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Hey guys how’s here with shield canine Today i am going to tell you how to Properly use a prawn collar don’t worry This isn’t like the usual videos online This is how you fit a prawn cutter you Have to put it here and do this no no no I’m talking about how to actually use This to train your dog and what not to Do Because that is big i see a lot of People using these devices incorrectly All right this is not a panacea This is not a magic device you put on Your dog and your dog magically behaves A lot of people make that mistake in Today’s day and age everybody’s looking For a quick fix this is not a quick fix This is just a tool that either will Enhance your ability to communicate with Your dog or cause more problems in your Communication with your dog it just Enhances what you already have that Basic ability to communicate or to not Communicate with your dog and i see a Lot of people Really screwing this one up so i’m going To tell you guys how to use it properly So the first thing you have to Understand about the prong collar okay It is a primarily a tool for negative Reinforcement what do i mean by negative Reinforcement Basically The the reader’s digest version of
Negative reinforcement is Creating Discomfort Right and then creating comfort and Desirable behavior so an example would Be you get in your car you hear that Annoying noise ding ding ding ding ding You’re uncomfortable that noise is Uncomfortable you put the seat belt in The clip the discomfort goes away Showing the organism whatever organism You happen to be training how to go from Discomfort to comfort that’s all you’re Doing right so I shouldn’t have to explain further but I will one more time if you use a leash With your dog you believe in negative Reinforcement right you want your dog to Come to you you pull on the leash she Comes to you he was uncomfortable he Came to you the discomfort went away you Want your dog to sit you pull up on the Collar he’s uncomfortable he sits The pressure goes away this is negative Reinforcement the prong collar is a Wonderful tool to use in that Type of training okay But The reason why i really like the prong Collar is it’s not limited to only a few Types of negative reinforcement you can Use it across a vast spectrum In the negative reinforcement category And you can also use it as a punisher
Okay and there is a time and a place for Both in dog training a lot of people Don’t know this or understand this or They’re emotional about this but that’s The reality so Those of you wondering Halti for instance is a negative Reinforcer every time the dog pulls his Head gets pulled sideways this is Uncomfortable he stops pulling and he Releases the pressure at least that’s The idea with some dogs it doesn’t work Very well And you know it works along the same Concept negative reinforcement a lot of The positive only trainers for some Reason like the halti i’ve always said Halters are for horses most dogs i find Really hate that thing around their face Some of them get the scar on their nose From the hall to constantly rubbing it’s For me it’s too much of a band-aid Solution it’s not so much of a training Device right the prong collar is a Training device when used properly Believe me you don’t want to turn this Into a band-aid solution because in the Beginning you’ll be using it you’re like Oh my god everything’s so much better And believe me over a period of time It’ll all go backwards in many cases so If you have a dog who’s pulling maybe in The beginning he won’t pull but then After a while he’s going to get used to
It and he’s going to start pulling you Around just have a dog come in today She’s dragging her owners on one of These devices full power she’s dragging The owners like a tractor on a prong Collar because they never were taught How to use it properly and they just put It on and they hope for the best and Unfortunately that’s often not how it Works out with dog training so Brown collar is a negative reinforcer Okay there are two primary ways To use It Pulling okay so if you’re making Directional pressure on the leash this Is great when you’re trying to teach the Dog to do something right so let’s say i Wanted to train a sit i pulled upwards On the prong collar i’ve created Discomfort The dog offers the desired behavior i Remove the discomfort Okay That’s A very easy version of how you could use The prong collar to train the sit or to Reinforce the set okay down same thing You make the down pressure It’s uncomfortable the dog offers the Desired behavior you remove the Discomfort and of course you can add a Reward into going into the positive Reinforcement side of the equation but
Don’t worry about that right now i’m Just talking about the prong collar okay So Using directional pressure on the leash Now why do we use you can use listen you Can do this with a flat collar you can Do this with choke chain you can do this With a lot of different devices but the Great thing about the prong collar why i Really like to use it is because a lot Of dogs are very desensitized in the Neck they’ve basically grown up pulling You know they’ve just basically learned To ignore a lot of pressure in the neck Area right so when you use the prong Collar The dog is much more aware of pressure Coming on and off the neck so it Enhances my ability to communicate with The dog and it increases the rate at Which the learning occurs that’s why i Like to use it’s a very good It’s a very good negative reinforcer People say it’s power steering i don’t Like power steering i don’t like that Word because it implies that the prong Caller is doing things by itself Only an idiot lets training devices do Things by themselves to the dog i View it as a magnifier an amplifier it Amplifies my ability to communicate with My dog Right that’s what a prawn collar does so It’s really important to kind of
Perceive it like that now We talked about directional pressure on The leash and it’s great because i can You know lie down sit come to me you Guys can see kind of where you can go With it that’s one way to use it but Here’s the problem When you make directional pressure What happens is a lot of people try to Do this to get things like pulling to Stop Right or to get to correct the bad Behavior they just pull on the dog and Remember how i said this is negative Reinforcement there are some things you Do not want to negatively reinforce like Pulling because if i’m using negative Reinforcement on pulling that’s what i’m Going to do i’m going to create more Pulling because i’m creating pressure And maybe in the beginning it’s enough That the dog does stop but after a while They start perceiving this Ass Up pressure and i’m going to oppose the Pressure i’m going to pull into it now Which is why a lot of dogs pull on the Prong collar after a couple of weeks Right so You have to start to think another big One leash aggression leash reactivity People pull or they hold the dog back on The prong collar so now you’re creating Discomfort
And the dog is showing arousal you know Reactive behavior aggressive behavior Towards another dog and you’re holding Him on the collar it’s creating physical Discomfort it’s actually amplifying the Behavior it’s not reducing the behavior That’s where the idea that the prone Caller makes things worse comes from it Makes things worse when you use it to Negatively reinforce aggression yes it Certainly does or leash reactivity or Whatever you want to call it Okay so there are times when directional Pressure is good in training And then there are times when you want To use something we call popping A lot of people cannot pop a leash Properly okay now what i’m doing here And you can pop at various levels of of Of force right i can deliver a very Heavy pop And i can deliver Very light pipes and depending on what I’m trying to accomplish right will Depend on how i pop the dog on the leash Right if i wanted to kind of encourage The dog to maybe for instance come to me Just gentle like pops right and when i’m Doing this what i’m doing is i’m Creating the collars activating Releasing activating releasing Activating releases when i just do that The collar activated and now all the Pressure is staying on the collar
Right and it isn’t releasing And that has an impact on a lot of dogs And again depending on what you’re Trying to do It can be productive or Counterproductive so i want you to think This is generally for me light taps on The leash i call it tapping because i’m Going to tap tap tap watch the leash it Makes pressure releases and that happens In a fraction of a second a lot of People put a big pull on the end Right and even if they release Afterwards it still is perceived as a Pull because that’s what the dog feels The dog feels pressure release pressure Release i want Pressure pressure pressure pressure Pressure okay that’s how i want the dog To perceive tapping so usually for a dog Then maybe it’s a little bit slow to get From point a to point b mining turns Hey pick it up pick it up pick it up Just kind of like you’re spurring a Horse go go go go right and then There are times when i want the dog to Do something right We’re making more of a directional Pressure lie down Right maybe if he already knows the lie Down but he’s a little bit slow i go Down down down down down right there’s a Time and a place for everything it Depends on where the dog is in training
Depends on the dog you’re dealing with Okay a big one for me is the leash Pulling A lot of people just rely on the dog Running into the end of the leash and Hoping That the the pressure of the prong Collar is enough but like i said before A lot of dogs get used to it so what i Do is i bump the dog off the end of the Leash he gets to the end of the leash Hole He gets off the end of the leash he gets The unleashed bone he gets off the Inhalation it’s a quick application of Pressure if he stays on the leash Oh Pressure is released right Now Depending on how you’re using the prong Collar depending on the dog in front of You remember what i said it could be a Negative reinforcer so i could be Negatively reinforcing specific Behaviors that i want Or don’t want if i don’t know what i’m Doing And i can be positively punishing so Punishment is anything you do To remove a behavior right it’s anything You do to remove a behavior and yes There are many things dogs do That you don’t want them to do That they find intrinsically satisfying
That they will continue to do so this Whole concept of oh just train the dog And magically he’s going to stop doing The bad things it doesn’t work most dogs Do bad things because they they actually Develop an intrinsic satisfaction from Doing that specific thing like reactive Behavior towards other dogs so on and so Forth we won’t get into the nuts and Bolts of that right now because that’s Not what this lecture is about But What you have to do for punishment is You basically create A consequence that overwhelms the Intrinsic desire or satisfaction the dog Is getting out of performing ex behavior That you don’t like so for instance if My dog decides he wants to pull me on The leash Right and i make A big correction there whenever he pulls Me via a big snap right it’s not do not Pull for this big sharp snap boom just Like this look at my arm everything’s Loose Everything’s loose oh and it’s very fast Right quick sharp snap snap release the Caller hits releases hits releases hits Releases so he gets to the end of the Legion he feels Good And now he’s off and then he makes the Pressure again
Or maybe it’s just one big one usually i Find one big one’s good enough right he Gets to the end of it boom okay I’m off of it i’m off of it he starts to Feel the pressure now And he says oh i know what this means And he gets off the end of the leash Right so you can use it to positively Punish the dog for getting on the end of The leash and i know yes you can train This with food no you can’t you can Train the dog to come away from the end Of the leash with food sure But again We live in a world full of competing Motivators and at some point the dog’s Gonna say forget your liver treats i Would like to go and smell that dog over There and i’m gonna drag you And now your litter treats Sorry it doesn’t work i always say i Like to use the money example okay There’s five hundred dollars over there All right And i’ve got twenty dollars Hey can you come to me for the 20 or say Screw you dude there’s 500 over there Forget your 20 bucks And that’s what happens right that’s That’s the real world most people have 20 bucks in their pocket but the dog’s Seen thousands of dollars all around him That’s why your dog doesn’t listen to You now of course if there’s no money
Around And your dog sees your twenty dollars Again this is an analogy guys of course He’s gonna come to you Right this is the problem with positive Only training you’re only trying to use Incentives but guess what the world is Full of incentives you’re not the only One who has a monopoly on incentives so There are now we have to levy fines You get to the end of the leash Oh and i make a big fight Okay so now yeah maybe you see 500 there But it’s going to cost you 600 it’s Going to cost you 600 to pull me on the Leash You think of it like that right it’s the Same thing for reactive behavior the dog Goes to the end of the leash right and Tries to be reactive no And i give him you know a heavy fine for That behavior oh crap i’m gonna get off The end now again Like i said this isn’t appropriate for All dogs This isn’t the solution for all dogs There are many dogs where the problem Caller especially for reactive behavior It’s not going to help you that’s where Being a doc trainer and knowing kind of What you’re looking at and not viewing Tools as a panacea To problems Comes in i’m just telling you guys how
To use the prong collars basically you Can use it directionally with pressure At varying levels and you can also use It With the tapping right or the big sharp Snap right you can use it as a negative Reinforcer or you can use it right Negative reinforcer negative reinforcer No positive punisher right so There are different ways to use this Device remember You don’t get to decide your dog will Tell you right so for instance if i Wanted my dog to sit and i’m a little Bit ham-fisted and i pulled up on this Collar and my dog screamed and started Flailing around and overreacted and you Know Peed itself and all sorts of things Right and showed a complete suppression I i Punished the dog and created suppression I didn’t negatively reinforce a sit i Probably created a lot of problems Around that sit now right especially When i introduce leash pressure so i Always advise you guys when you’re using The prong collar especially in the Beginning go light in the beginning kind Of figure out where your dog’s Sensitivity level is at figure out where That minor discomfort is figure out Where major discomfort is figure out Where suppression is remember punishment
We want suppression so let’s say last Part of this lesson My dog’s being reactive and going after Other dogs and i say no and i give him a Tap on the leash that i think is a Pretty good tap Or snap i should say and he gets even Worse Right did i punish him It was my intention to punish him but i Didn’t i negatively reinforced the Reactive behavior now let’s say i go 100 50 more strength the next time so he Goes and i say no And the dog goes oh Oh crap That really sucked and shows a Suppressive Emotion right a suppression a Suppressive behavior Um a behavioral expression Well now i know i punished him in that Instant for that specific behavior Doesn’t mean it’s gone forever no of Course not there’s other things that you Must do but i’m just talking again about The prince caller so the prawn color has A lot of benefits But In the wrong hands it can be misused Just like any other device in dog Training just like the halti i see the Halting misuse so much and again i don’t Like the halti not only because of the
Noseband but it there’s less that you Can do with a halter you can do so much More with this device so i really like It just like it’s like a bit in horse You know horse training yeah some people Train bridal bridal lifts or whatever There’s different kinds of bits some Bits are more severe some bits are less Severe depends on the horse depends on What you’re working on right depends on What you need the horse to do it’s the Same in dog training i really like this Because there’s different levels too Like you can really tailor it to how Much strength you’re using how you’re Using it there’s two rings generally on Most prong collars by the way i always Use the prong collar these are herm Sprenger you can get them on our website I always use a prong collar that has the Chains okay right and the chain is just The action on the chain the prong Collars with the chains versus like the Nylon clips and stuff like this so much Better it really is very springy Remember i want the action to go in and Come out very very fast and the prong Collars with the chains the action is Very springy i like it goes in and out i Really want to be able to release the Pressure the instant i release pressure And to make pressure the instant i make The pressure boom boom boom so i hope This helps you guys i hope it kind of
Starts you thinking a little bit this is Not a panacea this is not a magic device This is a dog training device and it’ll Either help you or it’ll hurt you Depending on what you’re doing with the Dog in front of you one last thing guys Just a quick note check out our online Courses we have complete Online courses on everything from how to Train your dog off-leash obedience Competition obedience protection Training reactive behavior and so much More check us out shield k9.ca you can Train with us anywhere in the world for A very reasonable amount of money shield K9.ca check us out