Q&A for How to Use a Prong Collar on Dogs

Make sure that you have a prong collar that is high quality—cheap collars are more likely to break and hurt your dog. A good quality one will be designed to protect your dog's trachea.

Yes—using a prong collar incorrectly could really scar your dog. You want to make sure you're working with a professional dog trainer so they can show you the correct way to use it.

The prong collar has been banned in 13 countries? The prong collar can be more humane than the so-called "choke chain." A choke chain, used inappropriately, can crush a dog's trachea, requiring corrective surgery. Prong collars aren't likely to cause that kind of damage because of how they are engineered. Prong collars pinch instead of crushing.

Some people use it for less than a week but others use it for 6 months or more. It depends on the dog.

No. Only clip the leash to one ring. On some collars, this is a D-Ring; on others, it is an O-Ring.

Small: 12” - 15” Neck; Medium: 15” - 21” Neck; Large: 17” - 23” Neck; Extra Large: 19” - 25” Neck.

I highly doubt it, but I would tighten just a bit. Make sure the clip is on top of the dog's neck so that the prongs make them uncomfortable and they don't pull. If you need to, pull on the leash if they continue pulling.

Harnesses that have a clip at the chest work best. Just make sure they fit snugly, because loose ones can fall off or be escaped from.

Using pliers will help you spread and close the collar with ease.

These rubber tips are to nullify the shock power, meaning it won't hurt as much. These are supposed to be on for the first days, but then you take them off. Consider them the training wheels to a bike.

Dogs jump on people due to excitement. Introducing intimidation and punishment (the collar) will not suppress the excitement; in fact it could make things worse, encouraging fear to develop, and fear evokes powerful emotions, such as aggression. I recommend teaching your dog to be calm in those situations and teaching 'the calm settle' which can be found on Youtube. If your dog is not over aroused then they'll have no motivation to jump in the presence of other people.

You're supposed to unlink and link it back together around your dog's neck instead of pulling it over, which could harm your dog. That's why they're also called pinch collars, and no, when you find the comfortable fit on your dog when the collar is on, you use the same links already on the collar. If you were to use a different link to attach the collar, (let's say a link that isn't the same as the others such as size wise), you'll mess up what pressure is distributed around the neck. You can order more links of the same size if the collar feels too tight on the dog's neck, and if the collar is too loose around your dog's neck then you would remove/take off some of the links on the prong.

You should be able to fit one finger under a link on the prong. Another way to see if it's too tight is if your dog seems more uncomfortable and tries to shake it off when you're walking or if it slips down their neck while you're walking, you can tell that it's too loose.

It seems like the dog is oblivious to it. Try another method of training. It sounds like a gentle leader won't work either, so consult a professional dog trainer.

Try to keep the tension on his leash so it doesn't slip down and when/if it does slip down, make him stop so that you can correct it. You might also try using a harness and regular collar.

It should be tight enough that it doesn't slip around on the dog's neck. If it is moving around, then remove a prong.

Do not slip the collar over the dogs head. You could accidentally injure the dog. If you can slip it over the dog's, head the prong collar has not been fit properly to your dog.