Herm Sprenger

[J]

Would you say the herm sprenger is effective for walks and beginner-friendly to use?  

[Adrienne]

Hello, and welcome to the forums,

Herm sprenger makes a variety of collars, but in general, they are known for producing prong collars. Prong collars are something I do not personally recommend. The reasons for this are several, here are a few:

- A prong collar is a corrective device. In other words, it's meant to work by creating an unpleasant sensation around the dog's neck (the prongs "dig" into the skin). There are two mechanisms of action: active correction (directly from the owner) or passive correction (indirectly). Active correction takes place when the owner deliberately delivers a correction by yanking the leash when the dog is showing signs of "misbehaving." The yank is given contingent upon the dog performing an undesirable behavior.

Passive correction takes place when the dog pulls on the leash, in other words, the dog receives an "auto-correction" since upon pulling, the strain on the leash causes the prong collar to tighten around the neck. When a dog therefore lunges towards other dogs, one may deliver a correction, or the dog may get an "auto-correction".

-Potential fallouts. In the case of a dog pulling and getting an autocorrection or a deliberate correction from the owner, one would think that the dog associates lunging with the pain and therefore, should stop lunging. But there's more into that.

First of all, depending on the dog's pain threshold/situation (when dogs go through adrenaline surges as it happens during fight or flight) they may have reduced perception of pain/discomfort), this may or may not result in reduced pulling behavior. Secondly, lunging is simply an outward manifestation of internal turmoil. Correction after correction, the dog risks learning to associate the presence of other dogs with the pain of the collar, with the potential for further increasing reactivity. Fixing pulling and lunging behaviors with corrective tools therefore risks increasing anxiety and aggression. 

Board-certified veterinary behaviorists Dr. Soraya V. Juarbe-Diaz  explains, “I can stop any behavior, but I am more interested in teaching my students, animal or human, to choose the behavior I want them to perform because they can trust me, because I do not hurt them and they are safe with me, and because the outcome is something they enjoy. Mistakes are inherent in any type of learning — if I continually frighten or hurt my students when they get something wrong, eventually they will be afraid to try anything new and will not want to learn from me any longer."

-Physical results. The negative repercussions explains why Austria and Switzerland have banned the use of prongs and why many dog trainers, behaviorists and veterinarians are concerned about their use. Veterinarian and thyroid expert Dr. Jean Dodds claims that prong collars can easily injure a dog's thyroid as well as the salivary glands and salivary lymph nodes.

So what tools do I recommend for dogs who pull and large dogs?  In general,  I prefer front-attachment harnesses. Lately,  the Perfect Fit harness has received rave reviews among dog trainers along with the Balance Harness and the Ruffwear Front Range harness. Another option that may work for some dogs are head halters, although these need an adjustment period (to get the dog used to wearing it). 

And of course, it should never be forgotten that training is the ultimate answer for training dogs to walk nicely. Only training, along with gentle guidance, patience and time is what ultimately stops pulling. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

 

 

[JMFS]

I'll chime in.  I have used the Gentle Leader, martingale collar, and front attachment harness. 

Out of the three the front attachment harness is my favorite.  It took no time for my dogs to get used to, their necks are safe, they're securely restrained, and I have my choice of where to put the leash for control.  I have a leash that snaps around my waist and has a bungee type of design to it so my dogs feel the resistance slowly when they pull.  This means less jerking for me and having the leash around my waist gives me greater stability.  I have a plethora of neck, shoulder, and back issues and any jolts can spell big trouble for me ranging from pain to limited mobility / range for several days.

The martingale collar is brilliant as well.  I call it a safety choke collar.  It will only choke so far and you set the limit; hence safety.  When they're walking loosely the collar has a nice amount of give, but if they pull or jerk it tightens to the point I've set it.  This works nicely for Gertie, whose head is smaller than her neck.  She has slipped out of normal collars.  This type of collar is also commonly seen on Whippets, whose heads are narrower than their necks and whose necks are reportedly delicate.  The cost is less than a front attachment harness and it works equally well with my bungie style leash.

The Gentle Leader (a head harness) has the greatest degree of difficulty and the largest margin for error.  Owners can damage their pups as this head harness is designed to go over their sensitive noses.  The instructions say to use only a slight pressure with your pinky for corrections and I've seen folks yanking the things.  Dogs also don't like the feel of the strap across their noses, and it can slip up into their line of sight which is likely annoying.  Mo has been known to slide his face in the grass for the better part of a city block trying to dislodge the thing from his face.  I didn't know back then, but if the pooches are slowly introduced to the harness with treats and praise there is a larger success rate.  I did use only pinky pressure so I got that much right, but simply slapping the thing on his face saw resistance.  Much like we all felt about wearing masks for the first time!  Most people were fidgeting with the things constantly, and many still do.  However, when done properly it's a viable solution and we did get to a point where it worked well.

If interested, the leash I have is Kong brand and it is solid.  You can also search Chewy or Amazon for a bungee leash and come up with numerous options.  I am forbidden from posting a link to the search with the filters I selected so I'll give the details:  dog with 4+ stars, sort: most reviews (on Chewy) or average customer review (Amazon).  This is one place I don't skimp on price.  The last thing I want is my leash to fail!  I did find the Kong bungee leash on Amazon: KONG Traffic Handle Reflective Bungee Leash  The snap is metal, though the piece that snps in is plastic.  I've used the leash many times and it's just as tough as it was on day 1.  If the dog is small the leash may be overkill, though.  Momo is 34 lbs, Gertie is 42.

Equipment aside, if you have the room, you may consider getting that initial burst of energy tamed.  Momo is a horrible walker because he's über hyper and the first 15 minutes of our walks, even after 8 years, consist of stopping, turning around, stopping, turning around . . ..  He's exhausting!  So, to tone it down a wee bit I'll play fetch with him, or send Gertie out to play and chase around (but then she's too tired to walk, lol - that old man has some energy and even a young pup can't keep up with him!).  We play "in the lanai, out of the lanai," where I step inside the lanai, he runs around to the doggy door and comes to me.  I step out of the lanai and he runs out of the doggy door and around the lanai to come to me.  Rinse and repeat about 10 times (I'm not even kidding).  Then he Might be calm enough to go on a walk.