Question:
Yet another thing that bothers me is that Oscar wears a choke collar when I walk him. I can't stand it! He has never been taught to walk properly so he pulls A LOT and if he sees a squirrel, forget it. I don't like the fact when I am walking him, he pulls and I can hear him straining. Poor boy. When we are walking and he starts pulling hard, I simply stop and he stops with me. I praise him and he tends to pull less. I follow this procedure when I am walking him and it does help.

I can tell Oscar has not had any training. And considering he is a Bully breed, it is very important for him.


Answer:
I hate choke collars. Even for a dog that doesn't normally pull, all they have to do is try to run at a bird and they are gasping for air. For bigger and stronger dogs the choke chains that are mostly material but slightly tighten when the dog pulls are much better.


Answer:
Get a Halti. They are amazing. I use one on my shepherd. She would drag me around otherwise, but with her Halti she can pull if she wants, but the her face gets all mushed up so she stops. And even if she does try and give the leash a huge yank, it's just her head pulling, which is much less strong then here whole neck and chest.


Answer:
Kate, I can suggest it to my neighbours (it is their dog). There has to be a better solution than a choke collar.


Answer:
My shepherd always pulled off her Halti. She hated it and every time that we put it on her she would pull at it until it came off.


Answer:
I am not opposed to choke collars when used properly. My dog was trained on a choke collar and we have never had to worry about him hurting himself with it. When trained properly, choke collars are not meant to choke.

Taz was a really hyper puppy and with frequent corrections on his collar (gentle pressure on his neck), he learned what was acceptable and not. Choke collars should be used in conjunction with voice commands. For example, if Taz were to get distracted, I would pull slightly on the chain, and use the command "Look here". If he did not look, I would turn the other way to get his attention. Eventually, he understood the "Look here" command to the point that no correction was needed. If he started walking too fast, I would give a small correction with the chain and say "Slow down". If he didn't slow down, I would stop completely (which meant there was more pressure on the chain) and he would also stop. Again, he now understands the voice command without having a correction. However, a choke collar should never be tight for more than a millisecond. It is used to make quick corrections, not for constant pressure. Further, dogs need to be trained NOT to become distracted by birds, squirrels, etc. when on lead. Once the human sees a distraction approaching, the "Look here" command should be used and then the dog needs to be praised once the distraction is avoided.

Denise, if you want to attempt to train Oscar, I would be willing to help. It is not good for him (or you) to be pulling all of the time...especially being such a big dog. It takes a fair bit of work but I'm sure that you will make some progress in the short time that you are spending with him. Food incentives can also be used if you are still having difficulty with him walking.

Also, be very careful with Haltis. They can be a useful training tool, but again, there are risks. Dogs that pull excessively can develop neck injuries.


Answer:
We had a halti when we had our golden retreiver. He always managed to get it off. Of course he was harder to handle since he got sick at a young age and he couldn't be around other dogs until he was 6 months old and huge, so that was the main reason he would pull like crazy when he saw another dog.


Answer:
I have nixed the choke collar, period. Too much chance of harming the throat--either injuring the trachea or injuring the skin where the two parts meet. My guys wear martingales, not so much because I have problems with leash walking, but because if something freaked them (read: Taffy) out, they could slip a buckle collar.

You can try the Halti or Gentle Leader--I used it successfully with Aussie--or you can try a prong collar. They're not as evil as they look--actually, they're safer than choke collars. I've used them successfully as well. I can imagine a pit--he is a pit, right?--is perfectly capable of ignoring a choke chain correction (if a Husky can do it, a bully dog can do it). A prong collar gives a correction that's stronger--or, for the more stubborn dogs, noticable. Start out by attaching the leash so it will not tighten and see if that works, and combine it with treats when he walks nicely for a few minutes.


Answer:
Thanks for all the suggestions. Next time I see Oscar's mum, I will suggest another type of collar for him.


Answer:
I recommend the Promise collar... I have walked an untrained St. Bernard and can control him with little effort. I wouldn't worry too much about the neck injuries.. we use Promise collars everyday at the shelter (and most of those dogs aren't leash trained) and have never seen a dog get injured in this way. We also use choke collars as well.. I agree with Candice, if used properly they are fine. I absolutely HATE prong collars!