Transitioning from a pinch collar

[Little Monster]

I am having a difficult time transitioning my Cane Corso, Ickis, off of his prong/pinch collar. Does anyone have any suggestions? He is now 2 years old and has been on his pinch since before he was a year old and he is still wearing it. I can't take him out of the house without wearing it. Today was the perfect example. I took him too obedience class. It was indoors and there were multiple dogs. In order to have control of him, I HAD to use the pinch. I tried initially without it (using a leather slip) and he just drug me around. So, I put the pinch back on and he ended up being the best behaved dog in the class (literally). When I got home, my husband and I took our two trouble makers for a walk. I figured, he was so good in class, still tired from class and now we were on a familiar walk, he would be fine on a flat collar (It was actually a 1 inch martingale). Mind you, we have not walked him just on anything other than a pinch since we put him on the pinch over a year ago. He was pretty good initially until the distractions started up. We kept the pinch on him and used a pull tab hoping we could correct with it but keep him on the martingale. Two dogs were walking across the street and he was being unruly, so we put him back on the pinch. There was a man riding a bike towards us that he saw, and he was doing well, so we put him back on a martingale. The SECOND he heard the click of the clasp on his martingale, he took off a fast as he could running towards the man on the bike. Needless to say, he went back on the pinch. He is a completely different dog on a pinch than on a flat or martingale. He weighs almost as much as I do, and if it were me on the other end of his leash, and not my husband, I would be writing this post with road rash on my face! Let me say now that he is not aggressive, and actually quite the opposite. He loves people so much, they are his biggest distraction. He wants to run, jump, lean, lick and slobber on every person he sees. He is as hyper and charismatic as a Boxer - just 104 pounds. HELP ME!!

 

[Ripsmom]

I have the same problem with my EM; when I had my rotti I was able to get him off the martingale after we went through a fair amount of obedience training and he had a solid heal BUT he wasn't very reactive either , with this girl i have to admit i have not done the same amount of training and I do what you do with walking on a martingale but keeping the pinch with a tab lead for when she sees another dog so i can give her the correction; she usually gets in line after i correct her but i haven't been able to take the martingale completely off her while out for a walk because she gets shitty when she sees another dog. So I keep it on her with a tab lead and for me if she needs to wear it for life than so be it...I definitely don't want any repercussions because I take if off and then loose control. I don't know how much obedience you do with him but my advice is to really work on focus and the heal and proof it in class with the distractions of other dogs. That's what i did with the rotti; once you have solid focus and heal you should be able to walk him without the pinch BUT he may need a "reminder" every once and a while. A trainer friend of mine had his dog very well trained both on and off leash healing but after a little time he saw a particular dog and even though he had been doing great for a long time he reverted back to his old self that one time so jim put the pinch back on for a few days to get him back in line.

 

[lilliesmomma]

I started an obedience class with Lillie where they use a prong collar. I had never used on before. She was amazing with the prong collar but I feel the collar has control over her and not me. We are starting a different class in about a month, she uses the regular choke/pinch collar. I'm not fond of either on but I like this one better. I want to be able to take her to the park and on walks but without the obedience classes I feel she will be taking me for a walk. I will keep you updated on her progress. Wish us luck!

 

[Little Monster]

I don't like to make my dogs heel on walks, they just walk on loose leads. When I put my dog in a heel it is 100% focus on me, right at my heel practically (and sometimes literally) touching my leg. So, we have been working on the "with me" command or "this way" as we call it. He responds well, but then goes right back to the front, and if not wearing a pinch, you can forget it, he is a different guy, pulling the hole time. I just hate using it as a crutch. As lilliesmomma said, he obeys the pinch, not me. I want to start jogging with him now that he is 2 and don't want to use a pinch to jog, so I am considering getting a Halti or Gentle Leader head collar. I just hate those things though, for the same reason as the pinch, I am sure he will jog like an angel with it and drag me all over Kansas City without. Hopefully this obedience class I am in now will help me with the weaning process unless anyone else has some suggestions/experience/success with this.

 

[acoz47]

I don't know if your walking with a loose lead why would you use a prong. Having your dog at your side takes work for both you and your dog. Loose lead gives a different message than use of the pinch collar, conflicting. IMO your dogs head should never be in front of your step and the use of the pinch collar and the choker is to keep your dogs head high and paying attention to you. If your dog is in front of you or walking with a heavy head your dog is walking you. In heavy head I mean down low forcing the collar to the back of the neck. Repetition I am by know means the know all to end all but keeping your dogs thinking of you prevents being distracted. I have two CC and one walks perfect the other is a battle but its a battle I wont loose because I love my dogs and want no harm to come to them, I know best not my 110 lb girl.

 

[Little Monster]

I know what you mean, acoz47, and I have read lots of information (blogs, books, papers etc) that say just that. When your dog walks in front of you that means the dog is dominant over you. I just don't see that in my particular situation. Ickis knows he is not to walk out the door until I have gone through. He knows he is not to jump in the car unless I give him the command, he knows he is not to leave the car unless I give him the OK. He does all of this with little reinforcement. Something he does while we do our walks which I think is funny is correcting himself. He only does this with the pinch on. Of he sees a cat or a person walking he runs to the end of his lead before he pinches himself and sits. When I catch up to him he does it again. He knows when he gets worked up I make him sit, so he makes himself do it. When we do our walks which tends to be 5-7 days a week (depending on weather and how exhausted I am when I get home from work) it is very leisurely. I let them sniff, pee and investigate on the walk to get out any frustrations and energy from being cooped up in the house all day. We do some training on all of our walks like sit stays at corners and making him down while we continue to walk. We also do short heeling in figure 8s and in and about turns for practice. At those times I expect full response and attention, but the rest of the walk is for them. Maybe that's my problem. When I say he walks on a loose lead that is he walks in front and to the left, while my pitty walks in front and to the right. The problem with the pinch is that he knows exactly what it is. When he walks with it he knows he has to keep in check or he gets a correction. If we take it off he knows a correction is not in the immediate future and does the weight pull run to the nearest anything. So based on that, maybe I need to change my question. Maybe what I should be asking is how to make him "this way" for the entire walk without saying it a million times? Just in case I didn't do a good job the first time, "this way" means walk in my direction, towards me and with me, and at my side but not in a heel. It is a very non-specific command (which kinda sounds like an oxymoron). He responds very well to it, but only for a short (very short) time. Next time we take our walk and it isn't dark out, I make a video and post it!

 

[acoz47]

I understand my girl Raja tries this constantly I have to re-adjust her pinch during the walk often she is on a short leash just a handle and she does her best to work it to the back of her neck. Her sister Pebbles is on a short leash same length and her choke collar just dangles she never needs a correction (almost never). Raja is just stubborn as the day is long and every once in awhile I have to put her on her back until she is calm. I feel the frustration you feel. I always put myself between my girls and trouble, if I didn't they could hurt themselves or another dog. Best of luck.

 

[Gemsmom]

We have two methods here.. I have a pinch collar on Gemma throughout the day for our trips to potty and in the instance something were to happen where I would need to get a hold of her. I also have a harness for walks with a double ended lead. It is fabulous She walks great on it with no pulling (if she attempts to pull, it turns her around to face me so I can give direction) and when we put it on, she knows I have complete control. There is no pinch or poke with it, it just provides me the ability to turn her around, give direction, and stop what she's doing. I prefer it and would let her wear it in the house, but am afraid she will get a sore spot from rubbing when laying down, etc. Like I said, I feel like I have complete control as there is no physical pain of any sort, just my directions to her. Just a thought

 

[lilliesmomma]

We have two methods here.. I have a pinch collar on Gemma throughout the day for our trips to potty and in the instance something were to happen where I would need to get a hold of her. I also have a harness for walks with a double ended lead. It is fabulous She walks great on it with no pulling (if she attempts to pull, it turns her around to face me so I can give direction) and when we put it on, she knows I have complete control. There is no pinch or poke with it, it just provides me the ability to turn her around, give direction, and stop what she's doing. I prefer it and would let her wear it in the house, but am afraid she will get a sore spot from rubbing when laying down, etc. Like I said, I feel like I have complete control as there is no physical pain of any sort, just my directions to her. Just a thought

Can you post a picture of the harness you use? I don't think I have seen one. THanks.

 

[Ripsmom]

I think "gemsmom" might be talking about the premier easy walk harness we use them at the shelter , they do work pretty well with most dogs. the leash hooks up in front of their chest not behind the shoulders like a regular harness (which would be ineffective with a dog that pulls). I know that petsmart and petco sells them.

 

[lilliesmomma]

I think "gemsmom" might be talking about the premier easy walk harness we use them at the shelter , they do work pretty well with most dogs. the leash hooks up in front of their chest not behind the shoulders like a regular harness (which would be ineffective with a dog that pulls). I know that petsmart and petco sells them.

Thanks!

 

[Gemsmom]

So sorry, I have been so busy and haven't had time to get on. The harness I use is a Control Ease harness. I bought it from TSC and I have included the link to it on their site.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/pet-ca...ease-reg-harness-with-6-ft-lead-large-2443107

 

[kjaj]

My English Mastiff is excellent on a leash untill another dog shows up. For those reasons I have kept her on her pinch collar. I talked to a dog trainer about this issue. She is very much against pinch collars and suggest the harnesses described above. They work quite well we fitted Misti with one while I was there and she walked great, what the harness does if they pull on it pinches their shoulders together which makes it so they can't pull. Great option. My issue is not with normal walking it is when another dog comes around as described by earlier posts. So she gave me a suggestion to ween her off the pinch collar. The command she uses it "leave it". To start she breaks up treats in her hands, she threw one at the ground at Misti's feet and told her to leave it, and pushed her head away from it, once she ignored it she gave misti a treat from her hand. then she would throw another treat on the ground and tell her "leave it." once she ignored it she would give a treat from her hand. The idea is to teach the dog a command to ignore something. With work the trainer said it will work for other things such as other dogs. She also said that to make sure at no point do you let the dog pick up the treat from the ground. I have been working with Misti on this for the last few days, I can put a treat on top of her nose and say "leave it" and she will ignore it. I am going to dog park for a walk tomorrow to see if there is improvements. I hope this helps others as well.