The Prong Collar, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I know some people cringe at the sight of a prong collar, it looks barbaric and cruel. The prong collar training gets a lot of attention from pure positive or force free dog trainers. These trainers believe that the prong collar is cruel and should be banned.

Are Prong Collars Cruel?

But are prong collars cruel? The prong collar controversy is real! But we all need to know the truth about prong collars before passing judgment.

You are most likely reading this because your dog pulls on the leash, is leash reactive or you can’t control your dog on leash, right?

The fact is, the prong collar, when fitted properly, is designed to be the most humane way to train and to NOT harm your dog. Many people have never seen a prong or pinch collar properly used in dog training. I personally never used a prong collar before being introduced to it a couple of years ago.

The prong collar, otherwise known as a pinch collar, has changed so many dog owners lives… just scroll down and read some of the comments from people that have tried the prong collar and are brave enough to share their experience with you.

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Don’t Judge the Book by It’s Cover or the Prong Collar in this Case!

Now before you pass judgment, please read on to learn more and then decide for yourself…

The training program we used 20 years ago used a choke collar, so that is what we were used to. I thought prong collars were for out-of-control vicious dogs! But, after attending a seminar with a balanced dog trainer and doing a lot of research, I realized what a great dog training tool the prong collar can be.

We now use the prong collar to train our own dogs and our foster dogs when needed. Some foster dogs come to us without any leash skills and in order for me to be able to walk them with my dogs, I need to quickly teach them how to walk on the leash without pulling, and a prong collar is a great tool for this.

The prong collar made the below photo possible… my 10-year-old daughter riding her bike with our 95lb yellow lab, Bear. When we first adopted Bear he had no leash manners at all. He pulled his previous owner down their porch steps! With the prong collar, we’ve been able to quickly train him not to pull on our walks.

Recommended just for you:

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>> Check the price of the Herm Sprenger collar >>

8 Things You Need to Know About the Prong Collar and Your Dog

The Good

1. Don’t judge the book by its cover! The prong collar may not be a pretty, and it defiantly gets a bad rap among some people and pure positive dog trainers. But the prong collar is a great training tool to communicate with your dog. It is designed to NOT hurt your dog. The prong collar puts universal pressure around the entire dog’s neck, kind of like a mother dog does with her puppies. It does NOT damage the trachea when properly used.
2. The prong collar can be a life-saving tool. The prong collar may have its pros and cons, but there are so many dog owners that do not take their dogs for walks because their dog pulls, lunges or is leash reactive. And when a dog doesn’t get walked on a regular basis, it can create bad behaviors at home… such as chewing, barking and jumping. These bad behaviors can spin out of control if not corrected immediately, so then the dog owner gets fed up and decides they can’t deal with it anymore. So they take the dog to a shelter, and is that the dog’s fault? I don’t think so!
3. The collar must be fitted properly around your dog’s neck. It should fit snug but not too tight and sit right below the ears. The higher on the neck you can keep the collar, the better communication you will have with your dog. This can be a challenge, as the collar does seem to slip down the neck if not snug around his neck. There are many videos available from trainers showing how to fit the prong collar, here is a great one from SolidK9Training. Proper prong collar fitting is essential, so make sure to watch this video!