My first golden, Sally heeled perfectly, the old fashioned way, by my side, but not with her head up. She was a gorgeous heeler. My second dog, Laney was taught by me and my OTCH friend, using a microprong collar. The method used was Terry Arnold's method. She was a gorgeous heeler. Used properly, with correct timing, on the right dog, you can achieve good results... I stopped using it after she got her CD and she went on to get her CDX and UD, with placements for all legs. Cookie, George, and Mantha who all each got at least a CD, were trained with a buckle collar and a clicker. They also heel/heeled with their heads up. Personally, I am grateful to no longer be doing collar pops, but that is just how I have evolved. When Laney got collar pops, it truly made her brighter and try harder. My subsequent dogs are more soft...

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Janice and The Celebration Gang -
"Samantha, George, Tiki, Emily, Mick and Basil" Gone but not forgotten, Sally(Windjammer's Ima Country Girl CDX CGC), Laney(Mandell Marlenes Celebration UD RA CGC), and Cookie(Starseeker's Kissmas Cookie CDX RE CGC).

Update:

I don't feel 100% comfortable using the prong collar on her right now. I did get the Herm small collar with extra links. It affects my energy and subsequently it affects Molly's too. Every day I try it but I remove it and remember Tippy's post. At this point I am going to focus on precise rewarding and extra praise. Our problem is regarding about turns so we have been playing a lot of games to fix that.


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At Bertie's class on Saturday the instructor recommended these collars as a more feel-good alternative to using prongs. They're called starmark collars?

From what you've typed I do not think you need this or the prongs - though it's NICE to have a good prong collar in your training bag.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

They're the feel good alternative!?!? They look terrifying!

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LOL. They look quite a bit different in person.

Our Products | Starmark <- More info here.

My gut feeling is the "feel good" part is when its on your dog, it looks a bit like a flat collar.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Yikes that looks even scarier!

I'm definitely keeping it in my bag. I don't think I need it either, at least not right now.


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If you're really set on forgoing the prong for now, try posting a "reward-based heeling" thread. There are several members who don't use prongs or chokes for their competition obedience heeling, and they may have good books, videos, and techniques for you.

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Gotta agree. To me that thing looks like a medieval torture device.

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers

The dog doesn't know how scary it looks.

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Grasslands Liberty Belle "Bella" CGC (5-7-2012)

To be perfectly honest......now that I think about it, Bella could probably heel just as well without the prong right now. After all, I use the light line in the house for every practice session (with literally zero corrections), and she does just as well. However, I do believe she has gotten to the point she is at faster than she otherwise would have due to the prong collar.

I actually need it more for casual walks.

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Grasslands Liberty Belle "Bella" CGC (5-7-2012)