Choke Chains

When I was 13 I took my first dog to her first training session. To help to train the dog we were encouraged to use choke chains to get the dog walking by our side. So we did, well the trainer was the expert right! So Sophie, our gentle natured Golden Retriever, would have her choke collar put on before every walk. Well they aren't called choke chains for no reason - 5 minutes down the road and her eyes would be bulging, gasping for breath - and guess what she still pulled on the lead!

Since then I have heard many horrific stories from choke chains cutting holes into dogs necks to dogs dying because they damaged their wind pipe.

The choke chain is threaded through a loop and then simply slipped over the dogs head, where it is supposed to hang loosely - as long as the dog doesn't pull!

Choke chains are primarily used to teach dogs to stop pulling - but nothing could be further from the truth. Dogs still pull on choke chains because they haven't been taught how to walk properly on the lead. Dogs who walk nicely on a choke collar by their owners side is not a well trained dog, but a fearful dog.

If the dog doesn't learn quickly enough choke chains can cause a number of problems, including:

• Injured ocular blood vessels
• Tracheal and oesophageal damage
• Severely sprained necks
• Cases of fainting
• Transient foreleg paralysis
• Laryngeal nerve paralysis
• Hind leg ataxia

A big problem with choke chains is that, even if fitted correctly, they may not slacken and has a habit of sticking. Traditionally it is taught that dogs walk on the left hand side of the handler - and if your dog always walks on the left hand side of you then you can put the choke collar on "the right way". However, I haven't walked a dog yet that only walks on one side of the handler so the choke collar can be used in the wrong direction - increasing the likelihood of it sticking and choking the dog.

There are so many problems with using choke collars for training your dog, that so most dog trainers and many canine experts have spoken out against them. Instead they advocate the use of positive reinforcement training for dogs, using gentle methods that get better results.