How to Properly Put a Choke Chain or Slip Collar On Your Dog

The old stand by for training your dog is a choke chain or slip collar. Most people have trained their dogs using one of these collars but the more I teach people how to train their dogs, the more I find that owners do not really know how to properly put this training aide on their dogs.

If a choke chain, choke collar or slip collar is not put on your dog correctly it will not release once you release tension on the leash. This means that every time you give your dog a correction the collar is getting tighter and tighter which can choke your dog making him resistant to training. This is where this style of collar actually got it's name.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• dog
• training leash
• choke chain or slip collar
• tasty treats for training

1. As with everything in life there is a right way and a wrong way to do anything and this holds true for training aides as well.
   
   Typically we train our dogs to walk on our left side. So this is where I am going to assume you will have your dog placed for this article. If you place your dog on your right side you will need the pictures to tell you the proper way to put a choke chain or slip collar on your dog.

2. 
    
   This is how the collar should be sitting on the dog's neck. Note the ring is on the top of the collar.

   So with your dog sitting on your left side you will hold the collar in your right hand over your wrist like a bracelet.
   
   If you are holding the free end of this choke collar in your left hand you should see that the slide ring is on the top of the chain and not under the chain.
   
   Using your left hand pull on the free end of the choke chain in a quick pull and release motion. You should see the collar move the same as your hand. Tighten and loosen without any extra help.
   
   This is how the collar should work on your dogs neck.
   
   Now open up the collar and slip it over your dog's head so that the ring is still on top of the chain. Then clip your leash to the free ring of the collar that you were holding in your left hand.

3. 
    
   This is the wrong way for the collar to be on your dog. Note the ring is on the bottom of the collar.

   Pay careful attention to the picture below.
   This is the wrong way for a choke chain to be on your dog.
   Note that the ring is on the bottom of the collar so that the collar must point upwards from under the ring.
   
   In this position a choke collar is a dangerous thing as it does not always release pressure on your dogs neck when you release tension on the leash.
   If in doubt of this fact place the collar on your leg in this position and give a couple of quick jerk, release, jerk, release motions with the leash. See how the collar only tightens. It may release a time or two, but for the most part it just gets tighter each time the free end is jerked.

Tips & Warnings

• Never use any equipment on your dog that you have not tried on your own arm or leg first. This way you know exactly how it feels to your dog when a correction is given.
• Always double check your choke collars, slip collars or choke chains before beginning any training session. Even seasoned trainers can make this simple mistake so it never hurts to be extra careful. After all it is your dog!

Resources

• Code 3 offers discounts to police and fire personell

[athome]

on 6/5/2009 Its important to use a choke collar or a pinch collar the correct way or you could really injure your animal. 5*

[sonni57]

on 6/5/2009 It's important to put a collar on a dog right or it can either come off or choke them.

[GreenMomma]

on 6/5/2009 I never did this with my toy poodle but I have seen people use these incorrectly on the street. This is GREAT information for dog owner who is trying to train their dog this way.