We took my 6 month old pup to his new trainer last night. The other one was just too far away. Here's the routine he is having us follow. Initially, our puppy has to either be in his crate or on a puppy pinch collar and leash held by us at all times. If he does something wrong, we have to give him a quick pop, call him to us, have him sit, and then praise him. Eventually, this will go to a chain collar and then a flat collar. He will also have total freedom eventually. We also get 3 more private lessons. I know a few people who have gone here, and the program does work. He comes highly recommended. I just can't seem to shake the guilt of the pinch collar. He was originally VERY skittish and it took a long time to get him over that. I would hate to undo that progress. I put it on my arm and pulled, and it really doesn't hurt. It's just a pinch for a split second. We just can't seem to get him over the intense pulling on walks, jumping and plowing people over, and biting when excited or reprimanded. Not to mention the constant counter surfing! Has anyone else used these collars?
Should I warn him before I correct?

If you go on the main website there is a huge amount of information available on pinch collars.

I have used prongs in my training and still do.

Do check out the prong collar link on the website, it will give you a lot of info on using them.

I do give my dogs a warning before I "pop" the collar, depending on the situation. That way they learn that "enough" means enough or there will be a correction to follow. So now that they are older more often than not, "enough" stops the behavior without a leash even in my hand. (But that comes with training too)

Kelly, there's nothing wrong with using a prong collar, but I don't think you'll find too many supporters here for that trainer's methods.

And if your pup is skittish, this will not help the pup's confidence or the bond that you are trying to create.

What type of training have you done with him (your pup) so far?

A 6 month old pup needs to have his environment managed. The idea of tethering to you is a good one, but you could do this with a flat collar. If he does something 'wrong', you can say 'No', and redirect him with his leash.
It is unfair to give a pup a prong correction for a behavior that he doesn't know is wrong. Jumping and mouthing are normal puppy behaviors, and there are better ways to train him not to do those things than a prong collar correction.

If you start another thread and about specific training tips for problems that you are having, you should get some help.

Do you know about marker training?

We have gone to 2 other trainers. The first I don't really count. It was at PetSmart and was more for socialization. The trainer there was wonderful and gave us some helpful tips. Our second trainer was very food motivated. She taught us the basic sit, down, stand, stay, & gave us exercises to practice "leave it" and "drop it". My dog does these things wonderfully when he knows he's doing them for food. Otherwise, forget it. I have tried every time of collar and leash out there for his pulling and NOTHING helps. I've tried stopping and waiting until he calms down. As soon as we move again, he is pulling like a lunatic. I've tried giving him treats when he is walking nicely, but right after he eats them, he takes off again. It's to the point that I am physically having a very hard time walking him. He also plows people over when they come in my house. Some visitors have stopped coming. We have him on leash and make him sit, but his excitement gets the best of him and he jumps. He also goes from excitement to growling and biting within seconds. He's already bit my dd's cousin and jumped up and tried to bite her friend. It's not a vicious, breaking the skin attack, but it's not a puppy nip either. He will wrap his paws around their leg and jump up and try to bite. We just don't know what else to do right now. I do however, truly believe that if you teach a dog by inflicting pain, that dog will have no problem inflicting pain on you one day. I guess I'm just not sure if the pinch collar is inflicting pain. I think that this is pretty much standard training at this facility for any hard to control dog.

What kind of dog is it, and how much and specifically what kind of exercise is he getting?

Wow…you have a few problems going on. I am not that experienced but…you have pack issues, obedience issues, puppy issues and owner issues.

1. What do you mean by skittish? Like scared of people, things, what?

2. Is puppy crate trained?

3. Do you know what pack structure is?

4. Why do you allow this counter surfing, biting company business?

5. Your going to a compulsion (correction) based trainer, right? No food\toy rewards mentioned by the trainers? Just corrections with a prong?? How does this “trainer” teach an exercise?

Prongs have their time and place, but, I am not sure you are in that place at this point. Maybe for the walking problems but that really depends.

Others will be of more help but they will need more information from you.

Do you know about these free e-books?

http://leerburg.com/dogtrainingebooks.htm

and these:
http://leerburg.com/dvd.htm

We're not quite sure what Toby is, but we're guessing Beagle/Shepard with maybe a bit of Australian Shepard and Corgi thrown in. He used to be very skittish of noises, other dogs, the car, and some people. I worked very hard to get him over these things. He will sometimes still seem nervous and growl at someone on our walks and also sometimes at other dogs, but is way better than he was before. He currently sleeps in his crate at night and goes in when we are not home. I do know about pack structure and would really like to establish it!! We do make him sit before meals, playing, treats, going out or in, etc... and have done so since we brought him home. He is also not allowed on the furniture. I usually have a leash on him at all times, but I don't always hold onto it. I have pretty much taken everything off of my tables, but he will walk around and get ahold of anything he can. He then either destroys it or runs away, chews on it, and won't give it back. He will sometimes play wonderfully with my dd and her friends, but occasionally out of the blue, he will "attack". We now keep him on leash all of the time when someone is over. I hate doing this because he is a puppy and wants to play and the kids want to play with him, but I can't allow for someone to intentionally or unintentionally get hurt. Last night was our first class, and he pretty much walked with Toby. Every time Toby pulled, he would correct him with the collar. Toby looked terrified initially and didn't move from his side. That's why I feel horrible. He did loosen up towards the end a bit. However, no, the trainer uses no treats. He will pet and say "Good Boy" when he walks nicely. He said that there is really no problem that cannot be fixed by the pinch correction.

Kelly, I am disable, so when my Ace started to pull on walks it hurt me all over. I did not mind once I gave him a command of "where is he at" looking for the bad guy. anyway I fix the pulling with a prong collar, I use several collars at once, Ace did not know which collar was at work. He was very nice on walks after that. No pinch collar Thou for me. Dan

I've been looking over some of the free e-books. I've only glanced so far. How would you use the marker training for correction? For example, jumping on guests, pulling on the walk. Whenever he walks next to me nice, I always tell him, "Good, walking nice" and give him a treat. But then, he's instantly pulling again. If I say "Walk nice", he will usually slow down and look at me until he gets a treat (only for so long though). Also, how would that help the biting? I think it's great for reinforcing the good behavior, but what about the bad? Again, I haven't read the whole article yet - if it tells me in there, I will get to it.