Suppose there were one thing you could do to make your dog’s life more enjoyable. Imagine that one little change would afford your dog a lifetime of increased comfort and ease. Is there a dog lover alive who wouldn’t be on board?
Since dogs are “man’s best friend,” let’s hold up our end of the friendship by taking 30 seconds to put ourselves in a position to be empathetic.
Try this out : Open both palms such that your thumbs are touching each other and your fingers are pointed upward. Now put your thumbs at the base of your throat and lace your fingers around your neck.
Now, then. Go ahead and squeeze your neck and pull back with all your force keeping your thumbs connected. Try to utter a simple sentence. Get the idea?
Now you know how dogs feel when they are being directed or controlled with a leash and collar. If this isn’t enough, try putting a collar around your neck, attaching it to a leash and asking a friend to give you jolts and snaps without much warning.
Or while you are pulling in one direction, have your friend pull in the opposite direction. That hurts. A lot! Doesn’t it? It’s hard to imagine a whole lifetime of that.
Flat collars or buckle collars are great for decorative purposes — to display ID, and so on. But the time has come for them to be viewed as draconian and inconsiderate tools of control.
How many dogs need to suffer from tracheal injuries, thyroid damage, neck subluxations, spinal misalignments, tearing of retinal tissue in the eye, and esophageal damage before collars are forever eclipsed by a safer alternative?
The safer alternative is a harness. A front locking, well fitting harness, to be more specific. Harnesses that connect at the back, head halters, choke chains, prong collars and other alternatives are all, to varying degrees, ineffective, excessively restrictive or cruel. Don’t waste a cent on them.
There are undoubtedly people who will proclaim that it doesn’t matter what you use at the end of your leash and that as long as you teach your dog to have leash manners, there will be no pulling or injuries to speak of.
At the risk of seeming offensive, let me just say that this is a view that is naïve and not in touch with the reality of “dogdom.” While it’s 100 percent true that your dog’s leash should be thought of as more of an emergency plan than as a primary means of communication and control, what needs to be remembered is that in the real world, stuff happens.
Even the best taught dogs will, at some point pull. Dogs encounter other dogs in tight spaces. They encounter cats. Squirrels? Familiar neighbors whom they are anxious to visit. If your dog does not pull under any of these circumstances, congratulations.
But you are almost alone whereas most readers fall within the bell curve of experiencing more typical pulling behaviors — at least occasionally.
Since we are all compelled to follow leash laws. Why would anyone attach a harmful tool at the end of their dog’s leash?
After all, when you teach your dog leash manners, there are likely to be moments when the dog’s direction of movement doesn’t agree with the direction you are moving in. Why allow those moments to be painful?
Also, for those who might view this as an unnecessary consideration, the real world has dogs that weren’t born with proverbial silver spoons in their mouths.
Dogs in a high state of arousal from insufficient exercise. Dogs with reactivity issues. Dogs who are living in animal shelters who get very little guidance or training because of the limited resources in shelters.
At the end of the day, there are few, if any reasons to use a collar as an instrument for control. Feel free to “dress” your dog in any of the many beautiful collars available to us, but please remember: friends don’t choke friends. Get your dog a harness today.
Hany Hosny shares life with his adopted shelter dog, Stella. He volunteers at animal shelters and shares his relationship-centered ideas on living with dogs, on his popular Facebook page, Smarter You, Happier Dog.