Swiss Lick Swissies

I finally tried the Prong!

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 | Indigo

And the first the that comes to mind is why the heck did I wait so long? Seriously. What was I thinking? Did I think it would hurt Indy? Was I worried that people would look at me like I was mean? I don’t know, really. Maybe I was just lazy.

Since I’m heading up to Cedarburg, Wisconsin for some evening work shortly, I had to get my workout taken care of before I left. It’s nice out again/still, so I considered running with the Swiss Tard, but decided it was the perfect opportunity to stop procrastinating and try out the Leerburg Prong collar I bought 2 months ago.

First thing on the agenda was to fit it. I took out 1 link. A 2nd would have been too tight, but we were just a little loose where we were. The prong part of the collar goes under the jaw where it changes direction and becomes her neck. I’m sure there’s a technical term for this, but I don’t know what it is. I took some pictures to show you, but they’re not so great because she kept trying to look at me.

The chain part of the collar goes up right behind the ears.

With the fitting done, we started out on a 4 mile walk. I noticed an immediate difference. She started/attempted to pull, but the prong did it’s thing and she went back to a heel position. No crying, no wincing. Nothing. Just happy Swiss Tard. We saw birds and squirrels–no pulling. We saw all sorts of dogs. Again, no pulling. She looked up at me more frequently for check in (a very good thing!) and actually did her automatic sit at corners a few times without an assist.

Overall, it was quite a good experience. We will do a few more solo walks to make sure we both have the hang of it, and then I think I can start walking Indy and Gryffin at the same time without being pulled by her. We’ll try a short one first and go from there.

So far, thumbs up on the Prong.

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy

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