So you’re interested in a prong collar? That’s awesome- I highly recommend them especially for large or troubled dogs.
They are very easy to use. I use prongs with all three of my dogs- if I didn’t use prongs it would be nearly impossible to walk three dogs at once. It certainly wouldn’t be as pleasant.
While you can check out this much longer article I wrote about the history and use of prongs here, I thought I would write this quick guide about how should you place a prong collar on a dog.
Which prong collar should you use?
There are a ton of different kinds of prong and pinch collars. You’ll see different versions on Amazon or other pet shops.
The prong collar I use is the Herm Sprenger. This is the only prong collar I will recommend for a few different reasons, mainly that it is stainless steel and features rounded prongs that won’t irritate your dog’s neck.
How should you place a prong collar on a dog?
Fitting the prong to your dog’s neck is easy. The collar you buy will come with extra links that you’ll probably need to remove (unless you have a super-massive breed dog).
Remove enough links so that the collar sits high up on your dog’s neck just below their jaw-line. The collar should sit comfortably, though, so make sure that it is not too tight. If you’re in doubt, opt for larger than smaller.
Links are easily removed by sliding the prongs out of the adjacent prong.
Conclusion
Depending on your dog, the prong alone may be enough to clean up their walking manners immediately.
If the prong collar alone isn’t enough, you can try some of the training tips in my prong collar post that I shared earlier.
Some other things to keep in mind:
- You don’t want to leave the prong on your dog’s neck for extended periods of time. The collar may irritate their neck when they scratch, roll or do whatever dog’s do.
- It’s not a good idea to let dog’s play with each other while they are wearing prong collars. Teeth or collars can get stuck on the prongs. Also, rough play while wearing a prong can irritate their necks.
- You can use the prong collar on every walk, but you might try weaning them off the prong collar after using it for a while- just to see if they have internalized the manners from wearing it.
And that’s about it! Let me know how using the prong collar works for you in the comments below.
