[TatumsMom]

That was the only thing I didn't like about our obedience training class almost 4 years ago too. I had to use a certain kind of collar instead of her harness. I was not going to buy one just for that class so the trainer loaned me one. I wasn't too concerned because Tatum was already very obedient and walked beside me just like she should without pulling but I was concerned that if I had to pull her out of danger or something, then we would have problems. Luckily I never really had to pull with the collar so we did okay. I have heard that a lot of trainers require the collar but I would think that someone familiar with small dogs would take the trachea issue into consideration. I'm extra cautious because with our toy poodle many years ago, I wasn't aware of the trachea problem being caused by collars and that's what we used for him and yes, he did end up having trachea problems although not too bad. I blamed it on the collar and leash later when I learned of this issue.

To help you maybe, I suggest that you work really hard with your pup using the harness and leash on the days in between your lessons so that when you do have to use the collar, maybe she'll be more advanced and not pull.

Good luck!