Quote: Angela Burrell

...my previous dog's neck was damaged by a choke chain, so I understand your concern...

Sorry to get a little OT for a minute, but Angela, can you describe what type of damage was done to your previous dog's neck, by using a choke collar? What were the symptoms?

We used a nylon choke on Oscar for WAAAAY too long before getting a prong (I can bang my head against the wall for days on that, or I can just learn from it and never make the same mistake ...) but in the last few months he's been having some really mysterious neck pains, like a pinched nerve almost, that aren't really consistent, not very often, but every once in a while he'll lift his head the wrong way and let out a little squeal... been checked out by the vet, blood work & TB disease tests done (all fine), all she could find was a pain on manipulation of one side of his neck. We haven't done x-rays yet, but I'm beginning to wonder if a few years of really yanking on his neck have done damage...

Our next visit is the neurologist, I'm just not exactly excited about going on another vet-spensive goose chase after this spring's round of canine orthopedic surgeon musical chairs (to diagnose the phantom CCL injury)...

Many thanks,
~Natalya

My first boxer had a similar neck issue. The vets never pinpointed what was going on, but every once in awhile, it was, like you said Natalya, he had a pinched nerve. He'd yipe when he moved his head the wrong way, or if you were rubbing his neck.

He was my first dog, and unfortunately, he wore a choke chain for quite awhile before I got smart and began using a pinch/prong collar. I firmly believe the choke collar screwed his neck up.

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

My first boxer had a similar neck issue. The vets never pinpointed what was going on, but every once in awhile, it was, like you said Natalya, he had a pinched nerve. He'd yipe when he moved his head the wrong way, or if you were rubbing his neck.

He was my first dog, and unfortunately, he wore a choke chain for quite awhile before I got smart and began using a pinch/prong collar. I firmly believe the choke collar screwed his neck up.

Thanks Alyssa,

Did you ever do any neck/spinal x-rays on your boxer, so that you could see if the vertebrae were actually screwed up? I'm guessing he still lived a long, happy life and that the issue didn't cause any more serious issues as he aged?

Boy will my NEXT dog benefit from all the mistakes I've made with Oscar!

~Natalya

Buster lived a long, happy life. He finally developed cancer- common in his breed (and I didn't help by feeding him a crap kibble, with BHA/BHT in it, because I didn't know better)- at the ripe age of 9, and about 8 months after his diagnosis, you could tell he was having pain and difficulty upon getting up from his dog bed, and making it down the stairs. Given his age, and his already terminal diagnosis, we decided to have him put to sleep.

A neck x-ray done during his cancer diagnosis revealed "minor degeneration" of his vertebrae, which the vet never really explained, but at the time, it wasn't the main focus.

 Quote: Sandy Moore

Herm Sprenger is the brand that Leerburg sells, link given above by Carol. Well worth getting. The quick release is good for people who have a hard time squeezing the prongs.

The only problem with the quick release is it doesn't have the 'live' action as a regular prong so the correction is not as effective. Maybe thats Ok with a softer dog who respects the collar. But my opinion is the quick release is a compromise.

I've seen other prongs that utilize a snap hook on the chain that when open allows the prong to open up enough to slip over the dogs head, but when snapped shut still has the live action of a properly fitted prong.

First know that ALL HS collars are guaranteed for life. This includes the chrome. This is a little known fact. Secondly, if your not the returning type, they sell replacement and additional links for the collars.
For the reason you stated, I ONLY use the prong along with a dominant dog collar sold here. Its important that both the collars be properly fitted to they pull simultaneously and not bind one another.
I train dogs for a living and some days I use my collars on 6-8 dogs. For a truly fail safe prong, I go the extra step and buy Stainless Steel HS prongs. They are expensive, but IMO, the hardest correction will not pry or bend the tangs of the collar and they are cheaper than loosing or hurting a customers dog.

When fitting these collars, Bigger is better, If your guessing. The way I determine the proper size is by feeling the dogs vertebrae. The Ideal collar will be as wide as two vert, and not lay into the crevice between disks. If its in between a large and EX large, I always side on bigger. I want to pinch not dig into and I feel the more surface mass the collars takes, the better.