Hi! There, my name is Carla and we are here today at Country Club Kennels and Training, and in this segment we are going to cover the proper use of training tools. I have got Saffie here with us, sweet Saffie, she is available for adoption and she is going to demonstrate the use of these training tools. We are going to start with something which is called a Martingale collar.
A Martingale collar is a kind of combination between a regular buckle collar, which most dogs wear and a training collar. You got a little bit of this chain, which actually helps to give the noise correction without choke. So the collar is around the dog’s neck, if you need to give a leash correction, there’s a little pop to the chain, you get that noise, which is an aid for the dog to take as a cue. Anyway, I am going to put this on Saffie. Saffie sit. Slip it on over head, and I always like praise the dog, no matter what I am putting on over their head, so they have a positive association with it, and sometimes when you are leaning towards the dog, it’s a threatening motion, especially if the dog is not comfortable with you. So, let the dog know what you are going to do to them before you just go and to do it.
All right, I have got this Martingale collar on, and as you see, it got a little bit of chain. It serves the same purpose as your standard slip collar/choke collar. I don’t like to call them choke collars as they are only called coke collars if they are improperly. So with this, when you have to give them leash correction, it’s a quick pop, you get the noise of the chain without the choke.
Some people do you like these, these are pretty effective from many dogs, but just make sure if you use it, you use it properly. You don’t want to pull the dog like that. The dog is not learning anything. They are going to resist the tension. So, always be relaxed, have your hands on by your sides, be comfortable, and let the dog be comfortable and enjoy your walk.
I am going to next, put on this standard training collar, which is used by many, and if it is used properly—it’s a very effective training tool. If it’s used improperly, you are going to choke your dog. Therefore some people call it the choke collar. And if I going to use it, I like to leave it attached to the leash, because it’s not a collar that you should leave on your dogs unattended in the house, it is a training tool, so leave it attached to your leash.
To put in on properly, you want to see the chain through the end ring. It doesn’t matter how you pick it up, doesn’t make a difference as long as before it ends up on that dogs neck, you have in the proper position.
When you put it on over the dog’s neck, it’s important that it look like the letter P, P stands for puppy, for perfect, for proper. This is the proper way to put the collar on the dog’s neck. Let’s give Saffie break for one second. I am going to put it on my own arm, put it on, its looks like a letter P. Handler is on the dogs right hand side, dog on my left, the extra chain is traveling in the downward fashion between my leg and the dogs neck.
If I need to give a correction, it’s a quick pop and release. It’s not a pop and pull. If I pop and pull, the dog is going to resist this tension and pull away from me, defeating my goal. So, again, with this type of collar, it’s a pop release. I like to combine a verbal correction with that pop so that I am not popping all the time. I want the dog to respond on my voice. Pop – release. When she gets back in place, praise the dog, good girl Saffie.
Let’s go ahead and put it on, if we can get her turn around. Remember when you put on any training tool, praise the dog and let them know that you are doing something nice. Slip it on over her head. It does look like the letter P but if I were not sure, whether I had this on properly, I can always check it without giving her the correction. I put my hands through here, give her a little correction but she is not going to receive the correction, because she has done nothing wrong. So does it pop and release? Yes it does. Snap, release, Snap, release, it’s on properly.
If you put on backwards, it is easy to remember it looks like small letter b, b stands for bad, b stands for backwards. You do not want to put that training collar on your dog in this fashion. If you do, again my hand is at the dog’s neck, watch what happens, you give the pop, it doesn’t release. Pop, it’s not releasing, it’s staying tight. The dog’s automatic reaction to that is it is going to be the pull and resist this tension.
So you have got a tug of war going on and you are defeating your purpose. This is why sometimes people call this the choke collar. This is the wrong way to use it. So, that’s basically is the proper way to use both the Martingale collar and a standard training slip collar.
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