I alternate the collars (choke,prong,flat) I use on my GSDs so they never get used to just one collar. In the evening, via a tether line, I put one dog on my open front porch. Crime is up in my area and I like for passing motorists to see that any effort on their part to break into my house is more or less of a big roll of the dice on their part.

I put a prong collar on one of my GSDs and took her for a three mile run, during which she required one moderate correction. When I got home, I petted her up for being such a good running partner, disconnected the 5' leash I find perfect for running, and clipped the tether line to her prong collar.

This particular GSD is usually quiet when she is out on "deterrent duty." I was surprised during dinner when she alerted, and then even more surprised when she alerted to the point I believed she was about to be engaged by another dog or a human. I quickly went to the front door, opened it, and was aghast to see my GSD gone, and the prong collar open like a clam and sitting in the middle of the porch with the tether line attached. My mind went 1000 directions until my GSD came running out from the neighbor's shrubs. So what happened? I ruled out a person undoing her prong collar. Makes no sense. A thief would simply unsnap her tether. Somehow, and I have no idea how, my GSD was able to contort her body in such a way as to pop off the prong collar. I inspected the prong collar and it looks absolutely fine. It is not the more expensive Herm Springer? brand. It was a less expensive brand that cost about $5 less. Still, I really liked using this collar for training. It worked and I enjoyed having it in the mix. I might be able to use it again for training when I am always present, but from now on, when my dogs are on deterrent dury I use their agitation collar, backed up by their choke collar. Has anyone else had this type of experience with a prong collar?

 Quote: thomas sonnier

Crime is up in my area and I like for passing motorists to see that any effort on their part to break into my house is more or less of a big roll of the dice on their part.

That's one way to look at it.

The other way to look at it is that it alerts the potential thieves that they should leave poisoned goodies in your yard ahead of time to remove your dog from the equation.
A defense that is unknown to potential bad guys is much more effective than one that is known and can be planned for ahead of time.

Just a thought.....

If there are no noticable defects in your prong collar, chances are that you attached the prong collar incorrectly around your dog's neck which caused it to come loose under load. Ed demonstrates an example of this exact situation in his "Basic Dog Obedience" DVD. He recommends always backing up a prong collar with a dominant dog collar for this very reason.

I wouldn't use this experience as a reason to give up on prong collars. Just back it up with a dominant dog collar as recommended and you should no longer have any issues.

Good luck!

Yeah Thomas,
I'd bet everyone who has used a pinch collar any lenght of time has had one come apart when the dog gets agitated and bouncing around.
What you probably won't find is many, if any, who use the collar on a tie out. It's a bad idea, period.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

 Quote: randy allen

What you probably won't find is many, if any, who use the collar on a tie out. It's a bad idea, period. ...

I agree a million percent.

I've had my pinch collar come off on a couple of occassions so I always use a back up choke collar or dominant dog collar and clip them together in case it happens. I'll tell you the back up collar has saved me a couple times when out on a walk, I've had my dogs stop to scratch their neck and it will come off. I really dont think it matters what brand it is though the herm springers are definitely really good quality but I believe they would still come apart.

 Quote: kurt smith

If there are no noticable defects in your prong collar, chances are that you attached the prong collar incorrectly around your dog's neck which caused it to come loose under load. Ed demonstrates an example of this exact situation in his "Basic Dog Obedience" DVD. He recommends always backing up a prong collar with a dominant dog collar for this very reason.

Yup. I saw this on his prong collar video here on the site just the other day. If it's loose, it has a better chance of coming off.

It doesn't take any kind of contortions. One day I was walking my dog on a loose leash when the prong collar just fell off. I have had it come apart and fall off twice in 2 years. I've examined it closely each time and darned if I can figure out exactly what happened. But once I did end up widening the prongs so it would be harder to fall apart.

I have a properly fit, stainless steel Herm. Sprenger prong (NOT quick release) and it has popped off at an inopportune time. I always back it up with a DD collar. Always.

I would also like to reiterate that I would never, ever, ever (+infinity) tie a dog on a prong or choke collar. Ever.

I agree with Will re: potential criminals: The element of surprise is a safer option (for the dog). It is often rather entertaining as well.

Any dog can chew through the tether in about 2 seconds, doesn't matter what kind of collar,lol