I don't have a dog yet, I do hope to have a German shepherd at some point (hopefully from Leerburg!), but I do have some experience working with dogs, most notably an oversized, dominant, somewhat aggressive beagle. The beag belongs to my fiance's family, or should I say the family belongs to the dog :P He barks for EVERYthing, and of course the family gives in, justifying it as "oh he needs a walk" or "he's hungry, better feed him!" Despite my warnings that this is only worsening the problem, they give in. Consequently, he is extremely overweight (he gets people food by the barrel, and oftentimes by him snatching food from his owners' hands!) and a major brat. He is allowed on all furniture and bedrooms and sleeps on the bed, even on the pillow. Yep, he will growl if you get close and has snapped. I witness one snapping where I told them to get the dog off the couch, but they gave in... model Dominant Dog here. He also gets walked on a flexi with a buckle collar... I walked him a couple times when we'd go visit, and I decided enough was enough. He wasn't my dog, but by golly if I was going to be dealing with him now and then well things would have to change! The last walk on his flexi and buckle, he pulled so hard he choked and coughed the whole way. THAT was cruel. The next day, went to Petsmart to pick up a prong collar (we'll be buying the quick-release one that Leerburg sells to replace this one) where the dog trainer promptly called me a dog abuser. Another story for another day. My fiance and I also bought him a six foot lead. Finally! Real walking/training tools!

I put on the leash and collar.. unbeknownst to the dog his days of unruly behavior were numbered! As soon as I saw him getting ready to pull, I started to warn him with "sloooooow" and when he hit the end I went with him to ease the impact, but boy did he protest! I think he tried one more time just to be sure but after that he walked quite politely. And no choking! Seems to me that letting him choke and suffer on his buckle collar was a lot more inhumane than the prong. Also by utilizing basic ground work, body language, and my constant perusal of the articles on this website, I've been able to control this dog and turn it into a model citizen... only when I'm around. It all gets unwound when I leave <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Unfortunately, he doesn't get walked on the prong by the family since the links are too difficult for them to open which is why we'll be buying them the quick-release collar. But I would have to say that prongs truly are power steering for dogs, but they are also lots more humane than letting the dog choke itself from pulling on a buckle collar.