Hi Guys

For awhile no I have been testing out various walking/training tools and out of interest I would love to hear your experiences if you wouldn't mind sharing?

As a bit of background info this is what I have been up to and why...

About 6 months ago I started teaching the beginners obedience class for our local dog training class. I trained Orion on his  regular collar which is a limited slip variety and I now use a ruffwear chain reaction martingale but there are of course lots of other options.
I'm not the type of person that is comfortable handing out second hand information so I decided to educate myself.
I brought a gentle leader head collar, halti head collar, a canny collar, a premier easy walk front clip harness, a herm spernger prong collar, a british slip lead, a fur saving choker and a regular choker. I went along to various trainers and learnt how to use all of these items, talked to trainers and vets about the possible harm that could be caused with them and have been testing them on Orion so I'm quite comfortable with them, but what I don't have is the answer to the question why?

Why did you choose the tool you use? What was it that swayed you toward one option versus the multitudes of others? What is it about your tool that you find so suitable/effective for what you need? Why would you recommend it?

I chose Orion's collar after recommendation of his breeder and having had him slip a collar as a pup. I leash trained him to a heel position simply because that is how all of my dogs have been trained but I realize that might not appeal to everyone. If you could share your experiences I would greatly appreciate it

Cheers

We got Ami at about 12 mos. of age. He was 60 pounds of untrained, bouncing husky boy. The first 24 hours, we used just a plain nylon web buckle collar. And I skidded down the street after every leaf, bunny, field mouse and deer. The shelter had recommended a prong collar and gave us the one that was fitted for him. This along with a bungie leash meant that I could walk him without threat of injury to me or worse, Ami escaping my control.

I was not wholly comfortable with what looked like a mid-evil torture device, though the shelter director assured me this was far preferable to a choke collar because it only tightened so far. I tried and returned a front clip harness - I did not like it because it severely altered his gait - I couldn't walk fast at the time and used his tension on the leash to help keep me slightly tilted forward to ease the pain from spinal stenosis. The front clip harness just had him sort of hoppy-legging is the only way I can describe it. I tried another harness, did not like how harnesses are so close behind the front legs - maybe if I ordered one custom fit that would not be a problem. And we were so successful with the prong that I saw no reason to change after a while. Plus, my prong had been fitted with a side-release buckle and was super easy to put on and off!

Fast forward to purchasing an ecollar - originally as a deterrant for jumping on the back door and to stop counter surfing (between my cascading cookie sheets and soda cans, that was solved before the ecollar arrived)...BUT, with very little ecollar training, Ami became a wonderful leash walker with just harness and long line...I don't know how it happened, it just did. I think it was one evening at a concert-in-the-park. I brought Ami with the ecollar to train with distractions. Hubby was listening to the concert, Dog was antsy so went for a walk. About 10 minutes of walking and abruptly changing direction with a vibrate "tap" (one of the beginning exercises that Lou Castle describes, thank you Jen!) and it's been a game changer. I now have a manageable dog - across the board. We've graduated to Ami being "loose" as we do chores outside, with a 9ft leash and a heavy carabiner dragging, he stays within bounds, comes when calls, ignores, well, doesn't chase, the cat or other critters...To me it seems like magic! Maybe it's just maturation on Ami's part, I don't know, but it seems to have happened overnight.

Or, he's sick and doesn't have the energy.

Or, he romps with Archer 3-5 days a week and is totally exhausted.