Shiver Me- Timbers- "Charlie"
My Little Dog, a- heartbeat at my- feet.<3 | 
 | | Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 3:29pm PST |  | |  | | Sadly, Jocie, you have been grossly misinformed by about canine behavior. Submission is something that is OFFERED - never forced, and clearly, you don't know anything about wolf packs if you're following the old alpha based theory. The VERY PERSON who brought 'alpha' into the training world went back after years of research and APOLOGIZED FOR BEING WRONG.
Do you SERIOUSLY use a choke chain on a four month old Papillion? 
To say it doesn't CHOKE a dog, when that's the very IDEA of the collar, is denial in itself. It doesn't always release immediately and can quite easily become tangled, which is why it's not used as a regular collar to begin with and is never supposed to be left on the dog. Martingales are much more appropriate if you're going that route, because they have an END to which they can tighten so you can set it so it DOESN'T choke our your dog. But y'know... Keep using it on your little puppy.
And Ninja hit the nail on the head. A wagging tail DOES NOT always mean happiness or relaxation. They can wag their tails during stress, arousal, aggression, most other behaviors, and it's usually combined with other body language behaviors that clearly, you haven't picked up on.
You DO NOT NEED aversive training collars to train a dog. And to use them on a four month old Papillion... Omd..
Your dog is not challenging you left, right and center. My dog isn't challenging me when he leans on me - he wants attention. My dog isn't challenging me when he walks in front of me, he's excited to walk. Seriously...
And to say we couldn't crate our dogs - BULL... I taught my dog to LIKE his kennel by making it a positive thing. I taught my dogs that me leaving = them getting good things like stuffed kongs. And why do you keep comparing dogs to humans and other animals? Because you have nothing else to make a point with?
Your trainer is using outdated methods. You can successfully bond and TRAIN your dog using positive methods that keep her perfectly happy. Do you not read the posts around here? There are several people with dogs with championship titles(which really has nothing to do with it anyway), that use positive-based training only and no aversive methods, but clearly they don't know A THING, right? Ali brown doesn't know what she's doing, nor does Victoria Stillwell, or Dr. Sophia Yin, or so many of the others positive reinforcement based trainers. But y'know, your trainer knows BEST, you know best and you know better than... Oh what, at least eight people that have already responded?
So tell me, how did I train my BEAGLE(a notoriously stubborn breed that's more focused on their nose) over 40 commands and proper manners with people, in and outside of my own house. How in the world did I manage THAT without a choke collar or aversive methods? Please, oh great one, teach me your ways, I'm so curious as to how I could ruin the relationship and bond I've already built up with my dog, just by swapping training techniques to those which you use. Please, oh great one, tell me how I could rehabilitate aggressive dogs over the years and gain their trust by CHOKING them or stressing them out more?! 
I'm oh, so curious.
OH.. and... Also you conveniently forget the many dogs who have become dominant in the relationship and as a result harmed someone. Seriously? Yes, because dogs are out to get humanity and dominate us and take over the world. Absolutely. NOT. They didn't HURT anyone because they were 'dominant'. Dogs have hurt people from FEAR(attacking when they're scared because they can't flee), from experience(had bad experiences and learned that they had to protect themselves from people), and SO MANY OTHER REASONS. Most of which isn't from being dominant. They don't guard their food to dominate you, they guard it to protect a valuable resource and can be taught that you're safe around their food. I rehabilitated my FEAR AGGRESSIVE Rottweiler who would lunge at and snap at strangers because she was SCARED of strange men. Why? Because she had been alpha rolled, she had been hit and she was trained through aversive methods to be a 'guard dog' and instead, became fearful. I taught her that humans were good and to be trusted and she learned to LIKE letting people in the house and to enjoy pets from strangers. My foster dog was aggressive with people because he didn't trust them - he had been beaten, starved, etc so he guarded resources, and he attacked when he felt threatened because people like you taught him that 'growling' was bad, even though it's their ONLY way to say "I'm not comfortable right now."... He wasn't trying to dominate. And you know what? Several people went to emergency clinics for the bites he gave them, to get stitches. By the time I was done with him, he would bark instead of bite, and he would sit instead of lunge, and he got adopted by a wonderful family. To say they were trying to dominate when they simply didn't know they could trust is a load of crap. Also, many people over the years get bit by trying to break up a dog fight because the dog redirected, not because he wanted to show YOU who was boss. 
OP - a front-clip harness is a really fantastic tool. You can also go onto kikopup's youtube channel by searching her username and find some great lessons on loose-leash walking - they're based on positive reinforcement and making your dog WANT to walk nice for you. A properly fitted Halti can work great too, IF used properly and attached to a collar, or while using a double leash(one on halti, other on collar or harness) to make sure the dog doesn't hurt themselves. Please keep in mind with all tools, to introduce the dog to them first through positive reinforcement, such as rewarding when they put their snout through the nose loop, so they associate it with good things.  Edited by author Sat Oct 27, '12 3:36pm PST
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