I have an 8 month old English Mastiff that weighs 155 pounds. He walks perfectly on a regular collar and leash. That is, until he sees another dog. There is nothing I can do to stop him. He almost broke my fingers two weeks ago and now I am hesitant to walk him. He is not aggressive at all and very submissive to other dogs he meets.... even my cat bosses him around. He is just so happy to meet other dogs. I can control him from dragging me to people, but if they have a dog, I absolutely can't stop him. He is really sensitive to corrections and is a little shy. Any opinions or help would be appreciated.

prong collar.

You should nip this in the bud at 155 lbs before he's at his adult weight and he'll be an uncontrollable pony. Just let him correct himself.

His father is 240 pounds and at 8 months old, he is not near his adult weight. Mastiffs continue growing for 18 months or more. That's why I posted the question. I can walk him with two fingers holding the leash.....until a dog appears.
I am going to get a prong collar and see how he does with it. I just am concerned about changing his disposition. He plays so gently with puppies and children, and myself. He just loves to "meet and greet".
Thanks for your reply!

I have a friendly dog that likes to "meet and greet" when appropriate, but it isn't always realistic as a possibility. For example, I would only be okay with it if the owner was somebody I knew and they had complete control of their dog. If a stranger with a large dog was being pulled in my direction for a "hello", I wouldn't be impressed and it wouldn't be a greeting I would allow.

I have also had the experience, when out walking an aggressive dog, that another dog has dragged it's handler over for a greeting. That's never good. The handler usually ushers a breathless "he's friendly" just prior to my dog taking a shot at the other dog's face. Not a pleasant experience.

Friendly or not, whether or not a dog gets to greet another dog should be up to BOTH handlers, not up to the dog. That's just good manners.

I do use a prong collar or an electric collar on my friendly dog and it hasn't effected his temperament at all. I especially like the electric collar for a big dog. My 95 pound dog can out-muscle me, I can't even imagine what it would be like at 150-240 pounds!

I recently spent a couple of days at camp with my dog off-leash, wearing his electric collar. He was running around with two other dogs and a small herd of children from teens to toddlers, and still paid attention to me when I called him back. The e-collar is a wonderful tool with a large dog, I like it even better than my prong collar. It offers more options to 'finesse' the correction levels and overall is a more flexible tool than a prong. I would start with a prong for more immediate control, but consider an e-collar at some point.

 Quote: kristel smart

I do use a prong collar or an electric collar on my friendly dog and it hasn't effected his temperament at all.

I have had the same experience. Ed describes the prong as "power steering" for dogs who don't walk easily on leash, and I've always found that description spot on - it's saved my butt from ending up on the sidewalk MANY times and Oscar is no worse for the wear. Like this mastiff, Oscar is the quintessential "gentle giant" most of the time while we're walking, but should cats, rabbits, occasional other dogs, or just random stimulation strike him, he can be QUITE a handful... the prong has made a monumental difference in control over our old flat and nylon choke collars...

 Quote: kristel smart

I recently spent a couple of days at camp with my dog off-leash, wearing his electric collar. He was running around with two other dogs and a small herd of children from teens to toddlers, and still paid attention to me when I called him back. The e-collar is a wonderful tool with a large dog, I like it even better than my prong collar. It offers more options to 'finesse' the correction levels and overall is a more flexible tool than a prong. I would start with a prong for more immediate control, but consider an e-collar at some point.

Just curious Kristel, I totally understand the superiority of the e-collar for off leash work and training reinforcement, but for ON leash walking, is it as successfully applicable? I would like to get one at some point, but at present, I don't know all of the artful details of this good training tool...

~Natalya

It's great on-leash, which I discovered almost by accident. I noticed that when Murphy encountered squirrels and dogs and other stimulating creatures while off-leash, he was quite easily called off with the e-collar, over time using less stimulation and now almost none. When on-leash, it became clear that part of what wound him up was the physical boundary of the leash.

He's physically on the hard side (though all soft and mushy on the inside), and occasionally it had come down to a battle of brute strength...not good. While I prefer mental control to physical any day, and operate this way primarily, there have been moments where that just wasn't an option. Unfortunately those moments can do a lot of damage. I tried keeping the leash loose on walks by using e-collar corrections instead of prong-collar corrections (in addition to tons of positive reinforcement and desensitization training), and low and behold it worked. There was some positive psychological effect for Murphy, for me to be able to correct him without putting any tension on the leash. It took emphasis off the restrictive aspect of the leash for him which helped him to relax. Once he could do that, the rest came a lot easier.

It was quite a breakthrough, since I had been struggling with some fairly serious and discouraging leash-reactiveness up to that point. I LOVE my e-collar (a Dogtra 1900NCP; want to try a 280NCP) because it wasn't just a corrective tool, but allowed me to communicate with my dog in a way we were both more comfortable with. It helped to balance out the small person/large dog dynamic by taking the physical-strength piece right out of the equation.

Wonderful description of your e-collar usage and experience, Kristel - thank you!
There's an ecollar in my future for sure... just not sure when. I'm sure when I DO get one I'll be full of questions for the board!

~Natalya

 Quote: Natalya Zahn

.... I totally understand the superiority of the e-collar for off leash work and training reinforcement, but for ON leash walking, is it as successfully applicable? I would like to get one at some point, but at present, I don't know all of the artful details of this good training tool... ~Natalya

I would strongly urge (for anyone!) getting and viewing this:
http://leerburg.com/318.htm

I'd get it before buying the e-collar itself, in fact.

Yup, I agree. I bought the DVD at the same time that I bought the collar, watched it about three times before ever using it, and I highly recommend it.