This Happens a Lot
When people reach out to me for a free 30-minute phone assessment, it’s common for people to tell me about the advice they’ve received from others. As they struggle with their behavior issues, it’s almost guaranteed that someone has said to them, “You just need a prong collar.” They didn’t like the advice when they got it, but they were at their wits end.
What surprises me most is the number of people who tell me, “I put the prong collar on my dog, and I really didn’t like they way it made my dog feel. I don’t want to hurt my dog. So I took it off and didn’t put it back on.”
Sometimes, people will tell me that they tried it and the change was immediate. As soon as the leash tightened, the dog flinched. The dog stopped the behavior, but…something else changed too. The dog looked worried, like it was trying not to make a mistake. It just didn’t feel right.”
And that’s when they signed up for the call.
When they looked at my website, they realized that I don’t use prong collars, choke chains, or shock collars at all in my training. I’m not naive about serious behavior problems. Quite the contrary. I don’t use those aversive tools because they rely on discomfort, pain, or fear (or the threat of it) to suppress behavior. And when you train through fear or pain, you don’t only change what a dog does in the moment, you also shape how the dog feels in that situation.
And feelings drive behavior.
In this article, I’ll explain (in plain language) how these aversive tools work, why they often come with predictable side effects, and what I recommend instead. I want you to have some practical and humane alternatives that protect your relationship with your dog while they produce reliable results in real life.
You don’t have to choose between effectiveness and kindness. Thanks to science-based, force-free dog training, you can have both.
What are Prong, Choke, and Shock Collars—and Why People Reach for Them
Before we go any further, let’s get clear on what we’re talking about—because a lot of conflict comes from fuzzy definitions.
Prong collars (pinch collars) tighten too, but with metal prongs that concentrate pressure around multiple points on the neck.
Choke chains (slip collars or check collars) tighten around a dog’s neck when the leash is pulled or the dog hits the end of the leash.
Shock collars (often called e-collars) are devices that deliver an unpleasant sensation—usually an electrical stim—to stop a behavior or make a dog comply. Some brands market them as “communication,” but the learning engine is still: the dog changes behavior to avoid something they don’t want.
These tools (and those that operate similarly) are called aversives. And “aversive” is code for anything that leverages intimidation, fear, pain, or violence as a primary motivator.
Now, here’s what I want to say gently: most people don’t reach for these tools because they want to be cruel. They reach for them because they’re overwhelmed, or scared, or exhausted. They have a strong dog. A reactive dog. A dog who bolts. Or they’re dealing with social pressure to “control your dog.”
And yes—these tools can look effective in the short term. You can get quick suppression. You can get a dramatic “before and after” on a sidewalk. If all you’re interested in is suppressing a behavior, then they work. That’s why they’re popular.
But Here’s the Overlooked Problem
What is the dog learning in that moment—and what associations are being formed?
The way you suppress your dog’s behavior can cause your dog to become more anxious, more vigilant, or more reactive underneath the surface.
In other words, while you are suppressing a behavior, you can be creating more emotional problems under the surface. Those emotional problems can come out in other ways later. And the later behavioral problems you end up with can be worse (and far more expensive to work with) than what you started with.
That’s called fallout.
How These Tools Work (The Simple Learning Version)
Think about it this way: training is learning. Something happens, the dog does something, and then there’s an outcome. If the outcome is good (from the dog’s perspective), the behavior tends to happen more often. If the outcome is unpleasant, the behavior tends to happen less often.
Prong, choke, and shock collars rely on that second pathway: they reduce behavior by making the consequence uncomfortable. The reason they work is because your dog wants to avoid the discomfort they cause.
In practice, it usually looks like one of these two patterns:
1) “Stop that.”
A dog barks, lunges, pulls, jumps, or ignores a cue—and an unpleasant sensation is applied. The dog learns: that behavior makes bad things happen.
2) “Do this to make it stop.”
The dog feels pressure or discomfort, and when the dog moves into the “right” position (stops pulling, comes back, sits, heels), the discomfort goes away. The dog learns: if I do X, the unpleasant thing stops.
Those mechanisms can create behavior change. Dogs are smart. They’re excellent at pattern recognition. If certain choices lead to discomfort, they’ll try different choices.
But here’s the catch…
While these tools can suppress behavior, they can’t automatically teach skills or emotional regulation.
A dog who’s pulling doesn’t just need “don’t pull.” The real skill is: walk on a loose leash next to a human, in a distracting environment, while regulating your body and emotions.
And to add another layer of complication, dogs don’t just learn what they did. They also learn what was happening around them. If discomfort happens while another dog is present, while a stranger is approaching, or a child comes near those things can become part of the emotional picture. That can lead to associating an unpleasant experience with the presence of said dog, stranger, or child, and potentially turn them into triggers for reactivity.
So yes—aversive tools can create quick results. But quick results aren’t the same thing as clean learning. And with behaviors tied to fear, frustration, or over-arousal, paying attention to the emotional side of learning isn’t optional.
Why I Don’t Use Them: The Predictable Fallout
When a dog’s behavior is reduced through discomfort, the dog isn’t only learning “don’t do that.”
They’re also learning something about the world. And that’s where these tools so often backfire.
1) Stress Changes Learning
When a dog is stressed—fear, pain, uncertainty—the brain shifts toward self-protection. That’s why a dog can look “better” on an aversive tool. But they aren’t “better”. They are actually becoming more vigilant, more shut down, or even more reactive later as stress accumulates.
2) Aversive Tools Can Teach the Wrong Association
Dogs learn by association constantly. So if your dog sees another dog, barks, and gets corrected, your dog may not think, “Barking was wrong.” Your dog may think, “Other dogs make bad things happen.”
Or, here’s an even worse scenario. Imaging the neighbor kids coming over to play and the dog starts barking. After being corrected several times, your dog may think, “The presence of other children makes bad things happen.”
Same with strangers, visitors, the front window. Whatever it is, it can be transformed into an emotional trigger through the corrections. This is one of the most common reasons reactivity worsens over time with punishment-based tools: the dog’s emotional experience around the trigger becomes more negative, not better.
3) Suppression Can Mask the Problem
Many of the behaviors people want to stop—lunging, barking, growling, snapping—aren’t “disobedience.” They’re a form of communication.
If we punish the communication, we might get a quieter dog…but not a safer dog. When warning signals get suppressed, the dog will still feel what they feel, but they’ve learned not to show it until they just can’t hold it anymore.
4) Physical Risks Aren’t Worth the Gamble
Necks and throats are sensitive. Repeated pressure and tightening around the neck can create issues we don’t intend, such as coughing, irritation, neck sensitivity, or a growing aversion to being handled.
5) The Relationship Cost is Real
I want dogs to offer behavior, to be curious, to feel safe making mistakes. Pain-based tools often teach “don’t mess up,” which can lead to fewer offered behaviors and less trust in training.
My professional standard is results and welfare. Aversive tools don’t meet that standard for me. Yes, there are circumstances that they can get behavioral results through suppression, but they also carry predictable side effects. Quite frankly, there are better ways to build reliable behavior. You never have to use intimidation, fear, pain, or violence into the equation.
Dog Training with Shock is the Worst
Shock collars are in a category of their own for me, not because choke and prong collars are “fine” (they aren’t), but because shock taps straight into the brain’s threat circuitry.
Think about what an electric shock means to the nervous system. It’s not helpful information. It’s a sudden aversive event that can throw the brain into survival mode. And the brain is designed to learn survival lessons fast. One of the key players here is the amygdala (which is basically the brain’s “this might not be safe” alarm system). When a painful or startling event happens, the amygdala helps stamp in associations quickly, and stress chemistry can make those memories stick harder than everyday learning.
That’s why predictability matters so much. If the dog can’t clearly connect the sensation to one specific behavior—if the timing is late, inconsistent, or just confusing—the brain often files it under, “The world is dangerous” (not, “Oh, I should sit.”)
And that’s exactly why shock collars are so risky in real life: they demand an almost impossible level of precision. As Ian Dunbar puts it, “a shock collar requires the highest skill set of any training tool,” and if you actually had that skill set, “you most probably wouldn’t need a shock collar in the first place.”
So yes, shock can suppress behavior quickly. But from a brain-and-learning standpoint, it’s playing with the same machinery that creates durable fear learning. And I believe that’s not a price any dogs (or guardians) should ever have to pay.
If You’ve Used These Tools, I’m Not Here to Shame You
If you’ve used a prong collar, choke chain, or shock collar, I’m not looking at you like you’re a villain. Most guardians who reach for these tools are trying to solve a real problem based on the advice they were given.
Sometimes you were told you had to. Sometimes you were scared. Sometimes you were desperate for relief.
So if you’re reading this with that sinking feeling of “Oh no… did I mess my dog up?”, I would like you to take a step back and take a breath.
Dogs are resilient. Relationships repair. And the fact that you’re even asking these questions tells me something important: you care about your dog’s experience, not just your dog’s behavior.
The goal isn’t to rewrite the past. That’s impossible. But what you can do is choose a better path forward.
What I Recommend Instead: Replace Pain with a Plan that Takes into Account Your Dog’s Emotional and Social Wellbeing
You don’t just replace a prong collar with a different piece of equipment. You replace it with a different mindset and a corresponding plan.
When I help someone move away from shock, choke, or prong collars, I’m usually thinking in three layers:
- Management (stop the unwanted behavior from getting 100 reps a week)
- Skill-building (teach what to do, not just what not to do)
- Emotional change (help the dog feel safer and more regulated)
Let’s make this practical.
1) Humane Equipment that Supports Learning
For most dogs, I start with a well-fitted harness—ideally a Y-shaped harness that allows shoulder movement and keeps pressure off the neck.
For strong pullers, a front-clip harness can reduce leverage and keep the walk manageable while we teach loose-leash skills. It’s not a “fix,” but it’s a helpful seatbelt.
For training in open areas, I love a long line (10–30 feet) attached to a harness. This is one of the safest ways to build recall without gambling on off-leash freedom too soon.
Depending on the dog and the situation, I may also recommend a double-connection safety setup (a backup clip, a safety strap). And if there’s a bite risk, muzzle training with a basket muzzle can be part of a responsible safety plan while behavior changes are underway.
The guiding principle is simple: choose equipment that reduces risk without adding pain.
2) Management: The Underrated Key to Progress
If your dog practices the unwanted behavior every day (pulling, barking at the window, rushing the door, exploding at other dogs) then the brain is practicing the exact behavior you’re trying to change. And, as the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.”
So, you will want to prevent these unwanted behaviors from happening. That means managing the situation. Here’s what it might look like:
- increasing distance from triggers
- choosing quieter routes or times
- using baby gates, pens, or closed doors to prevent rehearsal
- blocking access to the front window
- using a leash indoors during high-chaos moments (like visitors)
Management isn’t failure. It’s restructuring the environment for training so your dog will be able to learn how to do something new.
3) Skill-Building: Teach “What to Do”
This is where positive reinforcement shines. It enables you to communicate clearly an alternative behavior (which is ideally incompatible with the unwanted one).
Instead of correcting pulling behavior, I teach loose-leash walking as a skill:
- reinforce position near you
- teach check-ins and reorientation
- reward when the leash is slack
- practice in easy environments first, then gradually increase difficulty
Instead of correcting barking at triggers, I teach regulation and alternative behaviors:
- “look and disengage” (notice the trigger, then turn back to the handler)
- simple pattern games for predictability
- reinforcing calm choices, not just silence
Instead of using a collar to force recall, I build recall as a high-value habit:
- start in the house, then the yard
- use a long line
- reward quickly and generously
- make recall predict good things every time
Reliability isn’t something you demand. Reliability is something you build over time through consistent, predictable practice.
4) Emotional Change: The Part that Makes it Last
For many dogs, the “problem behavior” is the surface expression of an emotional state: fear, frustration, over-arousal, insecurity.
Remember, the brain is a prediction machine. It never knows exactly what is going to happen in a given situation. So, it uses its memories of similar situations to create a most likely scenario. That most likely scenario generates an emotion, which is a statement of meaning. That prediction fueled by the emotion generates behavior.
So, the way to work with emotional change is to change the prediction.
When you work to frontload the dog’s situational memory with new information, you change the predicted most likely scenario, which then changes the emotion that emerges from it.
Once you’ve changed the prediction, it’s time to work with arousal levels.
When the dog’s emotional response softens and arousal levels decline, the behavior changes become easier and they hold up better and better over time.
What This Looks Like in Real Life (Two Quick Examples)
Loose-Leash Walking Without a Prong Collar
Let’s say your dog pulls like a freight train. The punishment-based approach that leverages aversives (aka, intimidation, fear, pain, or violence) says: make pulling uncomfortable so the dog stops.
Meanwhile, my science-based, force-free approach says: teach a walking skill and make the right choices worth repeating.
We start in an easy environment (driveway, quiet street). Every time your dog is in the “sweet spot” near you, you mark it and pay it (I prefer high-value food because of its efficiency). If the leash tightens, we don’t punish. We simply reset. Instead of moving forward, call your dog back to you, and reward for being “in the zone”. Then, go the opposite direction. If your dog is a bit overstimulated, then you might want to consider an easier environment. But in the moment, you can offer a quick reset by tossing several treats on the ground (“find it”) so that the real value is over by you.
Over time, your dog learns a clear pattern: staying with you keeps the walk moving and makes good stuff happen; pulling makes progress pause. Then we add difficulty gradually by practicing on slightly busier streets, at parks, and around mild distractions at a distance. As your dog improves, we begin to “pay” with life rewards too: a sniff break, permission to greet, or “go run.” Food becomes one of several reinforcers, which is exactly what you want in the real world.
This is what I call the down and dirty introduction to loose-leash walking. You can learn more over here in my ebook Force-Free, No-Pull Leash Training.
Reactivity without Shock or “Corrections”
Now imagine a dog who erupts when they see other dogs. If we pair other dogs with discomfort, we risk teaching “dogs = danger.” Instead, we change the association: “dogs = good things.”
We start at a distance where your dog can notice another dog and still think. The moment your dog looks at the trigger, you mark and feed. Then you help them disengage (turn back to you) and feed again.
If your dog can’t eat, we’re too close, so we widen the gap. We use predictable patterns (like “look, treat; look, treat”) and, when helpful, a scatter of treats on the ground to bring sniffing online, because sniffing helps many dogs downshift.
Along the way, we teach an “emergency exit” (a cheerful “let’s go!” followed by turning away and moving to safety) so you don’t feel trapped.
Over time, your dog learns: I can see a dog, stay calm enough to eat and respond, and good things happen. Then we carefully close distance over days and weeks, add a bit of movement, and practice parallel walks. And while we train, we always stay in the zone where your dog can learn.
If you are struggling with a reactive dog, you might be interested in this 3-session course.
How Long Does This Take?
It depends on your dog’s history, your environment, and how consistently you can practice. But here’s the difference: we’re not trying to overpower behavior. We’re building skills and changing emotional associations. That tends to look less dramatic on day one, and more stable at week six, week twelve, and beyond. And, that’s the kind of reliability I’m interested in.
Common Questions and Honest Answers
“Isn’t a prong collar just pressure—like a harness?”
A harness distributes force across the body and protects the neck. A prong concentrates pressure around the neck through metal points. Even when people try to use it gently, the design is meant to be aversive enough to change behavior quickly. That’s exactly why it “works.”
“My dog ignores treats.”
Usually this means the reinforcement isn’t valuable enough, your dog is too stressed to eat, or you’re too close to the distraction/trigger. That’s not stubbornness—it’s information. Try changing the setup: more distance, lower distraction, higher value food, shorter sessions.
“Positive reinforcement didn’t work for us.”
Reinforcement is one ingredient. Good force-free training includes management, timing, clear criteria, and gradual proofing. When it “doesn’t work,” the steps are often too big and the dog doesn’t know how to succeed yet.
“My dog is big and strong. I need control.”
Safety matters. What I don’t want is “control” that comes from pain, because pain can add stress, and stress makes behavior less predictable.
For big dogs, I use safer equipment, management, and skills that create automatic responses—so you get real control through training, not intimidation.
“What about off-leash recall? Isn’t an e-collar the safest?”
The safest recall is the one you’ve proofed carefully and don’t gamble on. I build recall with long lines, reinforcement history, and gradual distractions so the dog wants to come back—not because they’re afraid not to.
“What if my dog has bitten?”
That’s a case where you deserve qualified, force-free professional support quickly. You need safety management (often muzzle conditioning) and a behavior plan that addresses the emotions driving the bite risk.
A Simple Transition Plan (So You’re Not Guessing)
Step 1: Stabilize with management
Identify where the problem is getting the most reps (walks, window, doorway, fence line) and reduce rehearsal. More distance, fewer surprise encounters, better environment.
Step 2: Switch to safer gear
Harness, standard leash, long line for recall.
Step 3: Train one foundation skill daily
Pick one: loose leash walking, recall, or settle-on-a-mat. Train 7–10 minutes a day. Consistency beats intensity.
Step 4: Add difficulty gradually
Distance, distraction, duration—one at a time. If your dog blows up, it’s feedback that the step was too big. Scale down and rebuild.
Step 5: Get help early if you’re stuck
Most people don’t need more willpower. They need a plan that fits their dog, their schedule, and their environment. If you want to find out how I can help you, just schedule a free 30-minute phone assessment.
What I Recommend If You’re Looking for a Shock Collar Alternative in the Beloit, WI Area
If you found this article because you searched for a “shock collar alternative in Beloit, WI”, here’s my honest answer:
The best alternative isn’t one gadget. It’s a humane training plan that gives you safety and results without the side effects.
As a force-free dog trainer based in Beloit, WI, my job is to help you and your dog succeed in real life—walks, visitors, recall, reactivity, the whole thing—using science-based, force-free dog training that builds skills and trust.
So, if you are looking for a positive-reinforcement dog trainer in the Beloit, WI area, let’s talk. And, remember, if you are not in my area, I can still work with you remotely over Google Meet, and you can still take advantage of my economy pricing for private lessons.
If You're Ready for the Next Step, I Have the Perfect Solution
If you’re reading this thinking, “Okay… I’m convinced. But what do I do on Monday?”—that’s exactly the gap I help people bridge.
There is a lot to science-based dog training. Once you enter that world, it can be overwhelming.
But that’s where my Canine Coaching Course comes in. You see, I have condensed (without watering down) modern, science-based dog training into a few principles, concepts, and techniques that you can learn in just a few weeks.
My goal in this course is to empower you to be able to create your own effective dog training on the fly, just like I do. When we’re done, I want you to be free from needing to work with a professional dog trainer in the future.
So, if you’re ready to move away from prong, choke, or shock collars, but don’t know where to start, schedule a call and ask whether the Canine Coaching Course is right for you and your beloved canine companion.
You Don’t Have to Choose Between Kindness and Results
If you’re here reading this article, you’re probably not asking whether these collars can stop behavior. You already know they can.
Rather, you’re asking, “Is there a way to train that’s effective and still feels aligned with the loving relationship I want with my dog?”
My answer is an emphatic “Yes!”.
I personally don’t use prong, choke, or shock collars with my own dogs because I don’t want fear or discomfort to be a significant part of my relationship with my dogs. Instead, I want progress that holds up long-term—skills, emotional safety, and a dog who trusts the process.
Remember, quiet isn’t the same thing as relaxed. Suppression can look like success…until it doesn’t.
If your gut has been whispering, “There has to be another way,” you’re right.
There is.
Schedule a one-on-one call with me below if you want to find out more.
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Hi! I’m Bo McGuffee, owner of Puppy Tutor Dog Training. My mission is to make human dog training accessible and affordable.
If you are looking for a science-based and compassionate alternative to the more aggressive training styles out there, then you’ve found the perfect dog trainer for you and your dog.
Since I also work remotely, I can help you train your dog no matter where you are, and you get to take advantage of my economy pricing for private lessons.
Interested? Sign up on my call calendar for a free 30-minute assessment.