Prong collars

Can you tell us a little more about your dog?  Breed, age, personality, etc.  Personally I've never used a prong collar on any of my dogs.  I have learned a few things.  Number one is that the owner is responsible for the relationship between you and your dog and if you really don't feel comfortable doing something, you probably shouldn't.

Yes, in my opinoin the prong collar is a great tool. I've never heard about a school that requires the dog to wear a prong collar....I know some places they have to have a Gentle Leader or have to have a choke chain. I believe that the prong collar is a lot safer than the choke chain; and even more humane than the gentle leader!( which they say is supposed to be the most 'humane') You've probably read this already, but I'm adding my opinion. The choke collar can be dangerous because it can actually choke the dog. And the prong collar can only go so far before it will stop itself, you get it? It also just pinches the dog's neck a little, to make it uncomfortable. And it releases right away, as well. Any other collar such as choke chains and regular collars can cause damage to the dog's neck if the dog pulls on it.

Since your dog is behaving good with the prong collar, I just say, don't worry about it! []

If you want more views on the prong collar, you could look at the  discussion about prong collars in the Everything Else section of training;  though it is quite long and gets off subject at the end.[]

My dog is a border collie mix about a year and 4 mounth old. She had a major surgery about 4 months ago and befor that was confined for most her her puppyhood due to her problem. (I wrote all about it in the health section). She is agressive towards other dogs so I must keep a muzzle on her during the class. For almost all of her puppy year she did not see anouther dog so now she reacts by becomeing agressive, something I'm woring on. Around people she is very friendly and has more energy then any dog I have ever know. She lives indoors with me and only goes out when she needs to go. Her behavor in the house is great but outside of the home she is totaly differnt and hard to control. I understand that border collies are high energy dogs so I provide her with many active toys to keep her ocopied in the house.

I hope that helps to explain a little about her.

I think prong/pinch collars are a good tool IF used properly and if in the right hands. Not all dogs need them, nor should all dogs wear them. Same goes for any other type of collar.
 
I have used flat or rolled collars, choke and prong. Currently use a prong for working/clas and walks etc, but not to wear as the around the house and yard collar. In other words, I use the prong as the "Wake up and pay attention, it's time to work/practice/etc" device.

Thank all of you so much for the speedy responses. I only want to do what's best for my dog so i question almost everything I do. (thats why I came to this forum)

My dog was fitted to the collar by the trainer herself, then she explained to me how to use it and never to leave the dog alone with it on. Then during the class she showed us how to work with the dog using the collar so I am confident I'm using it correcty.

I think the prong is fine in this situation, especially if you find the dog generally hard to control.  Please consider this though:
 
It does sound like you have a fear aggression issue, and no number of corrections with a prong collar is going to fix this. 
 
Since your dog missed out on such crucial socialization time you are going to have to make of for that now through confidence building exercises and desensitization exercises.
 
Watch your dog carefully when doing obedience work.  Make sure the corrections you are administering are not causing any unnecessary fearfulness.
 
If you don't mind me asking, what is your trainers plan to deal with the dog aggression? 

Sorry ment for another post.

To correct the agression the trainer told me to give a sharp upward pull on the collar the moment I notice the agression start and give the correction comand, a sharp "don't" or "That is not acceptible".

For about the first 3 months I had Gizmo I tried to soclize her with other dogs as puppies but unfortunaty around 6 months old she injured herself bur tearing her crucite ligiment. She was confined for about 3 months after that, then x-rays where done and showed she had a birth defect and soon had surgery on one hip so once more she had to be confined agean. During this time she had an anil gland rupture adding to the pain she was already in. So I would say for most of her puppyness she was in pain. I did the most I could to make her confortable and work with her whatever way I could. I also have another dog Georga, but Georga wanted nothing to do with Gizmo and often ignored her. Thats her background up to this point.

One potential problem with that advice is the suppression of warning behaviors.  It is the precurser or build up behaviors that will disappear.  You may then end up with a dog who gives no noticable warning.  You may think every thing is fine and BOOM.   I prefer to use distance, move away (as far as necessary) do some "puppy push ups" or other practices with high quality treats.  As the dog gets settled, try to get a bit closer.  Go slow with the practice and consider a rule of 8.  Dog does it right 8 times out of 10 for 8 of 10 days.  Then change the situation just a bit (closer, fewer treats, etc)  Change only one variable at a time. 

I agree with mrv.  you want to be careful also that the prong does not make things worse by causing her to associate corrections with dogs rather than her behavior.

OHHHHh NOOOO! That is NOT how you handle dog/dog aggression.  Think of it like this....The aggression you are seeing is not the problem, but a symptom of a more complicated base problem.  If you focus on the aggression you are going to end up making the base problem worse.  You need to move your focus to determining what the base problem is, solve that, and the aggression will extinguish itself. 

The kind of training you are doing is not the answer to your problems.  The growling and lunging may fade away, but the aggression and intensity will grow and manifest without warning.

So I guess my question should be what should I do to correct this agression? I only want to do what I can to help her so that is why I thought it would be important to get her trained, however, the trainer seems to ignor the real problem. Where should I even beguin, what can I do on my own with her to help her get through this? She is great when there are no other dog around but once she even hears anouther dog she becomes somewhat agressive.

I am hoping Anne will stop by and post a few of the books she reccomends for this sort of situation (fear aggression and confidence building).  If she hasn't posted by this evening I will email her.  I can think of the titles of the top of my head. 
 
 

I'd suggest Click to Calm - Found here:
 
[linkhttp://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB825]http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB825[/link]
 
It gives good step by step instructions on how to retrain a dog aggressive dog.