Who uses a prong collar?

I use a prong and can say I'm more then happy with the way it works. first off if a prong is used correctly then it will never hurt a dog. The prong must be fitted properly and not have shapened ends, usally you can get soft plastic covers for the end so the metal doesn't scratch the skin. Then the own must be trained how to use the prong correctly. To often I see it used wrong. The prong only tightend aroung the neck and does not create pain (agean if used correctly). I do not use it as a correction at anytime to correct agressive behavors, only to correct pulling problems and training problems. I do not leave it on my dog all the time, it's not ment to be used as a regular collar.

I walk with a loose lesh with my dog at my left side, If i say heal my dog will heal if not she gets a slight pull on the lead which lets her know that she better heal, when she does heal she gets a treat. Same with other comands. I usaly only use the prong on short walks and during training, on longer walk I use a martangle collar. Above everything, I do use +R training with lots of treats. The prong is only a tool used to train but renforced it with treats.

Our trainers recommended the prong and taught us how to use it.  It's a fantastic tool, without which I am sure that our stubborn, independent, pain-insensitive little brute would not be the polite canine good citizen that she has become.

I use the prong for "polishing" only, and as it was said here before I combine it with a lot of +R. The first time you see one it really does look cruel and medieval, but after you read up about them; see all the studies that have been made; and talk to trainers that know how to properly use them, you come to the conclusion that they are not torture devices after all. At the end of the day it's about keeping an open mind to things that you don't fully understand.

I am also in favor of the prong collar. I have only used it on Shadow because the choker actually did choke her and I was getting nowhere with her wearing one. When I started using the prong collar I noticed an immediate difference in walking her. Right now I am working on weaning her off of it, which is going quite nicely. I like this collar and support it and when used correctly it is a nice training tool. That being said, you can't leave it on your dog for days at a time, but for the 20-30 minute training session, I think it is fine.

I love the prong, I believe it is THE most humane thing out there that effectively stops the dog from pulling. My father used a choke chain on his pit bull, and the dog was extremely unresponsive to it (she would get to the point of choking herself). With the prong collar she walked very nicely, and even though she was never weaned off of it completely, it was still a great tool. What we would do was use the prong for the first 5-10 minutes of the walk, until she 'settled down' then we'd put on a regular flat collar.

With my moms Golden im planning on trying out an Easy Walk, but if not, a prong would be my second choice.

I think the prong, when properly used, can be an effective and humane training tool. However, there are other options out there. I would never use a prong on a small dog. No-pull harnesses are great, safe training tools that are virtually impossible to misuse, work well, and are preferable for smaller dogs IMO.

never say never []

I used and will still use one on Babe, when we started obedience school many many moons ago she was almost impossible to control with a regular collar or even a choke. She would actually start gasping for air before she gave in! She actually broke a choke collar at 8 months.
 
I only started using it on the advice of the instructor, who was also an instructor for the K-9 unit one county over from us at the time. After about a week of wearing it for all walks and training she learned. We stopped calling the prong collar or training collar after a few months, it became the "naughty collar".
 
Dawn

Yep, I use the prong collar and I like it more than any other training tools that I have. For one thing, it is so easy to use, and I can't understand why someone would go through so much struggling with their dog and trying different ways to get it to behave and walk nicely, just because they think that it looks like some sort of torture device, and they 'would never use something on their dog that inflicts pain!' gasp! Hello.... if you've been fighting with your dog to walk nicely and practically choking him in the process, the prong collar isn't going to hurt the dog! Okay, note the sarcasm there. This is just one situation of course. If another method of training or another tool works good for your dog, that's fine, but not using a prong collar when you are obviously having problems with the dog just doesn't make sense to me. They are easy to use ( I'm not saying you don't need to learn how to use them, but they're easier than other things), and they can't injure your dog like a choke collar or even a flat collar can.

 I won't say that every dog needs one, and my dogs don't need one all of the time, but there are circumstances that I use the prong collar and it works very well. I do use a choke collar on Cassidy for her training classes, as that is what I need to have for the shows, and Mirelle wears a Gentle Leader for simple things such as going into a store, and walking calmly. The prong collar is very helpful for situations where the dogs get excited and would want to pull or otherwise act inappropriately. Just as  a note, I won't let Cassidy pull at all when she has her choke collar on, that's not what it's for. And I can't really snap or jerk the gentle leader at all, either.

Yep I also use one on my male Shiba Inu, a small dog too, and it is fantastic.  He is the bull headed little dork that could care less if he can breath.  I tried the No-Pull harness, he got rashed under his front legs from pulling with it, he walks head down so the fact that it pulled on his neck didnt bother him.  The ones that conect at the front didnt faze him becasue he can still smell the gound when walking sideways.  But the absolute worse problem I had was with the Halti, he hated it he dug and ripped at his face until he was bleeding.  I tried the on for 1 minute give treats, he wouldnt eat anything, he is not food driven.  After weeks of tring to get him used to it I though well we will try a walk nothing else destracts him better than a walk.  That walk was the only time he didnt smell everything, but there was a trail of blood within minutes.  So we went to the prong collar, he sees it and gets happy for a walk, he doesn't pull, he has only whinned once, when he went after a piece of plastic, but he yelled alot less that with a choke on when he did that.  I only use the prong to go for walks when I need control, downtown around people.  If we go to the park he wears a martingale or harness.  I always have the other collar on him so I can tie him up at the store when I run in. 
 
I have used a Halti with wonderful results though, my Chow Chow would only work on the Halti.

I think chokes are completely barbaric and so ineffective. Martingales are no better-- slightly less barbaric, but even more ineffective (they are supposed to only be used to keep thick-necked small headed dogs from backing out of the collar, not used as a training tool). I'd rather see a dog walking quietly on a prong than lunging against a flat-buckle collar. And I bet the dog would prefer it too. Dogs like clear, consistent messages, and prongs deliver them in a humane way.

I definately aggree with mudpuppy.

I think martinagles and prong collars are humane and helpful training devices when used properly. I have to admit, when I first saw prong collars I thought they were torture devices until I learned from Maisie's trainer and this forum. I don't like CHOKE literally CHOKE chains, because most people are too stupid to use them correctly. I use a flat buckle collar on Maisie, which I have had no problem with, since I trained her not to pull from the start.