Are Martingale collars bad?

[Anonymous]

Not prong or e-collars, but the kind that tightens and loosens per the dog pulling. My escape artist former shelter dog has always worn one and I went to get her a new one and got a very judgy “Uh, no, we’d never carry that type of collar” from my local Wag & Wash,; Petco has zero in store; and PetSmart had just a couple online. Fortunately Amazon has them but I was wondering if they’re considered to be bad in some way? My dog freaks out in a harness and the Martingale is the only kind that doesn’t let her back out of the collar.

[Anonymous]

A martingale is different from a choke collar because it has a stop point, and you can get one so that the tightness never gets to the point that the dog is actually choked.

For some dogs, particularly sight hounds, with small heads relative to their neck, they are needed to keep the dog from backing out.

[Anonymous]

My feisty sled dog needs a covered prong collar with martingale and no amount of leash training will teach them not to pull like crazy and injure me or give himself tracheal collapse.

I've also tried electronics collars, that give a mild electric jolt - mild, as in, I've tried it on myself first before putting it on my dog, but their ruff is so voluminous, they don't feel the zap half the time: those work only for short-haired dogs.

Don't let the "positive only" people force you to lose your dog, OP. You've got to do what's best in your specific situation. Most sleek-headed dogs need martingales, and a martingale will not hurt your dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A martingale is different from a choke collar because it has a stop point, and you can get one so that the tightness never gets to the point that the dog is actually choked.

For some dogs, particularly sight hounds, with small heads relative to their neck, they are needed to keep the dog from backing out.

This. Sight hounds can easily slip regular collars. I'm not putting a choker on my greyhound, so martingale it is.

[Anonymous]

You have to do what works.

[Anonymous]

The rescue we adopted through insists that ALL dogs have to go home in a martingale, because newly adopted dogs are at risk of trying to run away in a new environment.

Our little dog is still in one because she can back out of any harness and knows it. We use a leash with a large carabinier that can hook to both the harness and the martingale at the same time, which we think gives us the best of both worlds in terms of not putting too mush pressure on her neck while keeping her attached to the leash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A martingale is different from a choke collar because it has a stop point, and you can get one so that the tightness never gets to the point that the dog is actually choked.

For some dogs, particularly sight hounds, with small heads relative to their neck, they are needed to keep the dog from backing out.

This. Sight hounds can easily slip regular collars. I'm not putting a choker on my greyhound, so martingale it is.

I have a greyhound too. I hadn’t checked or tightened his martingale collar in a while. I noticed it was loose last week on a walk and figured I’d tighten it when we got back home. He was walking behind me and a few minutes later, I heard a noise and suddenly the leash went completely slack. I turned around and there was the collar, still attached to the leash, but laying on the ground, and my dog just standing there, looking like WTF? Lesson learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A martingale is different from a choke collar because it has a stop point, and you can get one so that the tightness never gets to the point that the dog is actually choked.

For some dogs, particularly sight hounds, with small heads relative to their neck, they are needed to keep the dog from backing out.

This. Sight hounds can easily slip regular collars. I'm not putting a choker on my greyhound, so martingale it is.

I have a greyhound too. I hadn’t checked or tightened his martingale collar in a while. I noticed it was loose last week on a walk and figured I’d tighten it when we got back home. He was walking behind me and a few minutes later, I heard a noise and suddenly the leash went completely slack. I turned around and there was the collar, still attached to the leash, but laying on the ground, and my dog just standing there, looking like WTF? Lesson learned.

Off leash greyhound are hilarious. Mine has pulled the leash out of my hand, taken a few strides and then realized and just loped back with their head down. I've never had a dog with less desire to run free

[Anonymous]

I don't think so. Our dog trainer was adamant that a Martingale was the way to go over a harness. They don't choke the dog unless they're too small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My feisty sled dog needs a covered prong collar with martingale and no amount of leash training will teach them not to pull like crazy and injure me or give himself tracheal collapse.

I've also tried electronics collars, that give a mild electric jolt - mild, as in, I've tried it on myself first before putting it on my dog, but their ruff is so voluminous, they don't feel the zap half the time: those work only for short-haired dogs.

Don't let the "positive only" people force you to lose your dog, OP. You've got to do what's best in your specific situation. Most sleek-headed dogs need martingales, and a martingale will not hurt your dog.

Why di you put positive trainers in quotes? Any training method used incorrectly will not work. Even " balanced" trainers say this!

To the op
I use a harness but I have a connector ( can't remember the name ) which connects to the collar and prevents him from backing out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think so. Our dog trainer was adamant that a Martingale was the way to go over a harness. They don't choke the dog unless they're too small.

I have used both.

[Anonymous]

A martingale fitted correctly is an extremely safe, comfortable collar for a dog to wear. Not sure why you are having trouble finding one. I buy mine on etsy.

--trainer (purely positive, ftr)

[Anonymous]

I foster and work with a few different rescues and they all encourage martingales. I've never heard anyone refer to them as bad/cruel/negative training tools actually.

[Anonymous]

Cat person here, so...why not a harness?

[Anonymous]

a must for sight hounds. when I adopted I was urged to not use anything else. my iggy wriggles out of anything else, including harnesses because she's so deep chested and skinny I can't find one that will hold her.
there are some great stores on etsy - I got one from some lady in australia that makes them for greyhounds and whippets and so she sized it down for my skinny minni. just look for stores that cater to sight hounds.