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A really good friend of mine has a friend who owns a Silky Terrier. This girl's father trains GSD for the police. I found out gradually that this Silky is displaying aggressive traits, he doesn't like his owner (no surprise as she doesn't use positive reinforcement) and he (the dog) will not walk on a leash nicely. To solve this problem, the owner has been using a prong collar. A prong collar?!?!?!?!? On her father's GSDs he trains MAYBE, but on a SILKY!!!!!?!?!?!?!!?!??! My friend observed the owner using this prong collar and said that the dog gave a small yelp whenever the owner jerked. Is there something I can do to try and stop this? I feel really bad for the beautiful dog who I know could be really sweet if he was given a choice. I feel obligated to help, but afraid to insult the owner or get myself into trouble with her parents.
You can offer this story if you're friends " hey, I saw this post where a couple tried the prong collar on a pit mix (Reese) and she still wouldn't behave during walks. They tried this "Gentle Leader" and it worked great. She just could not pull anymore. Their friend with a smaller cattle dog tried it too and love it. Maybe you can try it on the silky. They got it at PetSmart."
I have learned and experienced different methods of training. And both can work. For my active ACD with attitude, I'm sticking with POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. It's amazing how fast the dog can learn. If you are really friends, why not suggest maybe the dog is becoming agressive because of the training method and offer to show her the difference. Buy her some training treat nibbles and show her the leave it command or how to practice the heel command.
An anonymous report to animal welfare/ASPCA/Dog Warden, would be a good start. The authorities must take your name, but will not reveal it to the dog owners.
Prong collars in and of themselves aren't bad, it's just that 99.9999% of people don't know how to use them properly and a small dog like that is bound to get hurt unless the person uses pressure, not force like this jerk is doing.
Maybe you can just say something like, "Gosh, are you sure her neck is big enough for a prong collar?"
He might not even realize that he can't really go around training a dog like he has been for work.
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