To want to throw choke chain owning people in the gallows..

[Spanky100]

Makes me so angry

why the hell did i google terrier work?

not sure how i feel about choke chains. ive never seen one used so can't know if it is cruel or not.

I would say that someone who puts her dogs underground to fight foxes is scum, yes.

There is supposed to be but i've witnessed the 'correct' way and thats pretty macabre and i've witnessed the 'incorrect' way and that is also pretty shocking.

Particularly when i saw my neighbour use one her 12 week old puppy and yanked it so hard it reared up.

Spanky - quick question.... do Martingale collars come under this description?

Are they half checks?
I'm not keen on those either but at least they don't go as far...

I think all collars are quite cruel. It can't be nice being pulled or restrained by the neck. Don't know why people don't use harnesses. Have never heard of electric collars, they sound awful!

We use a half choke chain with our Shiba. When he is walking normally it is the same as a normal collar but when he pulls it does choke him but only to an acceptable level.

We also close the choke when getting him in or out of the car - whilst we attach his extender lead - otherwise he'd slip his collar and would be off.

We also have a harness for him but for general walks - he has long ones in the countryside twice a day - the half choke works well.

In the fields he can run to the length of his extension (15 metres) but on the footpath he has to settle or the choke kicks in.

No martingale collars are all fabric and quite wide, so as not to damage the neck, they are designed for sighthounds whose heads are as narrow as the neck and thus can back out of a buckle collar if they get spooked.

Martingales, unlike half check and choke chains aren't reccomended to use a training aid.

This is a martingale

I believe they were designed as sighthounds have bigger circumference necks than their heads.

What's your take on them?

Ahhhh! Dooin! You know your sighthounds I believe. They are ok then? Phew.

Butkin why not train you dog adequately NOT to run off so you don't throttle him?

Aaah i see.
I'm not familiar with them but if they are designed to stop the dog escaping, don't hurt the dog and not meant to be used as a punishment or 'training aid' like the chokes and half checks i'm okay with them.

I have a Whippet, but she is my first one. I'm still learning. I don't use a martigale as she walks really well and recalls well. My sister's Lurcher has one as he gets spooked by puddles and busses (big wussy dog), it is adjusted so that it simply tightens, it does not choke him.

I'm so relieved - I bought one as a "present" for a sighthound I was looking after as she only had a 1/2" thick leather collar. Next to her neck, it looked like a cheesewire, and strangled her if it was tight enough to stop her shaking herself loose (Obviously I didn't have it that tight)

Spooked by puddles - lol!

Halti's are great, no difference really between that and a headcollar on a horse. Our dog is very strong and when we first got her (as a rescue dog so had bad habits already)she was very difficult to walk on a lead, the halti meant I could take her out without getting pulled around too much. Now we have had her for longer she can walk nicely on a slip lead but often pulls a lot, even after lots of training.
Not that keen on choke chains but when I was a teenager I used to work at a boarding kennels. I was young and small and sometimes a choke chain was useful in getting the dogs to and from their kennels because they were untrained and totally spoiled and would drag me over otherwise. A couple of checks was all it needed to stop them.

I don't like choke chaisn and slip leads should only be used on dogs that are already trained to walk on a loose lead. If they are used on a dog that pulls they can actually do as much, if not more damage than a choke chain. AFAIK, most good trainers recommend using a norma, flat collar, nothing else.

The only thing that will make a dog walk to heel/on a loose lead is training.

Fitted correctly and used correctly to supplement proper loose-lead/heelwork training, there's not a thing wrong with a choke, half-choke or prong collar.

I see as many haltis being used wrongly and dangerously as I do choke chains (including the absolute knobhead using one with a flexi lead, so the dog was straining ahead with the headcollar up in its eye and periodically socking itself in the head and having its neck yanked round when it hit the end of the lead).

In fact, I would ban flexi leads long before I banned choke collars.

I also see a great deal of people being hauled around by dogs on harnesses - I put harnesses on my huskies when I want them to pull strongly and efficiently, for working purposes - why it occurs to anyone that a harness will stop a dog from pulling is beyond me...

Anyway, rant over. Use whatever tools you want, but train your damn dog to walk on a slack lead.

used properly, choke chains are very effective and actually kinder than having a dog constantly pulling on an ordinary collar. The problem is that people don't use them properly and they can be quite difficult to keep at the right angle etc. I used to have a training collar on my rottie - huge 50kg dog so pretty well trained, but the training collar was brilliant, it was basically a strong cloth collar with a bit of chain at the end, which would allow the coller to tighten quickly with a jerk, but not get tighter and tighter and no chain in contact with dogs neck, very easy to use and worked really well.

I don't actually like halti collars, i think they make the dogs walk with their necks turned and worry that tis may cause muscluar problems long term. Also, i know someone who's dog has a ridge across his nose where he wears it, he seems quite happy though.

I don't understand why they are neccessary? Why ios it neccessary to physical force or restraint or pain to train a dog?

I am no dog trainer, but I have learnt a hell of a lot with The Devil Dog who has to be the most stubborn and willful dog I have ever come accross. He is also strikingly intelligent. He knows full well what I want him to do, he just doesn't give a shit

I managed to train him to walk on a loose lead relatively quickly without using choke chains, prong collars, head collars, physical force etc. And boy did he know how to pull when we first got him .

i quite like the idea of an electric collar [ducks] Seriously, that has got to be better than a choke which used wrongly can cause significant damage and that constant pulling on an ordinary collar. So an electric collar which delivers a SMALL electric shock, no more than the static you might get from the TV just to distract dog from what its doing etc seems like a good idea to me. Of course positive training is what you really want, but my little dog is MENTAL, and thinks he is a husky, i was a bit lazy about his training but because he is knee high to a grass hopper its not so bad. I have a harness because that way he doesn't pull my neck.

One good way, but you look like a weirdo is to keep a dog on a lead where they are just taking up the slack, if they pull quickly losen off the slack and turn round and walk the other way, this way the dog kind of falls over itself almost as it would have been "leaning" on the lead if pulling, that works really well. That or just stopping every time the dog pulls, they soon learn that pulling isn't going to get them anywhere - must listen to my own advice sometimes.

My dog is a terrier and i think electric collars are a halfway good idea, does that make me scum then?

doesn't pull HIS neck!!

If food or toys will not distract him surely a quick squirt from a water gun is better?(although in no way ideal) than causing physical pain?

I don't understand why anyone would want to force their dog to work for them by use of pain or physical force.