I just wanted an opinion about Gentle Leaders. Do any of you use them during walks and training? Can they be as effective as a prong collar?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Baton

I know people who love them BUT seems more to prevent pulling and to guide the dog, more than 'training'. They do NOT give a correction, just give you control of the head and where the head goes, so does the body.

http://www.cobankopegi.com/prong.html is a good link explaining a bunch of different collar options. Down at the bottom it talks about the Gentle Leader.

Thanks Jenn
I looked at that site. Wow, dogs neck could be damaged if he would run fast and suddenly being stoped with a Gentle Leader! I have to keep that in mind and be careful. Our instructor asked us to buy Gentle Leaders for the puppies as she prefers them a lot. They really do seem to stop the pulling when walking.

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I just wanted an opinion about Gentle Leaders. Do any of you use them during walks and training? Can they be as effective as a prong collar?

My personal answer is no...and no.

Aside from the safety issues, it's just not natural.
Halters are for herd animals (eyes on the side of the head, body follows with the head).
Collars are for dogs (eyes face front, body does not necessarily follow the head).

Sorry, it just freaks me out to see a cannivore in a halter!
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

 Quote:

I just wanted an opinion about Gentle Leaders. Do any of you use them during walks and training? Can they be as effective as a prong collar?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Baton

No... all they are is a preventative. They won't help your dog to learn what it is that he's doing that's wrong.

My experience was with a Halti-same concept. What I found is
that it prevented injury to my tender shoulder, but the dog
became animal aggressive, feeling at a disadvantage being
tethered that way. 3 pounds of pressure on my shoulder was
better than 30# tugs, but at what cost? It looks like a muzzle, so add that to barking bravado, and what chance at
socialization one might get walking in public quickly disappeared. Then more OB training to overcome both the
lack of a good heel and the agitation at other dogs was required than should have been. So in my opinion, it's a band-aid that only helps the boo-boo fester! Better to work
on a solid heel from the start.
A 6 ' lead is plenty to loop around chest, and so one can,
without tugging or correcting, use this loop to gather dog
closer, keep it closer, and eventually be walking in correct
heel position more often than not. I went to a standard
choke, but then to a pinch, and after 2 corrections, wondered why I waited so long to try one. That was with the dominant male with the Halti induced animal aggression. With
a very submissive female, the site of a pinch shuts her down, so a flat collar, looping the lead if too excited, and
lots of praise to keep her attention has worked well.

Just my $.02, your mileage may vary!

Jenn,
Great link for a site that put some thought and effort into researching the "what colllar to use" question - Thanks! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I think all the collars/ tools have their place. I'm not against using flat, choke, martingale, gentle leader, prong, ecollar, etc. They all have their purpose. And I do use them all. A lot of the times you have to consider the handler/ dog combination. They mostly serve the purpose of negative reinforcement

Gentle leaders are for the most part safe and easy to use. A lot of times they are used as "the lazy man's collar" because there's not much skill needed when handling your dog on one of them. They can be used when dealing with aggression to have more directional control with the head.

I believe when you're exclusive to one collar, you potentially miss out on a lot.

There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. And you can misuse the gentle leader just as you can misuse a prong, ecollar, etc.. Some dog's hate the GL the same way they would hate the other collars.

If the collar is easy for you, and you like it, then use it. If you find you like something else better, then use that. It all depends on what your goal in dog training is.

Head collars, like body harnesses, do not allow you to teach the dog anything, except for "When I'm wearing this thing on my head or around my middle, certain things happen, but when it's off, those things don't happen." With head collars, dogs are far more likely to become collar wise because a head collar is nothing like anything else. Training collars fit around the neck, just like a regular flat buckle collar, so there's less of a chance of the dog becoming collarwise to something that fits around his neck like his everyday collar. Of course, if you just put something on right before training and take it off again after training, that creates a collarwise dog as well, but with head collars, dogs very quickly learn that if they aren't wearing it, they can get away with things.

You cannot correct a dog with a head collar or body harness, and some dogs learn to brace against the head collar and pull anyway. My opinion is to use a training collar to train your dog, and then wean him off of it instead of relying on a restraint device for the rest of his life.

if you think a lot of dogs cannot easily discrimate the collars they wear you are not giving dogs enough credit.

Why can you not correct a dog on a gentle leader? I can.

Head collars and harnesses are completely different. Harnesses do not create discomfort. On the contrary they provide comfort. Tension on head halters provide discomfort.

The potential levels of discomfort on each training collar are different.

That's why I say it's part of the tool box not THE tool box. Sometimes, I might go through different phases with collars too. So just because a dog starts off with one collar, does not mean they end up with the same one.

Not everyone is a dog trainer or desires to have the ultimate trained dog. Some people just want to have a well behaved dog they can live with and take to places without having to have much skill in training technique. Head halters can provide that.

Some dogs respond great to it and some dogs don't respond so great. It all depends on the dog and handler and what their temperament, motivation, and goals are.