I am teaching a beginning obedience class coming up and one my clients uses a harness because she says her Jack Russell has "pencil neck." I have not been able to find anything online about this and am unsure what to tell her. I have referred her to her vet to approve or disapprove a flat collar or prong collar. I am not sure how to train this dog using a harness..... Have you guys ever heard of this or had to deal with this?
Connie Sutherland Moderator Reg: 07-13-2005
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Quote: vanessa dibernar
I am teaching a beginning obedience class coming up and one my clients uses a harness because she says her Jack Russell has "pencil neck." I have not been able to find anything online about this and am unsure what to tell her. I have referred her to her vet to approve or disapprove a flat collar or prong collar. I am not sure how to train this dog using a harness..... Have you guys ever heard of this or had to deal with this?
Carol Boche Webboard User Reg: 10-30-2005
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I have only heard that term once and it was in regards to the dogs neck had no definition starting at the back of the head, so the dog would slip the collar everytime being that the head and neck were the same size.
Until The Tale of the Lioness is told, the Story will Always Glorfy the Hunter
Connie Sutherland Moderator Reg: 07-13-2005
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Loc: North-Central coast of California
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Well, I admit that I have run into a similar situation, with Pugs and other big-neck, small-head dogs whose necks were the same size as their heads, allowing them to slip a flat collar easily by backing out of it. (Heck, I saw one back out of the harness.)
However, I did not train the dog with the harness. Bob Scott convinced me (absolutely correctly) of the hopelessness of leash pops with a harness.
I did a combo of what Howard suggested: I used food (I almost always do anyway, in teaching phase). And I used the flat collar in a safely enclosed area to teach heeling.
Methinks the owner just doesn't want to put a collar on the dog because she loves it so much and doesn't want to "Hurt" him.
Howard
Aren't you gonna feel bad when it turns out that pencil-neck is a rare trachial-deformity disease, particularly devastating to JRTs??
Connie you are too funny! Just in case there is such a thing I Googled it. The only reference to JRTs and pencils was for portraits done with a pencil. There were references to pencil neck geek, but they weren't dogs.
I think it was a good move referring her to a vet. If for some reason the vet actually doesn't approve of a collar and she can't get an effective correction with a harness you could tell her that she and her dog would really be happier in some other type of training class. She may change her mind about collars if she sees everyone else using them without damaging their dogs and getting positive results.
Carol Boche Webboard User Reg: 10-30-2005
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The guy with this dog actually used a harness but ran the lead through the harness rings and then attached it to the flat collar or prong.
Seemed to work pretty good, since when you popped a correction off it went through the harness to the collar. The dog walked just fine in a harness after that.
Looked really funky, but it worked.
Until The Tale of the Lioness is told, the Story will Always Glorfy the Hunter
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