Oh, and a rolled collar (leather or nylon) will help with the fur damage (since you can't leave a prong collar on a dog). That "ring around the neck" bothers me, too.

All good advice. I've only kept the choke collar on him because one, I never ever needed it with him and two because I don't like relying on a regular collar for control in the event of some emergency. I've had too many collars come off other dogs. That being said, things have been changing with him lately. Not only has his drive increased tremendously but he has acquired much more attitude. I do like to have some kind of collar on that will establish immediate control, without slipping off, on the dog at all times. I knew I couldn't do this with a prong. So...nylon collars eh? I'll have to check them out.

Okay, we have nylon slip collars, hemp collars and leather choke collars, which do you guys recommend for the best control over the dog when not training w/a prong?

In my opinion, neither of those collars will control your dog nor help you with his pulling. Either use a prong collar to work on his pulling, or get a flat collar. I'm guessing your dog will not respond to the flat collar either.

Choke collars are meant to choke dogs. To administer a correction with that collar you have to pull up your dog so that his 2 front legs are raised above the ground. This is not the collar you want to use to correct a dog for pulling.

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I've had too many collars come off other dogs.

If you're going to use a prong collar, you need to get a dominant dog collar. A DDC and a choke collar are used for the same purpose, but in this case you'll be using it for safety in case the prong comes off. If you watch closely my signature picture, my dog has his prong way up high in his neck and the DDC hanging loose. So far the prong has come off only once. I never use a prong collar without the DDC.

The prong collar is not a collar you will leave on the dog. It is meant to be used when you go out to train your dog. In your case, every time you go out on a walk. When he gets home, you can remove the prong and leave the DDC on. This collar can also be used on quick walks, and is much better than a metal choke. I use it to take my dog out to pee and come back up (I live in an apt). In these situations, the DDC will be put very high in the dog's neck, kind of the same way handlers use their collars on conformation shows.

Another option is to use a flat collar. I'm sure that after you work with your dog with the prong, you won't always need it on walks. You can teach Levi a 'slow' command when you use the prong at first so that when you walk him with a flat collar, you can get him to slow down and not drag you around.

Both these articles are useful:

http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/fitprong.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/theoryofcorrections.pdf

Hope this helps.