One other question, my son has used the word "OK" as his release word. He uses it for all situations, from releasing his dog from a "Wait" when crossing a busy street to releasing the brothers from their down-stay to resume their play. That is where the problem lay yesterday. Dante was just responding in a way that has been accepted in other situations. And because my son has worked hard on improving his drive, when he enthusiastically says, "OK," Dante responds just as enthusiastically. Would it make any sense to use a different word, like, perhaps, "Go" to direct him in his agility work or would it just further confuse the situation for him?

Thanks again,
Marilyn

Thanks, Cindy,

I'll pass this along to my son. I often catch myself using 'OK' too often in my conversation when the dog is under my care, not sure if my son does. I did encourage him to use a different word in the beginning, but he still chose 'OK'. I haven't seen any real evidence of confusion, though, probably because of the tone of voice we use when saying it as a command.

I do see value in using words in agility that are clear, e.g., your word, 'break'. In fact, I think one of the most important things I have learned from our time with the dogs is the need for clear signals and non-ambiguity.

Different from when I was raising my children and I was consciously building their vocabulary by using varying words. I have to really watch myself now.

It's especially tricky because they aren't my dogs and I have limited periods of time with them, but I have the "grandmother" role of caring for both my son's and my daughter's dogs when they can't. The two are being raised a bit differently and a few of their command words are different. I try to be consistent with what the owner does with their dog. Keeps me on my toes. (Good, I don't have 6 kids with dogs, huh?)

Incidentally, my son and I took Dante for his first, (and I guess last), walk on the Gentle Leader yesterday. After only a couple of blocks with Dante pawing at his face or rolling on a lawn attempting to get it off, my son pulled it off of him, announcing, 'He doesn't like it, I don't like it, we aren't going to use it.' So I guess that's that. Now, I have the unpleasant task of explaining this to the instructor on Sunday. Dante is his dog so he gets to call the shots. He's always been negative about using the gentle leader. He is comfortable with the prong collar however, and wants to purchase the electric one. I think what's clear is that he trusts what the Frawley's say more than he trusts anyone else. : )

Thanks again for your help,
Marilyn