What Is The Best Dog Training Collar?

There is quite a bit of controversy when it comes to choosing the best collar for dog training. In my opinion, there really is no one-size-fits-all collar. When training a dog, one must use a professional dog trainer’s help to understand their dog’s personality and lifestyle, especially when it comes to behavior problems.

A skilled trainer should be able to train your dog even with a flat collar or a harness. In fact, these are the main two types of equipments I use for dog training in Orange if the physical condition of the dog and handler is a good match for the use of these equipments.

Training your dog must be based on trust and respect for the handler, not for an object. A dog must know why they are getting corrected each time and learn the correct behavior when they are put in the same situation later on. This way, you can apply corrections to reinforce the desired behavior. Start using your training collars on and off to condition your dog to respond without them for the future. After all your collars are only a training tool and your ultimate goal is to have a trained dog at some point that responds without the training collars.

Prong Collar:

The use of prong collars and E-Collar are not suitable for dogs with fear and anxiety problems. This method of training can actually worsen the situation and intensify the behavior problem.Some dogs are very sensitive and need very little corrections – anything more than that can cause more damage than good. Prong collar can be beneficial to some dogs and help both the dog and handler in some cases so please consults with a trainer and determine if the use of prong collars are suitable for your dog.

Bark Collar:

On the opposite end of the spectrum, bark collars are a very lazy way of training your dog. For people who don’t know, bark collars are E-collars that activate when the dog barks. They sense the vocal cord vibration and send stimulationto the dog every time he or she makes a noise. Teaching a dog the quiet command is a good way to stop barking.

Barking is a natural way of dog communication. They should not fear using their natural ability, but they must know when, where, and how much they can bark. For example, if you have a child that sneaks into the cookie jar, the solution is not to handcuff them, but instead to teach them limitations and boundaries.

Gentle Leader:

This training collar is not as humane as advertised by the manufacturer. In my opinion, snapping a lead as hard as you can is much more humane when compared to this training tool. Gentle leaders are mainly created to stop dogs from pulling and are not a good training tool for obedience training. Although people seem to be satisfied with this head halter, they fail to understand how this device actually works.

Imagine a 75-pound lab pulling on a gentle leader. Every time that dog hits the end of the line, that 75 pounds of pure power makes his head spin all the way back towards the handler. The gentle leader puts all of your dog’s body weight on your dogs neck and nose – a power that you can’t produce even if you snap your dog’s leash as hard as you can. Don’t let that gentle halter fool you into thinking that this training tool is safe for your dog. There is no way of avoiding damage to your dog’s neck when you are putting that much pressure on it. Now you know why they work on occasion – they hurt your dog like crazy!

E-Collar:

The fact that E-collars can be used by dog owners with no background in dog training is terrifying to me. E-collars send stimulations to the dog for not behaving as desired. Training dogs with E-collars can be suitable for some dogs specially when the handler is not capable of correcting their dog any other way due to lack of physical power or in case of disability also some dogs can benefit from use of E-collars due to trauma to the neck or spine, suffering from tracheal problems or after having a hip surgery or similar situations where a dog’s body cannot be manipulated in different positions too much. E-collars also can be useful in off-leash training.

Where people mostly make a mistake Is when they buy this collar to only apply corrections without redirection meaning that they do not follow through with teaching their dogs what is the desirable behavior instead. These collars like anything else can be harmful if you do not have the knowledge of using them properly so please consult with a trainer to find out if this is a good option for you and your dog.

Dogs already have a special way of communicating. Let’s take the time and learn more about their unique language to improve communication with our four-legged babies!

Heaven Sent K-9 Dog Training uses dog body language and dog psychology when training dogs in Orange County. We respect the nature of each dog and constantly try to learn more from these amazing animals.