Choke Chains = Bad Trainers?
Jim O'Neill

The following article was featured in the March 2004 issue of Animal Print magazine's Letter to the Editor in response to a previous article in the magazine's December 2003 issue entitled, "Choose Your Trainer Carefully." Animal Print is a southern New England pet culture magazine.

A quick summary of the December article suggested that owners be aware of trainers using training aides such as choke chains, and other such collars. Because of the nature of these aides there is the potential to cause harm to a dog. Motivated by the many stories of excessive or unnecessary training methods using these tools, the author writes that, "Because we have no state or federal certification for dog trainers, choosing a qualified trainer is not an easy job."

She also notes, "A quick, easy elimination question for a trainer is to ask whether he or she uses choke chains. If the answer is yes, then the trainer is admitting that they are not up to date on the newer, kinder (more effective!) training methods, and you should not hire them...clicker training and head halters such as 'Gentle Leader' or 'Halties' are excellent tools to use, and a trainer who advocates their use is likely to be better educated and more humane, not that the knowledge of these aides guarantees a nonabusive trainer."

"Caveat emptor," There's wisdom in that expression; here's another one, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater". In the December issue of Animal Print, the author of an article warns readers that there is no widely recognized criteria for individuals who would like to call themselves dog trainers, true enough. She tells the horrifying story of an unfortunate Chihuahua who found himself at the other end of a leash from a sadistic goon masquerading as a "dog trainer." It's a frightening story and an effective means of driving home the idea that, amongst other things, the use of choke chains is reason enough to dismiss a trainer out of hand. For the most part, the author's experience and collective wisdom are present throughout the article, but there's a problem.

First let's get something out of the way. My credentials do not yet bear the pedigree of the author's. I am a member of the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers). I've been training professionally since 2003, apprenticed for a year before that, and was involved in training my own dogs for 2 years prior to that. I attend the lectures, symposiums, read the books, etc. All of the critical ingredients for what constitutes a good dog trainer. I embrace the idea that an involved dog that's having fun being trained and an involved owner who's having fun training is the best scenario for a positive and by extension, successful training experience. So what's my beef with the article? The aforementioned "baby and the bathwater" scenario. I've heard the story about the Chihuahua as well. It makes me cringe. The problem is the equation that choke chains = bad trainers. They don't. I no longer use them. Personally, I think they're ineffective, but I know trainers who do in fact manage to use them very effectively, which by definition (my definition) means the experience was ultimately positive. Yes, somehow despite their apparent reputation for being a Medieval torture device, there are really good trainers who manage to train dozens and dozens of dogs using choke chains. The point is this: training your dog is a good idea.

Dog owners on the other hand need to exercise the same common sense they would use hiring a plumber to install a faucet. So when they check in to catch the plumber using bubble gum to stop a leaky pipe, it's time to send him packing, right?

Dog owners who train their dogs are statistically less likely to give up on them, leaving them at their local animal shelter, chained to a tree, abandoned on the roadside, etc. These scenarios are far more common and every bit as horrifying to dog lovers like me as the tale of the evil trainer. Most trainers, regardless of what method(s) they espouse, must be effective to survive, since most new business comes by word of mouth, it is in the best interest of the trainer to leave their clients with a positive impression, it just makes sense. Dog owners on the other hand need to exercise the same common sense they would use hiring a plumber to install a faucet. So when they check in to catch the plumber using bubble gum to stop a leaky pipe, it's time to send him packing, right?

I train on a volunteer basis at the Warwick Animal Shelter in Rhode Island. My job is to work with both the dogs and the other volunteers to help smooth the transition from shelter to home life. For me, the shelter experience is where the rubber hits the road. It's where the emerging orthodoxy of purely positive reinforcement butts heads with dogs who are facing euthanasia. The shelter is real. Imagine driving to your local shelter to see if there's a potential addition to your family waiting there for you. On approach, you see a shelter volunteer enjoying a pleasant stroll with one of the shelter dogs. The leash is loose, the dog is attentive and happy. It's a pleasant image and far more appealing to a family thinking about adopting a shelter dog than perhaps watching that same dog pull the volunteer down the street. What if I told you that this pastoral setting was brought to you courtesy of a few brief lessons using a "pinch collar", food, and/or toys and verbal praise? Perish the thought! A pinch collar, sometimes referred to as a "prong collar" is another "torture device" frowned upon by the "Gentle Leaders only" crowd. They do not enjoy the playful moniker that Gentle Leaders, also known as "Halties" do. They look vicious and foreboding, yet amongst the dogs that have been trained with them, at this shelter, you will find no evidence of emotional trauma of any sort. Quite the contrary, in fact, most dogs can look forward to life without the use of any training collar, far more quickly than they could, in my experience, using a Gentle Leader. This is no indictment of Gentle Leaders, mind you. Gentle Leaders are a fine tool, but to espouse their use at the exclusion of all else is simply foolish and shortsighted. In training circles there is an approach known as "operative conditioning." Operant conditioning suggests that the effectiveness of a training technique is determined by how well the trainee (not limited to canines) responds to it.

Yanking a Chihuahua around a room until it hemorrhages from it's eyes is not an effective means of training, I think everyone agrees on that, but the device used, a choke chain, is not an issue here, it's the sadistic goon using it. At the shelter, it generally takes just a few lessons with myself and the other volunteers before you've got an attentive, happy dog that's all too pleased to sort out what it needs to do to pry that tasty food morsel from your fingers. "Sit?" Sure! Sock it to me. Heel, Down, Come, Stay, etc. They're on board. So was the use of the pinch collar cruel or was it judicious? Since training generally unfolds in full view of the public, these dogs are now looking their best before the very families considering them for adoption. So again I ask, cruel or judicious?


Jim O'Neill's interest in dogs is lifelong, but about six years ago his good friend and gifted dog trainer asked Jim if he would like to swap some computer parts for some training lessons. That was the best deal going since "Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Algonquins for 24 bucks!" It was a transforming experience that ultimately led to the process of learning how to train other people how to go about training their dogs.

Along the way Jim dabbled in competition, a lot of fun, he says, but there was this nagging feeling that it wasn't a good use of his time. Jim sums it up best, "Having emerged from the ranks of the average dog owner I was (and am) empathetic to the problems that average pet owners are faced with. From a practical standpoint I knew that for every person who wanted to teach their dog to square dance, there were countless more struggling with more pedestrian issues like pulling the leash and jumping on strangers at the park. No one's going to send you a dry cleaning bill because your dog can't "do-si-do" but god help you if your pound puppy leaves paw-prints on someone's Calvin Klein's."

Jim started Great Dog K9 Training in 2003. He amuses that it's been fun far more than it's been anything like work. Most rewarding for him has been the shelter experience. He quotes a trainer who once said, "If you really want to sharpen your skills, work with some junk dog at your local shelter" his problems with the expression "junk dog" aside, that statement struck a chord. Jim says, "It's humbling, inspiring, sad, gratifying, and so many other things. Visit yours, they're not all the same, to be sure, but worth your time just the same."

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