Hey,

My almost 6 mo old pup has a bad habbit of chasing cars headlights at night, now my question is, is it to early to introduce the prong collar to him to solve this problem, BEFORE he gets killed. I have moved to a 6 ft lead now on night walks as opposed to a Flexi, which he almost got killed with. Due to my stupidity of course for letting him all the way out on the lead.

I have tried correction on a flat collar, no help, distraction as in being more exciting then the car, treats and such, still the car is better. What do you think?

You are not the first person to do this with a flexi....

One option you might consider is picking a different walking route. I know this sounds like a pain, but I drive to either downtown and park to walk, or park at the hospital and walk in the residential area next to it. Less traffic=more freedom for your puppy and people tend to drive a bit slower too so you have time to reel in your dog when you see a car approaching. Just make sure you clean up after your dog if you have any business on your route or you will quickly become unliked by the community.

If that is not an option you can see my other post about the possibility of the way you are administering corrections. I really cant say for sure, but I think that may be part of the issue. If it is, you will have the same problem with the prong collar that you are having now if you don't correct the dog properly.

I really like the LEAVE IT command, I use it as a catch all for stuff like this. Car chasing, dog aggression, you name it.... pretty soon the dog learns if I don't LEAVE IT I am going to get a correction from heck. Being that I have a car nut I understand where you are coming from. If you truly are not keeping the leash tight and can't get a correction with a flat or rolled collar then a prong my really be necessary, but as I said in another post there is no one dog training formula that works on ALL dogs.

My pup is 9 months and the only time I use a prong is when I am walking both dogs in downtown. It is more of a precaution than anything as you can just as easily screw your dog up with a prong as you can with any other training tool if you are not using it correctly and appropriately.

We all make mistakes, I know I have made my share and I am not done yet.....

Thanks! I am glad to know this is a problem for others, well not glad but relieved I'm not the only one. I have no idea where you other post might be, how can you tell?

I think I am correcting right, as last night I tried the prong on him, he seemed to know something was up because he walked next to me the whole time with a loose leash, however at the end of our walk "usually when he gets frisky" he did bolt for a car and got a good "Pop" that seemed to be right in the ouch zone, he gave a shock yelp and turned to look at me, at which time I praised like I had no idea what happened and told him what a good boy he was. He did not even look crosseyed at the next few cars.

I just can't seem to get that kind of correction on a flat collar, he ignores it. He is a pretty hard puppy, not much phases him, and he forgives right away with a kind word and a smile. Which is good for a begining trainer like myself!

We will see tonight how much he remembered. But please point me to your other post, I would like to read it.

Under your Need Advice from Panel post in the puppy training thread

OK, you posted while I was typing this. It sounds like your pup got a good self correction, and remembered the lesson. Maybe that's all it will take. Good luck.

Quick question, is there a certain age you shoud start using a prong collar on a puppy?

you shouldnt need to use a prong on such a young puppy. you wouldnt use a prong on a 6 month old baby would you?
if you cant provide an effective correction with a flat collar on such a small young baby puppy then you will require some training yourself on how to properly handle a leash with baby dogs. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

it is recommended that only positive training methods should be administered to small little puppy dogs. what's this dog weigh about 30 lbs?
this little dog may already be frightened of you for hurting his skinny little pencil neck with the force that you said you applied.
you have indicated you have been effective using positive reinforcement training, what has changed your mind to start pulling the crap out of your tiny playful puppy? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
give the dog a chance, dont over correct by treating the puppy like he is hard, how hard can a baby puppy really be? im sure he is soft as butter left out on the table over night. just takes some learning on your part or some sets in the gym to work the spaghetti arms to properly handle the pencil neck. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
this is all just MHO <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> , take it easy on him the poor little puppy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

This is from Ed's article on prong collars in the "Equipment" section of the Leerburg site.

"I also get asked if a prong collar is appropriate for puppies. The answer is very simple. If properly used, a prong is one of the most human and effect training tools there is. Can is be abused, absolutely. Any training tool can be abused. If you want to learn how to train with a prong collar get my training video titled Basic Dog Obedience (you can read about it on my web site)

When a prong collar is used in training, the handler must first realize that a dog that required a level 8 correction before will now, with na prong, probably require a level 1 or level 2 correction. What this means is that a strong dog that was almost to much for a small person to handle is now easily controllable without a lot of effort. If you are a new Schutzhund trainer or a police service dog handler, you are going to need a prong collar.

The first people I usually recommend for the prong collars have 3 to 4 month old pups that pull them down the street when they take them for a walk. These dogs need a prong. There is no correction needed from the handler when a prong is worn during walks. Thepup (or dog) gives itself a correction when he hits the end of the leash.

When this happens, the handler is there to soothe the shock with praise if the pup yelps. Within one training session every dog is going to be walking slowly by his handler, there is no longer any pulling. In addition the handler is not the bad guy in this work. How could he be? He is soothing and praising the dog after it YELPED from a self induced correction when it hits the end of the leash?"

i was just kiddin about in previous post. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> i have also used the prong on pup. only thing is, yes less correction to get wanted result now but later it will take a much stronger correction as dog grows. he will get sort of used to the prong.

Hey DOBE,

I was wondering about that last post... not like you, however your opion is what I wanted and I got it! I won't comment on it further.

Thanks J,
That was helpful for sure! It almost looks like he wrote that about my walk! hahahha

Thanks everyone for your help!