My friend uses a prong choke collar and whenever my 16yr old daughter sees it on him she flips it over so it is not sticking him. :p

I am inclined to oppose choke chains, prong collars, and martingale collars, but.....The Airedale we adopted when her owner died came with a choke chain. We tried putting a regular collar on her and she hated it. She wanted that chain and she wore the same one all her long life. She was perfectly behaved and never pulled the chain taught, so it wasn't really a concern.
We still have the chain and tags on a little Airedale statue.

I have nothing against a prong collar......used properly, it will not hurt and is a good training tool. I am not for choke chains or E-Collars. A reguale leather collor is not real effective and can even be dangerous if the dog somehow gets part of it in their mouth and can't get it out. A Harness is great on a trained dog, but difficult to train a dog with. Carlo still wears his Prong on walks.....I know I am going against the majority here, but thats my story and I am sticking to it. Basil and Caper's little Prongs are used in class and walks, and cost over $35 each because they are so small. They do not pull with it on, and a jentle tug gets their attention. I think most of you know I try my best to do what is best for the dogs.

This is a tough question. I am not sure there is an absolute answer. Personaly I do not use choke, prong, spray or electric collars when training dogs. Other trainers do, are they wrong ? I don't know. I have trained Labs, Dobies, German Sheperds, and Rotties with regular collars. But I have not trained an adult large or giant breed with aggressive problems. Even with my 30 year experience I would, seek help with a dog like that. I know my limits.

I do think all of them are cruel. Used to be opposed to their use, period. But I've since changed my mind. Absolutely think it's unacceptable to grab it for no reason. There are times when a large breed dog can't be trained without something like this.

Personally, I don't like prong collars and don't think there is any way they can't be extremely uncomfortable. I really dislike the Gentle Leader just as much as this other stuff. In a situation that required it, I'd use either though. I don't like the chain part of choke chains, but in general IMO they aren't much different than a tightening slip lead.

I'm also not inclined to relax over a small dog wearing a collar unless they are choking. I've noticed some dogs can handle it (not coughing) and some can't. Neither of my small dogs does well with a collar, so we forgo it for walks. However, Rylee does fine for the most part with it for potty breaks, so that's what we use. He can't wear a harness all day (chews on it) and I won't put it on several times a day. So harness for walks only. Ellie has a very sensitive neck, so harness at all times. A very tiny dog - harness.

So anyway, yes, if I had a large breed dog, I would use a tighening slip lead if necessary. I'm really not sure what the big difference is between that and a regular collar. One does tighten, but a regular collar tightens in the front when they pull.

JMHO, if the people that don't like them had a 100 pound dog that took there arm off every time they took a walk, they might become more appealing. Praise doesn't always work and I won't give my dogs treats all day. For small dogs I really don't see why the pulling is a huge deal in most cases.

I see nothing wrong with a choke or prong collar if used properly on big dogs. I'm not sure how people see it as cruel when used properly. It doesn't hurt the dog, it only offers a quick correction. I guess the real problem is that many don't know how to really use them. They expect the collar to work wonders and do all the work for them. That isn't how it works.

Small dogs however I believe should only wear harnesses. I sorry but I cringe every time I so much as see a collar being used for walking on a small dog. It's just too risky.
Mine all have collars but only for id purposes, never for walking.

I don't even know why they call them choke collars. If put on properly and used properly they do not choke the dog. It only offers a quick correction. If it is choking the dog than you either don't have it on right or are using it improperly. Yes there is a wrong way of putting it on. If not on the right way the chain won't slide and then yes you would be choking the dog. If you just go out and buy one without knowing how to use it you are probably going to do more harm than good.

I trained my cocker in obedience using a choke chain. She did great with it. Again the collar is made to only provide a quick correction and then the collar slides back into place. It is in no way choking the dog. A regular collar will choke the dog and can really damage their throats by them pulling. I've seen big dogs wear a regular collar coughing badly because they are choking themselves so much. With a choke collar or prong collar it wouldn't happen.

Now I tried the choke collar with our border collie husky mix and even a prong collar. It didn't phase her the least. Positive training didn't work either. If you were to walk her your arm would be nearly taken off. She was so hyper and so strong. So I then found the halti head collar. It worked wonders. We can now have a nice calm walk with her.

Every dog is different so not every training method will work for every dog. You do what works best that isn't harmful to the dog and use it.

Any tool is as tough or gentle as the hand that uses it.

I don't care for them at all! that being said....My daugther and son in law have a boxer. He was EXTREMELY hyper as boxers can be. They did take him for training....They had a very hard time walking him....They are NOT "lazy" when it comes to their boy...they did use a prong collar on him which helped tremendously. It got to the point where he wouldn't pull at all...he now where's a regular collar.

i believe that the evil is in the person and NOT the tool. Anything can be abused and misused. I mean a simple collar used to walk many dogs is frowned upon when used on smaller breed dogs. I think as long as intentions are good choke chains are fine. I wouldn't use them on my dogs (i've had three german shepherds about 7 years ago, and have a lab/bordercollie now), but thats my personal preference. i wouldnt object to someone else's choice- given non-misuse on their part

I don't agree with them.
My boyfriend has British Bulldogs and he even walks those on a harness. I believe you have better control of a dog when wearing a harness, if they are pulling you can pull them back without the fear of choking them and I think his bullies respond to that much better then they would on a choker.