With the wealth of methods available, if nothing else has worked except physical manipulation, the trainer clearly isn’t good enough and doesn’t understand canine psychology/behaviour at all.

I’ve worked with rescue dogs that are mature and have had ZERO training, tied to a stake in the back yard or just left to roam. I’ve also watched many many ‘liberal’ trainers who have had all the answers with a whole series of methods come and go. I’ve watched some get a degree of control, I’ve watched some get savaged and mauled. I’ve also laughed till my sides hurt when they’ve lectured me on the disgusting use of a prong collar…right up to the point they went off for a tetanus shot and stiches. I have a stainless Herm Sprenger collar that’s years old, trust me on this, it gets me control and has never injured a dog. It makes me giggle inside when some wet behind the ears well wishing ‘trainer’ eats their words and asks to use it when their latest fad training method fails abismally.

So, let me understand this right “These collars have prongs that poke into the dogs neck - imagine how painful it is when the collar is tightened!”, I can tell you’ve never put one round any part of your body and given it a tug? If you had you’ve probably been a cheapskate and bought some cheap pet shop brand instead of a decent quality brand that won’t injur you or the dog….if you can’t even select suitable kit you shouldn’t call yourself a trainer in my eyes. Why buy an £800 pedigree dog and a £5 collar and expect decent, safe, controlled results?

Here’s my tip though to validate their use and keep everyone happy, I may be pro prong collar but I don’t recommend them to everyone as the only choice. Try every single training method you can try first, then, if you haven’t had any results, finally try a prong collar. If nothing else has worked the prong collar has it’s uses.

Keep up the good work…

Pinching all around a dog’s neck can be very disturbing to a dog - especially the more primitive breeds, as what it actually does mimic is a kill. Is that what you’d like to convey to your best friend and companion?

When pups are with their mom, the most-often used form of ‘correction’ by the dam is pretty benign: time-outs. For example, if a pup is biting too hard during play, the mom (and littermates) will yelp quite dramatically and turn their back on the pup for a few seconds before continuing play. Social contact is SO rewarding to dogs that even this short absence makes a huge impression.

If you need punitive devices and can’t train your dog using kind methods, then that speaks much more about the ability of the trainer, not the dog.

Final note - we are not dogs. Dogs know we are not dogs so we don’t need to emulate a mothers bite to train our dogs. Alpha theory and ‘behaving like a dog to train your dog’ is outdated and simply, quite daft.