How Should You Place a Prong Collar on a Dog?

Prong collars are designed to control dogs when they wish to escape or run away. Some dogs usually adults are powerful enough to unleash themselves and run away, this can be a troublesome situation if you are not able to handle your dog.

For such situations, using a prong collar can be in your best interest. This type of harness is a neck controller which does not let your dog get away by applying force and run. This product has metal or plastic prongs attached to it. These prongs apply pressure to the dog’s neck if he tries to run away or pull himself. The band around the neck tightens and hence the prongs grip your dog enough without hurting him so that he stays in control.

This method has been used by many owners who wish to control their dogs and ones who are very aggressive in public. You can be sure that this product is only meant to be used for controlling your dog without hurting or torturing him. In this article, we will be discussing how to use a prong collar for your dog and what benefits does it provide. So, keep reading to find all that you need to know!

How to Use a Prong Collar on Dogs

Many people end up hurting their dogs just because they were not able to use the product correctly. To use it, it is important to learn the correct way of putting it on and putting it off your dog’s neck.

Following are the steps given which you can follow to avoid any mishap while using a prong collar for your dog.

Step 1: Consult a Trainer

The first step is to always consult a professional in this regard to know-how and when to use this product. This is not just a regular collar that you can use anytime. These are made specifically for the training period only which involves making your dog understand why pulling away is not appropriate. So, you must take a trainer’s opinion on which one to buy and how to use it.

Step 2: Buy the Best Fit

Secondly, you will have to buy the perfect fit for your dog. Always make sure to buy from a professional website which is experts in making such training equipment. Make sure you get the right size according to your dog’s weight. Buying a size smaller or larger may result in pain only for your dog.

Also, never buy the ones with rubber tips. This may seem a bit comfortable but practically, rubber creates friction with the dog’s hair and hence cause pain while metal tips glide smoothly and do not create any friction with your dog’s coat.

Step 3: Fitting it Right

When you wish to put on the collar, make sure of the following factors while placing it on your dog’s neck:

• Always tie it behind your dog’s ears, just below the jaw so that it fits properly. If you tie it a little lower, it will be useless.
• See if the collar is in place. If it is loose, remove few prongs to fit perfectly.
• The hook for your leash should be facing upwards right behind your pup’s ears. The hook should never face sideways or below the jaw.

Step 4: Using it Wisely

Prong collars are not to be used for every walk. You should only use it for an hour at the beginning of the training. After that too, trainers highly discourage the use of this product on casual walks.

This can psychologically mess up your dog’s behavior as he might remember the pain of being pinched even if he was excited to see someone on the walk and pulled away. This can make him aggressive and more difficult to handle.

Step 5: Mimic the Natural Correction Only

Once you are on the training, only use short tugs to make your dog behave. This mimics the natural neck biting phenomenon from other dogs when they want a member to behave. If you will be pulling on for too long, it will cast negative impact on your dog’s behavior.

Use a Prong Collar Tutorial with a Great Trainer:

When to Stop Using Prong Collars?

You must not use prong collars forever as a habit. When your dog has mastered the training of leash manners and is no longer behaving otherwise, then it is useless to cast extra pain for your dog. You can then safely take him to a walk with casual harnesses and collars.

Even while on training, make sure your dog is not wearing it for too long. Your dog can get stuck in a bush because of the collar and upon pulling away the prongs will hurt him and he can pass out.

Also, this product does not have an information tag so that people can contact you if your dog is missing. Hence you should never compromise your dog’s safety by leaving this product on for too long unnecessarily.

After learning about these steps, it is also crucial to make sure you are aware of the risks hence always keep the below-mentioned tips in your mind when using this product for your dog’s safety.

• Never use this method for a puppy of age less than 6 months. Trainers discourage the use of prong collars even for adult dogs, let alone puppies as this method is reserved as a last resort only for those who are not learning leash manners through any other method. So always opt for this method when you have exhausted all other options while trying to train your dog.
• Never leave the collar on for too long if your dog is not under your supervision.
• Always check that the band is not too tight.
• Never pull on too harshly.
• Always tie on the correct neck level, not too high nor too low.
• Make sure to treat your dog well if he behaves nicely.
• Make sure to not enforce too much punishment as it may result in aggressive behavior.

Benefits of Using Prong Collars

Apart from all the facts and news of this product being cruel to your dog, there are various benefits of using these as well. If you use a safe plastic prong or blunt edge metal prong collar, there are high chances that you experience the below-mentioned benefits for yourself and your dog.

Less Harmful

This product is definitely less harmful than a choke collar which exerts force to your dog’s internal organs as well. While this product is designed to only put a gentle pressure to your dog’s loose neck skin which mimics the action of biting or nipping in order to enforce command to your dog as a sense of authority.

This product is also much better than electric shock harnesses which induce an electric shock to keep your dog in control through a remote control collar operated by the owner. The electric shocks are also way too dangerous for your dog hence using a simple prong band harness like these are much safe and secure than any other option available in the market.

Training Control

Some dogs take much longer in the training than the others and it can be annoying and too much time taking for the owner to invest this much time and energy. The task can get even more difficult if you have an adult dog who is getting the training for the first time or was a stray dog before you adopted him.

These circumstances might require a strict way of enforcing commands to the dog so that he remembers the punishment and acts accordingly. For that, this product with prongs can help you get through the training of your dog easily.

Behavior Management

Some dogs are extremely aggressive and not social when in public. Some might even try to run away or to lose control from you in order to get away which can be a big issue and embarrassment when in public.

So, to avoid any such situation, you must be aware of your dog’s behavior and this product is the best-known way to control unforeseen aggressive outbursts of dogs for losing control or running away.

Natural Correction Method

Dogs among themselves, pinch the other dog’s neck in order to portray dominance or to gain control. This is their natural way of correction and control. So, the main idea of this product was based on this very natural correction method seen among dogs so that the dog is not punished in some other cruel way but their very own natural method which might feel familiar to them too.

Less Hassle for the Pet Owner

Many owners do not have a free schedule to send their dogs for training or train themselves. And hence, the use of such products for them makes the training period easier and faster as the control and command system through this product is way effective than any other tool.

Conclusion

Prong collars are effective in controlling the aggressive behavior of your dog in public. It can also help train your dog if you have adopted him recently. If not used carefully, they might also be the reason for torturing or hurting your dog. In such instances, you might end up making your dog more aggressive and ill-behaved.

So, it is crucial to go through all the steps of handling and important facts about using this product, so that you learn how to do this the right way. Doing it right can be beneficial for you and your dog in many ways which were also discussed above. So do your research well and get yourself a prong collar to ease your efforts in controlling or training your dog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are prong collars cruel?
Many vets and trainers believe that prong collars are cruel. This is because the usage is something incorrect hence resulting in thyroid, trachea or skin damage to your pup. If you use it correctly, there are chances that your dog might get his skin injured which is much thinner than humans, but it won’t cause serious damage.

How to remove a prong collar off?
It is true that leaving these on for a longer duration can be harmful to your dog in many ways. It is because the links of the band can get stuck and on applying effort, the prongs might choke your dog. This is why you should learn how to remove a prong collar from your dog’s neck when it is no longer needed.

Do prong collars cause aggression?
Yes, using pain and fear-inducing methods for your dog can disturb your dog’s behavior to a much larger extent than you expect. Some might dive into severe depression while some become extremely aggressive. This change in behavior also hampers their quality of life and socializing skills. These methods are hence very much discouraged by vets and trainers.