I agree Mike that a dog should listen. That is why I always use collars and multiple so he doesn't associate any behavior with any collar. I do some training off collar but try to make it where he will succeed not fail and if so hope a verbal correction is enough. If not you start to lose groung. What do you do when you have a loose dog with no collar and he breaks a command? You give him a no or Phoie and he does not obey. Then you are going backwards to me in training.

Sitting here laughing plenty at the end of your post mike. Your boy and my bhoy must be mentally linked (or just mental).

Gets up to the Same things but very smart dog nonetheless.

I also do not think a collar is that important in correction. Sometimes we just have to get off our asses and make sure our bhoys know we're gonna be consistent. A good scruff is as effective as a prong collar any day of the week (for my bhoy anyways).

J

My dogs have a collar on all the time. We had a Husky who could slip out of the smallest opening when we opened the door, so even though neither of my older dogs have showed this inclination, I don't let them go without a collar. The only time Aussie ever went without a collar was when we went to the dog park (I know most here don't like them, but he had a group of buds he played with and that was it for dog on dog interaction, and we haven't gone since finding leerburg, for varying reasons). But I took it off upon entering--I didn't like it getting wet when he went in the lake, for one, and I didn't want to take a chance of it getting caught by another dog while he was playing. It did mean that if he didn't mind a command he got a good scruffing, which he doesn't usually get, but it made an impact, so it worked out.

All three of our dogs wear their collars with ID and rabies tags 24/7. If you take it off of them they will follow you around and nose and paw you until you put it back on them. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> It`s like they feel naked without them. When we first got Einstein and had two young dogs wrestling Elvis broke 8 collars in 7 days because Einstein would grab onto his collar. The plastic buckle collars break under pressure no problem. Scaring dog owners is what makes money for these people.

We got Elvis a leather buckle collar and they can`t break that. They have never got caught on anything. During last summer the dogs were sitting in our car while we picked up dry cleaning. The front windows were rolled down because of the heat and Morris jumped out. He`d never done that before. Within 5 minutes Morris was picked up by somebody. They called the phone # on the tags and got directions to our house from my brother. They took him home and William called us to let us know that he was home. If it wasn`t for his tags he would have been taken to the Humane Society and the one near there is known for not being real good about holding dogs for the required time before killing them.
In my opinion anybody who doesn`t keep ID on their pets 24/7 no matter what the chances of the dog getting out is just being reckless. And if you think everybody knows what to do with a tatoo(unless it`s your phone#) you`re plain wrong.

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During last summer the dogs were sitting in our car while we picked up dry cleaning. The front windows were rolled down because of the heat and Morris jumped out. He`d never done that before. Within 5 minutes Morris was picked up by somebody. They called the phone # on the tags and got directions to our house from my brother. They took him home and William called us to let us know that he was home. If it wasn`t for his tags he would have been taken to the Humane Society and the one near there is known for not being real good about holding dogs for the required time before killing them.
In my opinion anybody who doesn`t keep ID on their pets 24/7 no matter what the chances of the dog getting out is just being reckless. And if you think everybody knows what to do with a tatoo(unless it`s your phone#) you`re plain wrong.

Would not have said anything had you not judged those who leave their dogs at home uncollared as reckless.

Got me to thinking about what is and is not reckless.

Leaving an unrestrained dog is a car with an open window seems a bit more reckless than leaving a dog in your home uncollared.

I never drive with my dogs uncrated. My crates are anchored as well. Dogs have collars when we go anywhere away from the house or out the front door (not in the fenced backyard, but I don't leave them in the yard unsupervised for any length of time and have a hot wire on the top of the fence.)

They do not wear collars in the house.

I have had dogs as an adult since 1979. Last time I had a dog get loose and out of my control was in 1985 - and I had him back in 10 minutes.

My dogs are out offlead (collared) a whole lot since we do SAR.

Dogs get out. It happens. My point is that if your dog gets out with ID tags they can be returned quicker than dogs without tags. And I have no say in the window issue with Toni(my mom I`m 16). I think she`s going to come out of a store to see Morris hit by a car some day. That day we didn`t even realize that window wasn`t rolled up until we came back to find Morris missing. Humans make mistakes and things just happen. Besides, leaving a collar on your dog is not that hard. I said no matter what the chances of getting out because a lot of people think that a fence alone is going to hold a dog. I probaly should have stopped to think about the kind of people on this board. The people who have their dogs crated or under constant supervision maybe won`t have a problem but it still is there if somthing happens and the dog gets out. An uncollared dog is treated as a stray. A collar tells people that this is somebody`s pet. I`m writing this at 2am so it may not make much sense but I wanted to reply before I went to bed. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

If you really want to know how "obedient" your dog is, and what s/he *knows*, live with the dog without a collar for a day or two. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

If one finds they need to give their dogs collar corrections multiple times a day, the dog may not be trained to the level you think it is.

One's home and yard should be a relatively low-distraction, familiar environment over time. Yes, there will be squirrels and people and cars passing by. If a collarless dog is not under your voice control *at home*, there are definitely holes in the dog's training.

As for the collar-wise thing... My dogs wear collars when outside of my home (unless they are crated in the car). No exceptions. That's the way life is. Doesn't make them disobedient at home when the collars come off.

If a dog is in the backyard barking and I say "come" and a dog doesn't turn up within two seconds, I've got a training issue. Doesn't happen often, but it's useful information if it does. Even if it had a collar on, the dog wouldn't be within reach for a timely enough correction, so what would that get me?

Seriously, those who keep collars on 24/7 to be able to constantly correct a dog, try naked for a day. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> How DO you control a dog without the ability to correct it? Makes for a creative, and IMO thorough, trainer.

T

My dogs wear flat collars with tags on all the time. I never have any problems with collar lines, matts, or anything like that.

Sammy, but aren't your dogs short-haired?

My dogs wear collars, not for correction or any other reason except for tags with my name/address and "reward if found" on them - "just in case". I don't put their rabies tags on because I hate the "jingle jangle" of tags - so just the name tag is it, and some have the plastic microchip tag on as well. I use rolled leather and narrow flat-leather collars, some have narrow flat-nylon light-weight collars. No fur savers as they are dangerous (choke collars) to be left on, and ruin the hair-coat around the neck (break the hair off and leave a ring of no outercoat). No heavy flat nylon which also ruins the hair coat.

Molly