On Leash Training

After going to into town for the first time I knew that I needed to teach my dog how to be on a leash. She was not bad, but i wanted to save myself from bad habits that could happen later on. She would slightly pull when she wanted to smell something, saw another dog, saw a person that made her excited, or was wanting to run. At first I started this training at the house. I would walk her and as soon as she would pull I would call her and slowly back up. You could tell she was getting frustrated, but when I kept my composure she realized I was looking for something. This took about a week of training for her to understand the concept at the house. I then felt confident that she could learn in public and was I wrong. When we got to public areas she would pull and pull and I felt like she was going to make herself pass out. The place I got her from told me that prong collars are the best way to train a German Shepherd. So I took her to our favorite store tractor supply to buy a prong collar. When we left we were getting weird looks thinking it was mean to put one of these on a dog. After training with it it is much more mean to use a normal collar to train. When using a normal collar it cuts off their windpipe allowing them to not breathe. Also when using a harness i don’t see as many improvements because it is never uncomfortable to the dog. The prong collar is just uncomfortable for the dog when used right. As the dog applies tension the dog is causing the discomfort and will quickly quit pulling on the lead. This is a fast training method because the dog knows it is causing itself the discomfort and not the person at the end of the leash. I have been asked multiple time why I use the collar and get looks of disappointment from people. They ask “is she aggressive?” and after I tell them she is not and explain the use for this collar they start to understand and do not judge why I am using what i am using. When explaining I always ask would you rather not be able to breath or be moderately uncomfortable? They always answer uncomfortable. She is now off of the prong collar and is wearing normal collar because she does not pull anymore. I found this to be a quick and safe way to train your dog on how to not pull when on walks.