[MY OSCAR]

Originally Posted by D_and_Mandy

Thank you for your reply! And congrats to Oscar on his graduation today!
We have a German sheppard club locally that offers classes, but they wouldn't take Davis due to his size. I contacted someone from kijiji, and they wrote me back saying that they use Brad Pattinson's training methods. I did some research on it and he advocates use of the choke collar... I'm a little weary about using one with Davis with Yorkies being prone to collapsed tracheas. He honks sometimes and we walk him with a harness. Was Oscar trained with the choke collar? Can you tell me a bit more about his class?

A friend of mine has a much larger dog than Davis ( A boston/ boxer mix- Simon) and the trainer they used had them using a choke collar on him, but she said she wasn't very comfortable doing it. Simon is a 2 year old rescue and had never been trained, so they (the trainers) said he needed a very aggresive training regimen. My friend said all the dogs in the class were on the collars though.

hey thanks..
well oscar was in the beginner class and they teach they such as basic commands: sit , stay, come, watch me , loose leash walking.
you are right you do not want to use any type of collar with a yorkie. it is possible to damage their trachea. oscar wears a harness everywhere we go. what i liked about the petsmart class you start out with puppy class , then beginner, intermediate, advanced. that is if you have the money. we only went to beginner class but we learned a lot. oscar did really well . he also learned how to interact with larger dogs with was very important to me.
if you don't have a petsmart or petco near you maybe you could hire a professional dog trainer to come to your home.
check with your vet maybe they know of a reputable trainer.