My dog is a 7 month old akita puppy. I always have a leash on him unless he is crated. But, he is always by my side. He goes to work with me every day, to class with me, etc. The only time he is not right in the same room with me is when I am taking a shower. Then he is gated in the kitchen. I leave the leash on him so that I can grab it quickly if necessary. We will soon move to the tab, but not just yet.

I am weaning him off of wearing the prong all day...I have a couple of flat collars and a rolled leather collar that he wears too. I have been leaving his prong off most of the time unless we are on a walk or he is testing me. The little sores have gone away.

I know that he is young for the prong, but he sprained my wrist so badly in a flat collar that I could not use my left hand at all. I got mad and bought a prong for him. We work on our obedience training every day and have since I got him as a baby (in a flat collar). But with the flat collar, he would decide to ignore me or jerk me around from the end of the leash. At that time he was 4 months old and 40 pounds. So, when he spranged my wrist trying to chase a cat, I decided to get a prong.

Thank you all for the replies.

I think you have gotten an answer. Don't leave in on all the time. Rotate a few different types of collars like Ed said.

You might want to avoid the prong alltogether until those nasty sores are gone. This thread is closed.