Prong Collars

A prong should never be worn that way, but I've seen that too.  Once at the dog park this dog came in wearing a prong with is tags on it.  It was fitted so poorly it hung loose.  The owner turned it inside out and left it on the dog!  Sooooo many things wrong with that picture.  I only went to the dog park once, too many clueless.  My uncle puts one on his dog (also rusty) and slips it over her head!  For one that is dangerous, and a properly fitted prong would NEVER fit over a dog's head.

Nikon sometimes has a prong on at Schutzhund during protection and if I put him in his crate and forget to take it off between his turns, he takes it off himself. 

I have a young dog with a lot of drive. When I first started her out on a flat collar and leash I was just teaching her to accept the leash. Once she did she started PULLING! She had places to go and things to see. Instead of fighting the flat collar with gagging noises and risk of throat injury, I put a prong on her. I knew she wasn't ready for a slip collar, and prong collars are less risk of injury than a slip and they are more gentle... if used properly. All it did for my pup is make her respect the collar, the rest was up to me. Now she walks along regardless of what type collar she has on with out the struggle. 

I have bought prongs because I had to 'fix' a dog, well I learned that does not work. I have resorted to working Belle in one again since her FCE. She can't walk "slow". Her legs are a lot longer than mine. If I put the slip on her she leans on it and it gets uncomfortable for me to be dragged. If I put her pinch on, she again respects it. if she starts to pull, I just apply a small amount of pressure, like I did when I rode my horse, a 'half halt' so to speak, and she stops pulling. Belle loves her pinch. She really does, much more than her slip, it is less of a nuisance to her. 

Nagging a dog with a collar regardless of what the collar is, is not the correct behavior for dog or handler. 

ShelterDogs

When people who say they "tried everything" to walk their dog on a loose leash... but it all failed. This includese treats, trainers, harnesses, gentle leader, etc... And then they say the prong is the only thing that worked. Do you think most of them just didn't follow through with the advice they were given? Or do you think that some dogs will only respond to a prong collar?

I train completely without slip or prong collars, and my experience has been that there are no dogs which cannot be trained, but that many humans do not follow advice, or follow it inconsistently - and, of course, it is inconsistency that results in dogs being intermittently reinforced for pulling.  That makes the behavior stronger over time, which makes people think that the only way to deal with it is to provide enough pain to make the dog comply.  Unfortunately, that can have very severe unintended consequences for some dogs, notably the reactive types who decide that the prong collar is being tightened around their necks every time they see another dog, so the other dog must be at fault, therefore "I'd like to kill that other dog."  Many dogs have been made extremely aggressive by unwitting owners in this fashion.  My preference is to have my students take a pledge:  "I will walk my dog in a no pull harness unless I am training.  Once I decide to train, and snap the leash to my dog's flat collar, I will *never* go forward if the dog pulls.  Rather, I will wait until the dog decides to loosen the tension on the lead, then I will say "let's go" and step forward."  Repeat ad nauseum until the dog realizes that it is the loosening of the tension on the lead which results in the life reward of getting where you want to go;-))

Maxs Mom

Nagging a dog with a collar regardless of what the collar is, is not the correct behavior for dog or handler. 

Meh.... depends on the dog and the purpose for the collar.  In some situations it's definitely appropriate, as long as the handler understands what they're doing.  Most times though, people think they are "correcting" or (my favorite..NOT!) "self-correcting" the dog when they are not correcting at all but nagging the dog or allowing the dog to nag itself.  Outside of a few rather insulated types of training, nagging with a prong is generally not what the owner is going for so in that regard, you are right, but there are *some* situations where it is being done intentionally with a purpose, and produces the desired effect.