changing collar types
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| I don't leave a collar on full time because of the matting issue. After K's little escape the other day at the vet's office, I'll have to get her a Martingale or pinch for our leash adventures. I don't see there will be much difference between a flat web type or martingale. Pup will scratch a few times and then get on with life. For training, I'd use a slip or other such, that can be set up high, nearly under ears, for maximum effect. Flats ride pretty low and not great for correction. I'm sure our own doggie instructor will have suggestions on training collars. |
| Yes, there are some good ways. First is to prepare yourself and the dog. Start doing this with her current collar. You need to be very consciously working on a loose lead, with the only tightness/contact being when she's corrected or pulls the lead tight herself. At that time you are using the verbal command you all use - whether it's saying her name, "heel", "uh-uh", "leave it" or whatever the moment requires. If the current collar is tight and engaged a lot of the time, it is always very obvious to the dog that it is there, and it will be difficult to change from it. The dog always feels the collar, and is aware of the collar and trained by the collar itself, not by the person and with the person and dog working together. So a very definite effort needs to be done with your training to make the time on lead be about the human and the dog relationship, and minimally about the collar. One thing I always stress with my students who start with a prong or pinch or any other collar that's not a plain collar - is to make sure it is you training the dog, not the collar training the dog. You need to interact, engage and be a team mate with your dog. No walking around letting the collar be the tool that keeps the dog next to you. The collar should be for getting their attention only, not for control. I personally always have the goal of working off lead - so I interact and engage with my dog on a very loose lead - only having it tight for that quick moment needed to correct, then loose again. I also never use treats for beginners especially - Treats are good, but they tend to undermine the human and dog relationship in the beginning. It's like a date with 3 people - one will be left out. And if it's a dog, you, and treats, it's most likely you who will be odd man out. Most new trainers are not skilled enough to keep themselves from turning into human Pez dispensers, unfortunately. They have this dog who will only do things if they get a treat - "she'll will lay down if I use a treat", or "my dog only comes for a treat".... It takes more effort on the human's part to be as exciting as a treat, but it really pays off. My feeling is if we expect the dog to focus on us, do what we want, then it's only fitting that we give the same level of focus and interaction back to our dogs. It seems a cop out to expect behaviors, and our only response is to feed a treat. No wonder the dog bonds more with the treat than to you! If I was a dog, I'd bond with and look forward to the treat as well.  To heck with you lazy human!Collars - I love martingale collars. For your collie - I would ONLY use a martingale. Never a buckle collar. Collies have little ears and heads, and when the collar would fit correctly at the neck, it would still slip off the dog way too easily. Dangerous situation. I volunteer and foster/train for our basset rescue. Bassets have all that loose skin, and are notorious for slipping collars and getting loose. All our dogs are fitted with and go to their new homes with martingale collars. Safety first! They also make good training collars. All 6 of my dogs uses martingales. The ones I have are all flat, nylon fabric. There is a style that has a section of chain in the loop part (that you snap the lead to). They are a good choice when transitioning from a metal based collar, as they still get the sound part of the collar, so it's easier transitioning. If you go straight to a all nylon....you loose that sound and attention getting component that the dog is used to. It is very obvious to the dog...and they are smart! It's very obvious you now no longer have the pinch on. So I usually recommend going with one that has the chain to still take advantage of the sound to get the dog's attention. Initially, you can have both on - and after warming up, switch the lead to the new collar. If they start blowing you off, pulling and not paying attention, then go back for a little bit. Eventually, you get to the point where you might use the pinch only in new, or known "exciting" situations or locations, and otherwise the dog is doing good on the new collar. It's a process. I hope this makes sense, it's kind of tough to remotely write this all out. I would hope your local instructor is good and will be able to help transition. Or you could just move to MN and come to class here.  Good luck! |
got sheep wrote: Initially, you can have both on - and after warming up, switch the lead to the new collar. If they start blowing you off, pulling and not paying attention, then go back for a little bit. Eventually, you get to the point where you might use the pinch only in new, or known "exciting" situations or locations, and otherwise the dog is doing good on the new collar. It's a process. That is the way I have transitioned all my dogs from various collars. I found it worked best for me!!! Thanks Dawn.........  |
| Great information Dawn! Thanks for the time and effort you put on.  |
| That makes perfect sense! Thank you so much! We've had Opal in a martingale as her tag collar for a while now. She got quite adept at slipping her buckle collar. Amy has been training in a pinch collar for a few months now. I've started to get frustrated with her as we've been trying to transition her over to the flat buckle collar. She behaves fine as soon as the prong collar goes on, knowing its training/work time, but without it she won't. When working on leash, she knows when we clip to her flat collar versus her pinch collar and she won't behave as well. Yet, we rarely have to use the pinch collar for correction, and then its more of a minor tightening to remind her. Someone suggested we use two leashes on her, but I don't want to be bothered with that sort of confusion, if I can avoid it. Considering that we are usually a group of kids and dogs, I figure I'll use the wrong leash, or drop a leash and step on it, unnecessarily causing it to tighten at the wrong time... I just ordered a martingale with the chain to transition her over. We'll start with the two collars-switch as soon as it gets here. |
| Why is MN so far from ID? Why is ID so far from everywhere?  |
bekalm wrote: Why is MN so far from ID? Why is ID so far from everywhere? When I was in college, our Women's CC team (cross country) made it to Nationals, and they were in Idaho. I fell in love with the state, it is so beautiful! Now running in the altitude killed us flat-landers, but I remember it as a great experience, otherwise. We drove out, so we really got to see a lot.  I also have a dog sledding friend who lives out there, and her pictures of what they do are to die for. I am lucky, here in our area of the midwest, we are in a great area for dog training, in nearly every sport there is. |
| I love the mountains and grew up further north in the state. Here in the Snake River Plain we're pretty flat--still 3800 ft elevation, just flat. I'm guessing your friend lives in eastern Idaho, which is gorgeous and has more snow for things like dog-sledding. I have family in Missouri, so we've driven back there, but not much further north. Here, there are definitely more options for dog training than most other places we've lived--which is good, I've got dogs to train! |
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