home sweet home

Positives and Negatives of Dog Training Control Tools

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.

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.

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 encircle the neck and the face but don’t prohibit panting or prohibit drinking and eating and can give extra effectiveness in controlling behavior. The downside is they don’t assuage nipping if you are working on that problem. A conventional collar and lead or even a chest halter might be more desirable if nipping is not complication.

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.

Behavior modification equipment that discourages barking comes in several varieties, most notable noise and shock. Noise collars create an abbreviated, displeasing sound that diverts attention and tends to deter constant 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.

Every so often an attempt at a quick fix is inviting and may be constructive… until it becomes a stand-in for more useful (both to dog and dog trainer) long-term management. Making sure you have figured out how to keep your dog’s focus and compliance to training without inordinate amounts of dependence on control and restraint gear is preferred. The results are less frustration for dog handlers and happier and healthier dogs.

Learn how to pick the right Dog Bedding for your dog. Don’t let Puppy Potty Training become a prolonged or tedious experience.