Hey everyone...quick question.

I thought I remember seeing where the prong collar should only be worn when training, maybe it was in Ed's Basic Obedience DVD but maybe my memory fails me (once again). My question is how long should this collar be worn? Right now, we are putting different collars on him at the same time so he is not collar trained but how long should we leave the prong on? Can it be worn for hours or should it only be on for training sessions (ie..15-30 min at a time)?

Thank you for your help!

How old is your puppy?

Are you using the prong for corrections or just trying to get him used to the prong collar?

OUr pup is a little over 5 months old.

I have used it to correct him, mainly when walking on a leash ("power steering for dogs") but also want him to get used to wearing it and not have him become collar wise.

I'm not sure what Ed recommends, but my trainer has no problems with leaving the collar on for long periods of time.

Personally, I feel that you want to have the collar on in situations where you will be correcting the dog AND in situations where you won't be correcting the dog (in the house or crate).

Being collar wise isn't always a terrible thing. My 15 month old GSD female, Roxy, loves it when I put her collar on because she suspects that we're going to work (we don't always, but she still gets excited). I guess if she were a soft dog, she might shy away from it. I also don't have any trouble with her thinking that she only has to obey when the collar is on. So, she's collar wise in the sense that she gets excited, thinking that we're going to work when I break out the collar.

I do have a friend who ran into problems with her e-collar on her 15 month old GSD female, who's a soft dog. The poor dog looks like she'd rather be dead then have the e-collar put on her neck. I believe that's because my friend would only put on the e-collar when she knew that she would need to use it.

So, I guess I'd say that there should be periods in the day when he has the collar on and your going to work. There should also be periods where you have the collar on and you're not going to work. Then, there should be periods where he doesn't have the collar on and you're working. I wouldn't worry too much about the specific length of time. If you leave it on for longer periods of time and there's no skin irritation, I don't see a problem. You don't really want to leave it on ALL day because you want him to get used to you taking off and putting on different collars.
You pretty much want no reaction to putting on or taking off any collar, though excitement when he sees the prong collar isn't a horrible reaction.

At this point, I would LOVE to have him not react when putting on ANY collar. I guess he is still a puppy and still doesn't know any better. We continue to be persistant about not biting the leash but I guess it doesn't happen overnight.

As far as the prong, that is a great idea and I will put that to use. Even if we aren't going to train, I will put it on him for a while here and there.

As long as you are around to supervise the dog can be wearing the collar.

Thanks David!

I think David answered your question right. The point of training collars is they should only be left on when you are around and have a chance to 'train'.

More importantly, since these collars can get caught on something, and injure/kill a panicked dog if they can't get loose, they are NOT a good idea to have left on a dog unsupervised.

Thanks David. I did leave out that important part--supervising the puppy when the collar is on, ESPECIALLY if you have him in the crate.

Sorry Jenn. I should have thanked you as well. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />