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.

Constraint and the use of control devices isn’t unavoidably a negative factor. Dogs naturally have and look for a community hierarchy in which someone is the boss and in any human-dog pair the person has to take that position. Sometimes control tools are called for to establish that hierarchy. If not established, the result will be property destruction, potentially unhealthy state of affairs for other animals and humans, human disappointment and an erratic dog.

Correction collars were developed to give a hand in gaining the ability to manage. Dogs, like humans, are individuals. Some are by nature more assertive or slower to be trained. For ones that don’t react positively to a typical leather or nylon collar, a metal choke collar can provide for extra discouragement from tugging and jumping up.

The potential drawback is that choke collars, when used clumsily – all too simple to do – can give you results you didn’t want and also be dangerous. Choke collars fit only one way and when suitably fitted should make allowance for a one to three fingers space between the neck and the collar – three for larger dogs, one for smaller. Ordinarily a collar two inches longer than the measurement around the neck will suffice.

If used poorly, correction collars can rub the skin – producing irritated areas that your dog will likely scratch and make worse. These collars can also accidentally depress the windpipe. An instantaneous pull-and-release does no harm, however. Its intention is to generate unpleasant pressure. But for dogs that aggressively challenge the lead this action is probably not enough. Generally, overuse of this type of collar is not approved of, notably for smaller dogs.

Prong collars are less hazardous than they appear, but have almost no positive characteristics -in this trainer’s opinion. The only good aspect of the structure is their limited diameter – they can only clinch down so far. Nonetheless, a critter with such a strong-willed tendency to pull that prongs do not deter him cries out for a re-thinking of his whole training regime. That animal requires persistent training and behavior modification manipulation.

Halter collars, which encircle the neck and the snout, but don’t hamper panting or impair drinking, can give further restraint. The downside is they don’t assuage biting if that’s a problem. If biting is not a concern an ordinary leash and collar, or perhaps a chest halter might be preferred.

‘No-bark’ collars can at various times work successfully with those animals that insist on barking long after the initial reason to bark is gone. Barking is a straightforward response to potential danger and is also used to draw attention when one becomes distant from the pack community. But, for reasons not well perceived, some dogs continue barking for indefinite periods of time or at the most insignificant provocation.

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 generate a quick but discomforting electronic shock that can be sustained during lengthy or recurring barking. Evenhanded and objective experimentation to discover their effectiveness divulge mixed conclusions – they work with some dogs and not others. On the other hand, as with prong collars, any dog in need of one would profit if, in addition, he had precise, professional training using behavior modification methods.

Now and then quick fixes are appealing and worthwhile… until they become replacements for more constructive (both to trainer and dog) long-term management. Making the effort to understand how to access your dog’s focused attention and cooperativeness without disproportionate reliance on control equipment is better. The usual effect is happier trainers and more well adjusted dogs.

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