CharlieMyPoodle

Do any of you use a training collar with your poodle? Or at least in the beginning?

We are not trying to do any serious training - just basic commands - but it is mainly for walking.

There is a lot of pulling when we walk, and I would like for that to stop.

We used to have a big dog, a few years back, and he used to take US for a walk, if you know what I mean

We later got a training collar, you know, the kind with the spikes, and the behavior was corrected within 2-3 days.

Is that bad? Do any of you use a training collar?

Thanks for your input.

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fjm

I would be very wary of using any collar that can tighten on a mini - they can suffer from collapsed trachea, usually caused by pressure from a collar. I found the easiest way to teach loose leash walking was to do it without a leash - I had very good treats in the pocket next to the dog, and if she stayed with me for a few steps she got one. Once she had got the idea, I added the "With me" cue. Then added in the leash, and increased the time beside me before the treat. Any pulling, and I either stopped, or turned and walked away - depending on the reason.

It might be worth trying Charlie with a harness while you are teaching him loose leash collar walking - there are several designed to discourage pulling, but they need to be fitted correctly.

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To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

JE-UK

What do you mean by a training collar? Choke chain? Prong collar? Shock collar?

Essentially, ANY collar is a training collar, if you are training while the poodle is wearing it .

Mine wears a flat buckle collar and is perfectly easy to train in it. It wouldn't matter if he wore nothing though, because none of our training involves yanking on his neck.

Training theory has really moved on in the last 15 years, to recognising that reward-based training is more effective, kinder, and more FUN! There are still some trainers who cling to outdated, pain/punishment-based methods, but they are becoming fewer and fewer.

There is a really good trainer who posts great training videos on Youtube; if you search Youtube for Kikopup, you'll find a tremendous amount of really good examples of how to train various behaviours using purely positive methods.

I train with reward-based methods, because I want my dog to like and trust me, to love training, and because I have no desire to crush his little poodle spirit. It is more work for me, but we have a much better relationship because of it ... he works for me because he WANTS to, not because he feels he has no choice.

JE-UK

Rowan

I'm just echoing what FJM said--be careful with tight collars on a miniature or toy poodle. Having adopted two poodles with collapsed tracheas, I can tell you it's not something you ever want to experience. :(

I'm not an advocate of those prong collars either...I think there are better ways to encourage compliance on leash. I've always used harneses and I've yet to have an issue with pulling.