One "Jerk"

Mudd Puppies Self Serve Dog Wash, LLC
I know I've talked about this before, but it always bares repeating. A friend just shared an excellent article/blog with me about the dangers of choke collars. Here are a few things to help keep this in perspective.

It's been determined that dogs feel pain about the same way people do. The difference is dogs are still predatory enough that it is preferable to mask or hide pain. If a predator shows pain or weakness they then become prey, so it is better to hide that pain from potential predators. Stories are often told about dogs who have some trauma and the people didn't know about it until it had escalated to a serious problem. This is why.

With that in mind, I've seen a lot of trainers and sales people downplay the harm choke chains and prong collars can do by telling people to put it on their arm. The human arm has a lot of muscle and fat, so it is not a true representation. Feel your dog's neck. Just like yours, you can feel the vertebrae, tendons, arteries, and esophagus just like your own neck. There is not a lot of muscle or fat to protect these things like in your arm. If you want a true representation of what these collars feel like to your dog, put it on your own neck.

The other thing to remember is every collar used with domestic animal are full pulling... except dogs. I saw it put this way once: If I push on you, your natural instinct is to push back so I don't knock you over.

My personal belief is collars should only be used as a place to hang tags. If you have a problem puller I recommend two things. First is a head halter. These work like the bridle of horse. Dogs don't have a lot of lateral strength (side to side) so when they start to move ahead they are turned away from where they want to go. These are a great temporary tool for teaching loose leash walking. With these halters, you should never jerk the leash and I recommend fading them as quickly as possible. The down side is some dogs find them uncomfortable. Also, if they are jerked (whether by the fault of the dog or the person) it can cause some damage, so care does need to be taken.

The other option is a body harness. There are several different designs and you just have to find one that works for you. Some connect on the front and use the physics of that lateral strength to keep the dog from pulling. Others connect to the back and "lift" the dog when he starts to pull. The disadvantage front connecting harness is the dogs can get a bit tangled in the leash. With the back connecting harness, the dogs can get a little force against them, more than the halter or front connecting harness, but less than a collar.

With all the pluses and minuses of these options, I think they still far outweigh the damage that can be done with a prong collar, choke collar, or even a regular collar.

http://www.peterdobias.com/community/2009/05/one-jerk-can-cause-a-lot-of-damage/