Nov 15 2009

Dog Management – Good and Bad of Control Devices

Occasionally the difference between training management and restraint/control is too quickly confused. Using commands and hand signals, with leads or food rewards, to entice desired action is training management and often uses positive reinforcement techniques. Using choke or ‘no-barking’ collars, electronic enclosures and comparable devices is for effective restraint/control and often uses negative reinforcement.

Control isn’t of necessity harmful. Dogs instinctively have the need for and gravitate to the continuity of a community in which someone is the ‘alpha wolf’ and in a dog and a human relationship the human has to take that job. To allow the dog to establish himself as the alpha dog means property destruction, potentially threatening conditions for other dogs and humans, human dissatisfaction and a maladjusted dog.

Choke collars were developed to lend a hand in securing restraint. Dogs, exactly like humans, can be very different from each other in make up. Some are by personality more assertive or perhaps slower to get the picture. For ones that don’t perform constructively to a regular leather or nylon collar, a metal correction collar can provide an additional hindrance to lurching ahead and jumping up types of behavior.

The immediate negative is that when correcting collars are used inappropriately – as is all too possible – they can give you results you didn’t want and also be potentially unhealthy. Choke collars fit only one way and when correctly fitted should make allowance for a one to three fingers distance between the neck and the collar; three fingers for bigger dogs, one finger for smaller. By and large a collar two inches longer than the circumference of the neck will be ok.

Used crudely, though, choke collars can pinch the skin – resulting in lesions that scratching will make worse. They can also by mistake pinch the trachea. A fast yank-and-release does no damage; however by its construction it does cause discomfort. But for dogs that try to defy the tether this technique can be difficult to be successful with. Ordinarily, it is not recommended, chiefly for smaller dogs.

Prong collars are less menacing than they look, but – in this trainer’s view – have almost no positive properties. The only positive aspect of the construction is their restricted diameter – they can only choke down so far. Nevertheless, an animal with such a determined predisposition to pull that prongs don’t give him a second thought requires more than a quick fix consisting of choking and poking. That type of critter needs dedicated attention and behavior modification management.

Halter collars, which envelop the neck and the muzzle, but don’t stop panting or prohibit drinking and eating can give further constraint. The drawback is they don’t inhibit biting if that’s an issue. If biting is not a problem an everyday tether and collar, or maybe a chest halter might be preferable.

For assistance with those dogs that carry on in barking long after the purpose of barking is gone, consider an electronic No-barking collar. Barking is an ordinary and natural response to possible menacing events and is also used to signal distress and gain attention when one becomes isolated from the communal pack. But, for reasons we don’t completely understand, some animals bark continuously or at the drop of a hat.

Electronic collars that prohibit barking come in two forms: noise stimulus and shock stimulus. Noise collars generate a brief, unpleasant sound that distracts and tends to discourage continual barking.

Shock collars initiate a minor but startling electric shock that can be repetitive and persistent during prolonged or obsessive barking sessions. Fair and balanced investigations of their effect draw mixed conclusions, on the other hand. As with prong collars, any dog who is a candidate for one would also profit from an attentive, professional trainer.

At times the perceived quickest route to solving a problem seems attractive and doable… until they become an overused alternative to more appropriate (both to trainer and dog) long-term training. Putting in the time to comprehend how to gain your dog’s undivided attention and compliance without inordinate amounts of reliance on control equipment is definitely the better way to go. The results are happier dog handlers and more stable dogs.

Learn to select the correct Dog Bedding for your dog. Don’t allow Puppy Potty Training become a prolonged or tedious affair. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.