Essays · Before the puppy
Almost every equipment argument is really an argument about something else. Here is what the equipment does and does not do.
About five minutes
New owners spend a remarkable amount of money cycling through equipment, and most of it gets bought in the hope that the right item will solve a training problem.
Equipment does not train dogs. It changes what is physically possible while training happens, which is useful and is a different job.
Six feet, flat, leather or biothane. That is the whole answer for daily use.
Retractable leads teach a dog that constant tension is normal and give you no control at the moment you need it. They also cause a specific and nasty injury when the cord runs across a hand. I would not use one.
A long line is separate equipment for a separate job, covered in its own piece.
A flat collar for identification, always, with a tag. Up here that matters more than in town because a loose dog in Clear Creek can cover ground fast.
A harness for anything where the dog might hit the end of a line hard. Long line work, hiking, the car.
A front clip harness reduces pulling by changing the mechanics. It does not teach the dog not to pull, and if you use one for a year and then take it off you will have a dog who pulls. That is fine as long as you know that is the deal you made.
Every anti pull device is a management tool. Used alongside training they buy you a workable walk while the training takes. Used instead of training they are a permanent subscription.
Prong collars, slip leads and e-collars generate more heat than everything else combined.
Here is what I will say plainly. All three can be used well and all three are used badly constantly. The tool is not the variable. The person's ability to read the dog is the variable, and somebody who cannot read a dog will do harm with a flat collar and a bag of treats.
I am not going to tell you what to use from a webpage, because the honest answer depends on the dog, the household, the problem, and who is holding it. Anyone who will tell you the answer without meeting the dog is selling you a position rather than a plan.
Whether the dog has been taught the behaviour somewhere easy first. Most equipment gets reached for because a dog is failing in a hard environment at something they were never taught in an easy one.
Whether the handler's timing is any good. A tool amplifies timing. Bad timing with a stronger tool is worse than bad timing with a weak one.
Whether the dog is sore. A surprising amount of pulling, refusing and reactivity is orthopaedic, and no equipment fixes that.
A crate that is the right size. A treat pouch, because fumbling in a pocket wrecks timing. A thirty foot biothane line. A decent bed that is not in a walkway. Chews that last longer than four minutes.
That list is under two hundred dollars and it covers most households for years.
Another item, because the last one did not work.
If you are on your fourth harness, the harness is not the problem. Put the third one back on, pick one training approach, and run it for a month without changing anything. That will tell you more than the fifth harness will.
If you would rather just ask someone
Tell us the age, what is happening, and what you have already tried. You will get a straight answer about what we would do, whether or not that involves us.
More in Before the puppy
The first week with a puppy
Nearly everything people do in week one is meant to make the puppy feel welcome, and a surprising amount of it makes the next six months harder.
Before the puppyWhen to start, and the myth of too early
The two most common answers are wait until six months and wait until they have had all their shots. Both cost more than they save.
Before the puppyEveryone told you something different
Four trainers, four confident answers. Most contradictory advice is correct advice with the conditions stripped off.