Hello,
I saw that with electric collars you're supposed to put them on for a week before you start using them so that the dog doesn't associate the shock with the collar and misbehave as soon as you take it off.
Is this the same with the prong collar? I am currently training my 1 year old male German Shepherd for 4-H obedience and showmanship, and I will not be able to use the prong collar in the ring. I want him to eventually behave respectfully without the collar.

You can switch it up between all collars & in the beginning they do not realize it....but honestly, eventually the dogs figure it out. The smarter the dog the sooner they do.

But no matter what you use...they are all TRAINING TOOLS & then crutches. The ideal goal is to eventually not need to use any of them.

You can also go back periodically training using the 'other' collars to 'clean up' problems as you need to.

When they say to put the e-collar on the dog for about a week they mean 24 hours day, if it's possible. Since it's only a flat collar with a box attached, you have to keep an eye on it if the dog is playing in the woods or in his kennel, but the risk is low for strangling.

Prong collars are extremely dangerous to keep on unless you're actively using them. Not only does the collar work by tightening around the dogs head, effectively making it impossible for him to slip it off if he's caught and therefore strangling or hanging himself, the prongs can cause serious, medical attention required injury to the neck if the dog gets caught and fights to get away.

I've been putting a prong collar on for a day or two, attached the leash to the flat collar, and let the dog feel the prongs against his skin. After that, I attach it to both the dead and active rings and start teaching what a correction is and what I want the dog to do when he feels it. When I use this method I've consistently had dogs actually excited for the prong because it meant we were going to do something fun.

In the past I've abused it and I've had prong shy dogs. That mostly happened because I slapped it on and started yanking without taking the time to teach the dog 1) what he should be doing before the correction and 2) what his reaction should be after he feels it.

^^^^^^^^

Prong posts to go on billboards! (Posts I wish I had made.)




Welcome, Anna,

You might want to post a little intro here:
http://leerburg.com/webboard/topiclist.php?forum_id=146

Okay....I should never assume anything when posting here.....

To my way of thinking by putting the collars on for a week..... that was rotating the collars throughout the day with supervision...not just placed & left on the dog for a week.

Thanks for mentioning that Samantha.

 Quote: Anne Jones

Okay....I should never assume anything when posting here.....

To my way of thinking by putting the collars on for a week..... that was rotating the collars throughout the day with supervision...not just placed & left on the dog for a week.

Thanks for mentioning that Samantha.

And you'd be correct Anne. You don't put the ecollar on for 24hrs a day and just leave it for a week.

 Quote: Anna Hutzky

Hello,
I saw that with electric collars you're supposed to put them on for a week before you start using them so that the dog doesn't associate the shock with the collar and misbehave as soon as you take it off.
Is this the same with the prong collar? I am currently training my 1 year old male German Shepherd for 4-H obedience and showmanship, and I will not be able to use the prong collar in the ring. I want him to eventually behave respectfully without the collar.

What you'll find as you go along Anna, its how well you clearly define to your dog whats correct and whats not correct. The tool isnt everything. The best obedience my dog has are his retrieves. That didnt involve an ecollar or a prong, only witholding his reward and clearly showing him how to get it.

He also clearly knows "Leave it" That was the ecollar.

 Quote: steve strom

 Quote: Anne Jones

Okay....I should never assume anything when posting here.....

To my way of thinking by putting the collars on for a week..... that was rotating the collars throughout the day with supervision...not just placed & left on the dog for a week.

Thanks for mentioning that Samantha.

And you'd be correct Anne. You don't put the ecollar on for 24hrs a day and just leave it for a week.

Oh, good catch, you guys.

We've had at least two threads on here about folks who actually did do this (leave e-collar on for 24/7) and pretty seriously inflamed (one even infected) the dog's neck.

As Ed says (QUOTE):

Question:

Will the collar irritate my dogs neck?

Ed's Answer:

When a collar is properly fit and not left on too long it will not damage the dog's skin.

If a collar is too loose it can move on the neck and cause a skin irritation.

Remote collars are not meant to be left on the dog for 24 hours at a time. When they are left on too long they can cause skin irritation. END QUOTE

And back to the prong collar:

 Quote: steve strom

 Quote: Anna Hutzky

Hello,
I saw that with electric collars you're supposed to put them on for a week before you start using them so that the dog doesn't associate the shock with the collar and misbehave as soon as you take it off.
Is this the same with the prong collar? I am currently training my 1 year old male German Shepherd for 4-H obedience and showmanship, and I will not be able to use the prong collar in the ring. I want him to eventually behave respectfully without the collar.

What you'll find as you go along Anna, its how well you clearly define to your dog whats correct and whats not correct. The tool isnt everything. The best obedience my dog has are his retrieves. That didnt involve an ecollar or a prong, only witholding his reward and clearly showing him how to get it.

He also clearly knows "Leave it" That was the ecollar.

 Quote: steve strom

 Quote: Anne Jones

Okay....I should never assume anything when posting here.....

To my way of thinking by putting the collars on for a week..... that was rotating the collars throughout the day with supervision...not just placed & left on the dog for a week.

Thanks for mentioning that Samantha.

And you'd be correct Anne. You don't put the ecollar on for 24hrs a day and just leave it for a week.

I leave the collar on as long as I can and just leave it loose so that the contact prongs can slide around in the hair. When we are actively together, the collar is tightened up little bit little. When I got my first bark collar years ago I didn't know a damn thing and ended up with two holes in my dog's neck that thankfully didn't become infected. He wore it 24/7 up tight against his jaw.

Then again, I rarely use the e-collar!