This is just a venting post, my hands are tied here unfortunately. This poor dog, a friend of mine was babysitting last week and asked me for help...ugh...SERIOUS ISSUES.

She's a pit hound mix of some kind. The owners are gone almost all the time, rarely walk her...she chews up everything in the house, isn't housebroken VERY bad on leash and very fearful of people and animals.

My friend was afraid to walk her (even not knowing about her issues) and so I went to help. She showed me a head collar of some kind that when she pulls was supposed to tighten down on her muzzle and close her mouth. I decided not to use the contraption and properly fitted her with a prong collar...FYI, I have babysat the dog before myself and worked with her then and corrected the issues she had at the time.

Anyhow, we went on a walk and she walked nice but was nervous of people and all I needed to do was redirect her when she saw them. Then all the sudden a guy came out of his house with an aggressive border collie lunging and barking. She alerted and instead of using the prong collar at that moment I turned her around with my hands, not wanting to trigger her aggression. Well that backfired, she redirected her aggression to ME, jumping up, trying to bite me and then turning to the collie who was still acting up, the guy was yelling at it by then. I looped the handle end of the leash around her neck and tried to turn her around and get her behind a car out of sight and then was hoping to be able to calm her.

She redirected at me again, jumping up trying to bite my arms, I just lifted up, staying calm and she tried and tried again, so I held her up saying NO calm and firmly, she really flipped out then biting the hell out of the leash, growling and flailing around. I just held steady and she then pulled as hard as she could backwards and by then all I was doing was holding it (pressure all on the loop end NOT on the prong, don't worry I know better). She finally choked HERSELF out by pulling backwards so hard. I immediately checked to see if the noose end was loose and not cutting off her air further, it was slack. She sat there a bit dazed for a second and I immediately got her walking next to me again and took her back to my friend's house.

Anyhow, I tried my absolute best to convince them they need to place her ASAP to be rehabilitated and re-homed by a rescue. They don't have time or know how to deal with this dog. I just hate not being able to do anything about it, its in their hands. It seemed to me this dog had been mishandled with the head collar making her react that badly.

Like I said I had worked with her last summer and she did great around other dogs and everything on a prong with a little discipline she was fine. I showed them how to follow through and they obviously didn't and now what they have created is very bad. I am heartbroken for her, she was such a sweet dog, just high energy and a bit nervous, needed exercise and leadership, that simple. She is so very willing to please, she would make the PERFECT obedience dog for somebody or even a good pet for an active family (well maybe not now).

She is also OBESE now, getting very wide and I can tell her hips are bad...they also didn't have the hernia fixed on her abdomen.

Well, that's a bummer .

Hope she's spayed. Probably not as most folks would have fixed the hernia at that time.

Yeah she is spayed, they adopted her from the pound. So at least she won't have puppies. So sad she would make a great pet, such a sweet intelligent dog, just mishandled so badly. She is actually very willing to please.

Yikes. She should have a choke chain on with the prong in case of these situations. Is there a way to get her exercise that for the time being will not expose other dogs or people to her until she is on a schedule? Does she have a fenced in yard or long tie out that someone can play fetch with her or a spring pole or something? Has she been to the vet?

The head collar may not actually be that bad of a management tool for this. Certainly actually training the dog would be the ideal but I've seen some trainers use a head collar on a reactive dog effectively.

It's frustrating to see a dog you worked with revert or get worse. Especially when the owners don't care how great a dog they could have with just a little work.

Joan she was wearing a nylon slip collar as backup. I used the loop end of the leash because I had a feeling not to get close enough and unhook the prong, plus risk of her lunging when I did it. Sadly this dog lives in an apartment with people who are almost never there and rarely gets to go on a walk. They need to place her to be rehabilitated with a rescue ASAP IMO. If I had her, there are all kinds of things I could do for her, but I can't have another dog here, can't afford one and don't have the extra time, otherwise I would foster her.

Cathy, they can work from some dogs but the problem here is with the owner just slapping it on and using it to fight her on the leash.

Sad to see there are so many cases like that out there. We have one brewing in our neighborhood also that I won't waste your time over just now. My heart goes out to all those dogs that end up with such clueless, lazy, or just plain mean owners. Wish there was a good solution. Sorry you had to witness it.