Humane Leash Management?
As of late, I have found myself quite disconcerted by the rising popularity in walking tools like the gentle leader. At first sight, we may say, “Oh, that works well, and it looks much nicer than pops on a slip chain or prong collar.” We read articles telling us that it is the “All-Positive” or “Humane” way of walking our dogs. I even think back to a time before I started training, when I lived life skiing behind a nearly 100 pound coonhound mix. I remember marveling, one day, when I saw another coonhound walking nicely with their owner on a gentle leader, and asked about this amazing device. However, after close examination I was incredibly uncomfortable with the concept of this collar.
While I would never claim to be a martial artist, I did dabble a little in self defense and different styles of martial arts. I learned that if I wanted to snap almost any animal’s neck, I would twist the head on the axis of the neck, not twist the neck. In fact, the neck could take a fair amount of torque, while twisting the head on the neck’s axis could break a neck with very little force. With this knowledge in mind, I could re-examine concept of the gentle leader. It worried me that one quick scurry to the end of the leash in excitement, would not put force in an area on the neck protected by thick muscles, but twist the head on the spinal column causing whiplash to the dog. It also worried me to see dogs coming in with eye infections, due to irritation of the tear duct, where the muzzle portion of the collar rests. From this perspective, the gentle leader appeared to be more about force than choice, motivation, or learning, than collars that carry gruesome reputations like the training collars (slip, prong, and e-collar/remote collar).
What amazed me even more, was the “lasting” results with the head halter. I found that very few dogs were ever going to behave well without the head halter, while they may be perfect angels with it on. Now, I have had people say the same thing about training collars, however this is usually caused by owners lacking consistency with their dog’s obedience and more common in dogs that were trained later in life.
As a disclaimer, I want to also leave certain notes about training and management. I am always for humane training that works. If the other techniques have failed you, than perhaps the gentle leader is a last resort management tool, and may be appropriate. The gentle leader, in my opinion, is a tool to help manage, not teach; to force, not to build cooperation or communication. In some cases, I have seen the gentle leader used in such a way that it can be a teaching tool, but it seems to be less humane because the application of force to even more vulnerable parts of the dog’s body than the other collars.
I have attached links to articles written by canine professionals I respect, and their opinions on the gentle leader or head halters in general. I also attached an article discussing different types of collars. I hope these are helpful and allow us to truly examine a concept before believing the hype caused by political agendas in the dog service world.
Jon Brinkley
Roger Hild- Not So Gentle Leader
http://www3.sympatico.ca/tsuro/_articles/gentle_leader.html
Suzanne Clothier – The Problems With Head Halters
http://flyingdogpress.com/content/view/54/70
Marc Goldberg- Choosing A Dog Collar
http://www.chicagodogtrainer.com/index.php/chicago-dog-training-articles/57-choosing-a-dog-training-collar