Re: [PyrNet-L] dog collars

[Adrienne Wilder <draggon@STC.Net>]

> Hi Ken, It's kathy.....We use a sturdy nylon choke collar.....they are
> very effective without being punishing.....there seems to be a raging
> debate concerning the pinch collar.  Some trainers feel that it can
> tend to make a dog more aggressive because it feels similar to a dog
> biting the back of the neck of the dog wearing the pinch collar.

As with training methods, collars must be fitted to each dog's 
personality.  Pinch collars *do* have theri place.  They are not torture 
weapons and they can be a *heck* of alot safer to the in experienced 
trainer, then regular choke collars, nylon or chain.
Reason being is that *very* little weight has to be place on the pinch 
collar for it to correct, and that correction is distributed around the 
circumfrence of the neck.  The traditional choke collars focus all the 
correction on the trachea, which can and does casue long term damage.
People tend to look at a pinch collar and think that those prongs are 
supposed to be dug into the neck of the dog.  Reason being is that they 
are used to working (incorrectly) with the traditional choke collar and 
they have the idea of using the same force on a pinch collar as applied 
to a choke.
Flat nylon collars are fine for training, if you know how to correct and 
if you have an easy dog.  You can actually cause damage to the vertebrea 
with a flat collar becasue it does not "give" in the correction.  The 
amount of correction one has to use with a flat collar is also 
signifigantly more then that of a pinch or even a choke.
	
	I have used everything from pinch collars, to flat collar, to no 
collars at all.  I will not swear to one method or the other because 
that would be foolish.  No two dogs are alike so no two traing tools or 
methods should be alike.
	
	


-- 


Adrienne Wilder  
Murrayville GA

"Oh, to be loved by a dog!"

Home of:
The golden gang,
Patou and the evil sister geese.
and many stray cats.