E-Collar VS. Pinch Collars on Small Dogs

As everyone knows, our little Leah Kay is a Miniature Pincher which we adore and love very much. And reading her other hubs, you also know how active she is for such a small thing!

I have spent many, many hours on the Internet researching and reading about all kinds of collars. I don't think we have ever had so many types of collars for one dog as we have had for Leah! We have tried snap collars, fancy collars, choke collars, pinch collars, the gentle lead collar. Now, I'm no expert (although I feel like I could be one by now), but I would like to share what we have learned what has worked for us.

When we first got Leah, we bought the snap collar then some of our Winter Texan Friends suggested using a harness on her. So we bought one. Worked just fine, felt like we had a little control over her. However, because of her extensive pulling and tugging, she developed sores under her front leg and had actually rubbed all the hair off as well. Then another Winter Texan showed us the padded harness, so we bought one. It worked great until we got up north and took her to the vet. He told us that we actually was hurting the joints in the front legs. Long term use, would have "bowed" her front legs and could cause medical problems for her down the road.

As Leah grew, and got more curious, walking started to become almost a chore. I could have easily slipped on a pair of skates and let her just pull me right along! You know the phrase: "Small, but Mighty"? Well that's our her!!

She would prefer walking on two legs, rather than all four. This is where the research started. For such a little thing, she was actually hurting my shoulder when it came to walks. I watched videos of Dog Whisper, and read many other articles, no matter how much I try using their methods, it would only work for about two minutes and then we were back to walking on two legs and pulling and tugging.

Leah's Vet couldn't beleive the muscles that our little girl had in her back legs, so he recommended the Gentle Lead Harness. Wow! What a difference in walking!! No more walking on two legs, no more trying to pull my arm out of socket. Just a very nice gentle walk, how nice!! Now comes along yet another problem: As we get into the summer months and it gets hotter and hotter, Brian notices that Leah is having a hard time with panting. We both get concerned and once again I'm back to my Internet researching and back to the regular snap collar, along with the pulling and tugging.

I find Adam Katz Dog Problem web page, and is it ever informative! I think I can actually understand and train Leah. However he talks alot about the pinch collar. We are not sure if that is the answer or not. We head out to the local pet shop talked with one of the workers. She is dead set against pinch collars and chokers. We explain the problem we are having with the Gentle Lead Collar. She asked us if we bought the collar from there and had it fitted to Leah. I'm in no way an expert, but I also know neither is she, and I'm just a tab upset having her think that I'm some kind of an idiot!! I wanted to say something, but I didn't. We eventually broke down and bought the smallest pinch collar that they make.

We got home to fit Leah with the pinch collar. We ended up taking all but two of the prongs out. Then I watched Adam Katz video several times so that I remember how to use the collar properly, so not to hurt her. Here we go for our first walk with the pinch collar. Oh, oh we once again have another problem. The pinch collar is still to big for her and instead of "grabbing" the back of her neck, it moves around, and catches her in the throat! Well that idea isn't going to work-back to square one-again!

We are able to take the collar back and bought a chain choker. It seems to work-somewhat, but if something caught Leah's attention and she wanted to pull, I don't think it mattered that she would almost choke herself! I was just getting beside myself with our little girl. I just didn't know what to do.

By now the temp is turning to cooler mornings, and once again we are back to using the gentle lead collar. That is when she got loose and was lost for over 12 hours in the woods and the poor girl could barely make a sound because of the gentle lead. When she finally was rescued and brought home to us, the gentle lead collar went into the garbage. We feel if she could have barked loud enough to let us know that she was "hung up" in the woods, we would have found her a lot sooner.

We talked with some good friends of ours and they own two boxers. One is a rescued boxer that was hit by a car. They tried to save her back leg, but was unable to and had to have it amputated. Jada (the rescue dog), loved to run and chase after cars. They couldn't get her broke of that and after having her leg amputated, they were terrified of her running after cars and needed to get that bad habit broke right away. So they bought the Shock collar and after one or two minor shocks, she never chased another car again. Now these folks love their boxer more than life themselves. So Brian and I discussed it and decided if it worked for them, well what would it hurt? So off we go (again) and bought the Shock Collar.

At this time I know I need to quality time in some extensive training with Leah. I'm absolutely positive that by the time I start training with the shock collar, Leah will hate me forever and won't have nothing to do with me. She will start hating her walks, and I probably break her spririts. But could save her life in the long run? more than likely; so-be-it....the training starts.

We first start with the walking. First we give her the sounds, and I swear she almost laughed at me. Second time of pulling, she gets a minor shock. Okay, now she realizes that I'm serious and then decides she better start walking a little nicer. We only had to shock her once or twice more and then went back to using just the sound.

Now that we got the walking down and we have no more pulling and tugging. Now it's time to teach her the "Come" command when called. We take a 50 foot rope and turn it into a lead rope for Leah. Again we have to shock her once or twice to get her to "come" on command. This took a little more effort on both Leah's and my part, but it eventually start working. Now she comes on command; with us having to use the sound once in a while, specially if she's on the track of something. Now it's time to teach her the boundary of her area....

Boundary training seemed to go much easier than the come command, but by george, I think she was getting it!! Until one day, she saw something in the woods, and there she goes! She's so fast, that I couldn't even use the sound or shock, because she was out of range. (we had taken the 50 foot rope and made it shorter by now). However she was only gone in the woods for less than 15 minutes, and I kept calling her and periodically using the sound on the collar. She did come right back, but I was so upset with her that I kenneled her for over an hour! I know, that sounded mean and cruel, but you know something? She has not run away on us anymore, so we must have made some kind of progress!!!

Now comes that questions again; Does Leah hate me for the use of the shock collar and have we gotten anywhere?

Answer: No and Yes Leah does not hate me, if I didn't know any better, I think she has more respect for me. She knows now that I'm what you all call the "Alpha" of the pack. I almost believe she enjoys having the collar on or she has become "collar smart"; either way, I won't complain. It's actually kind of funny because when she sees the collar and the controller, she comes and sits on my lap and lets me put the collar on. To her I'm sure it means that she can be "free" to roam without a leash in her yard or maybe even take a walk with us without the leash. As for the learning part, we no longer have to use the shock or even turn the collar on; although we do when we are walking, just for my own security feeling. She knows that if I have the controller in my hand, then she must behave. On our walks she occassionly will start to pull, but I just tell her "No Pull" and show her the controller and she is once again walking very nicely with her head held high in the air.

I did forget to mention that along with the shock collar, we could no longer use the chain choker, but we have bought instead the clothe choker and all of her hair has grown back around her neck and it don't seem to hurt her one bit. A gentle slight tug, and she knows that she must behave with us.

We did not buy an expensive shock collar. We simply went to Wal-Mart in the pet dept and paid around $85.00 and it's just as good for training as any other that you can buy online or at a pet store-just alot less money. Also many people buy just the Bark Collar, well that's only good for one thing, where as the shock collar controls all behavioral for your pet. Now I'm not knocking other companies on thier shock collar, but when you live on a shoestring budget like we do, you go for the best bargains (especially in today's time).

I also want to state if you plan on using a shock collar on a small dog, DON'T ever go to the high or even the middle setting!! You could literally hurt if not kill them! The shock collar we bought have 5 settings plus the sound. We only went to the #2 once or twice, to let her know we meant business, but most of the training has been on just the #1.

When trying a shock collar, try first the sound and then the lowest setting of shock when training, only gradually go up if you feel if they are not responding to your command. I know this really sounds cruel, and I even cried the first time I had to use it on Leah.

Some of our Winter Texan Friends that came to visit us this summer can't beleive the change in our little girl. They say it's a 1200% improvement on her! Her spirits are still high and she still walks proudly, like she is the Queen any where she goes.

Training can't be done in one day or even two. It takes consistancy on the owners part. Along with the training, you also need to let your best friend know how much you still love them and they will respect you even more. Don't forget just like us humans, your pet has feelings as well...Hope this helps someone along the way.....Any feed back will be welcome; until next time