I am constantly seeing people with choke chains on that are too small, attached to retracting leads, and on young puppies. One of my coworkers has told me stories of all the dogs that have come into the vet's office back when he worked there with collapsed trachea and other various injuries. Some people believe me that prong collars are much safer, retractables cannot be used like that, etc. and some do not. Occasionally I get someone asking me that since the prong collars can be worn to constrict if they tighten enough to cause damage, especially with younger puppies. To be safe, I will tell anyone with a puppy 8 mo. and under to only use the dead ring. I believe I read somewhere that the delicate bones and what not in the dogs throat were where the prong collar should fit. With some dogs and styles of the martingale collars even they seem to be able to tighten to almost and extreme looking amount {rendering my you are going to suffocate him doing that argument useless}.

So are you asking if a prong can damage the dogs neck if worn too tightly?

Any collar can be used incorrectly. I'm not apt to blame a collar, I am apt to blame the user.

I've seen a lot of dogs from a wide section of the spectrum. I have seen exactly two who actually have had a collapsed trachea, one from an embedded flat collar. It's a pretty rare condition compared to ACL tears, horrid patellas, and untreated infections.

Welcome to the boards Elizabeth.

What's a toggle choke?

Aaron, would you happen to know if this toggle choke would be better if say you had a dog that was ampted up from a prong collar?

I have issues when walking my dog in our neighborhood and all the other dogs behind fences around here. Nearly every yard has a fence with a dog behind it.
Anyhow, he goes berzerk when walked too close to those fences. I end up having to walk him in the street etc to avoid the proximity.

I have been trying to work with him.
But is this a case where the prong might be making him more worked up? I have noticed that my corrections don't seem to matter.
Sorry, didn't mean to steal the thread.

I honestly have no idea.

 Quote: Joyce Salazar

Aaron, would you happen to know if this toggle choke would be better if say you had a dog that was ampted up from a prong collar?

I have issues when walking my dog in our neighborhood and all the other dogs behind fences around here. Nearly every yard has a fence with a dog behind it.
Anyhow, he goes berzerk when walked too close to those fences. I end up having to walk him in the street etc to avoid the proximity.

I have been trying to work with him.
But is this a case where the prong might be making him more worked up? I have noticed that my corrections don't seem to matter.
Sorry, didn't mean to steal the thread.

Okay, maybe a bit off-topic and I'm not Aaron but I've experienced this, and found that my prong collar actually DID amp up my reactive dog. I use this harness instead for walking my dog now, and it's really helped.

It may not apply to your dog, but corrections under these circumstances make my dog's behaviour MUCH worse.

Back to the thread...

HI & thanks
Yeah, I've heard the biggest problem with chokes is that there is no restriction on the amount that they tighten which causes damage to the dog that Joe can't see by looking at it.
I was wondering since there isn't really any slack in a prong that's tight enough to stay under the jawline if it could tighten enough to cause damage.

Choke corrections mean nothing to my dogs. It is only every third house on my street that doesn't have a dog in a fence and only every 4th or more that doesn't have a dog. And I have had instances where (probably poor timing) a correction started a through the fence dog argument. So, an answer to that would still be of interest to me.

I read someone's post saying that a prong that was too loose could cause more damage than a properly fit one... how would that work? I've seen ppl with prongs that were so loose that the start links would touch if they tightened on the lead with still room between the chain and the dog.

And I know I'm rambling but this is a lot of thoughts on the "but can't that hurt the dog?" idea.

The way my first trainer taught me to use a chain collar was to make sure it was 3 inches larger that the dogs neck and pop it like you'd smack someone with a towel. The noise and the bite/release was what was supposed to be effective with the dog.

I must say that the first time I saw someone use a dominant dog collar I guess correctly I was o.O I cop had come into the store with his GSD on a choke chain and when the dog took a couple steps ahead of him to sniff something the cop stepped towards the dog and pulled up the lead lifting the dogs front feet a foot off the ground. He didn't set the dog back down until the dogs shoulders relaxed and I thought his eyes were going to come out of his head. I've since been told that's the "right" way to do it, but that seemed a little scary to me. It's not like the dog struggled or anything.

I have seen other people come in with their dogs and walking more like they were dowsing than anything. Their dogs usually have chokes so tight I have no idea how they got them over their dogs heads, and if the dog pulls them too hard they smack the dogs hips with the handle end of the leash. (I've always been told never to hit the dogs ESPECIALLY around the hip region; they could handle a smack to the ribs a lot safer supposedly) I'm a with a properly fit collar and a handful of treats I bet we could have your dog not dragging you around. And I get No, this is my in training/fully trained search and rescue dog.
Really? I've not done search and rescue before, but is that safe or normal?