Said It Here

Dog trainer uses choke or pull collars for training

Puppy training classes often rely on aversive methods like tightening collars for behavior correction, which creates a fear-based mindset for the dog. Owners are left questioning the trainer's methods, especially when trainers take the dog away and do not let owners participate in the sessions.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    dropping the class
  2. 2
    using treat training and rewards instead
  3. 3
    looking exclusively for trainers who use positive reinforcement
  4. 4
    using online training programs like Susan Garrett's Homeschool the Dog
  5. 5
    trusting gut feelings to change trainers

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/puppy1012 people · September 2026

“First thing the trainer did was put a pull collar (the kind that tightens around his neck when you pull the leash) on him and taught us to do that to correct bad behavior and also do it to teach basic commands.”source ↗

“I kind of feel like that's just doing negative enforcement and creating a "listen to me or you get hurt" mindset.”source ↗

Growth_Internal · r/puppy101 · 1 upvotes

“Now I'm in the middle of whether the trainer is good or not. I feel like the trainer has got a few things down but not the main ones.”source ↗

“The trainer walks him and trains him and does not let me do it in front of me which really upsets me because I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.”source ↗

Life_Lime4547 · r/puppy101

Where this came up

r/puppy101dog trainingpetspuppy care

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