I'd like to thank the people who know me enough to know I wouldn't sit here calling people cruel or uneducated. I don't know what to do, short of saying it until blue in the face, I WASN'T JUDGING ANYONE HERE OR CALLING ANYONE ANYTHING. I've been here for 4 years. Surely in that time, people have gotten to know me and know that I don't go around causing trouble or calling people names. If anyone would like to come hook me up to a lie detector test, feel free. I don't think badly of anyone here who chooses to use these collars. I DO think badly of people who use them in a cruel manner.

I feel like some people think I just don't like it because it looks mean. And some people think I just don't know because I have medium sized dogs. I don't talk about my experience to toot my own horn. I do it so that people can see I'm forming an educated opinion. I would never so passiionately stand behind something that I didn't know much about. I hate to look like a fool, so when I say something, I make absolute sure I know a lot about it. I've experienced the incredible task of walking a 175 lb adolescent male dog who thought he was king of the world. Not fun and left me crying more than once. With consistency, myself and the other volunteers were eventually able to make extreme progress with him using only positive methods. It did take longer than usual.

By the way, the "be a tree" method DOES work. Everyone is right when they say dogs are different and need different training methods. But the key to training is patience and consistency. A lot of people will practice "being a tree" (not moving when the dog pulls) most of the time, but when in a hurry, let the dog get away with some pulling. Well, if the dog gets away with it just even once out of twenty times, the dog will know there is a chance it will work again and continue pulling and pulling hoping to get rewarded for it again. I could go a lot further into that theory with examples, but I doubt anyone wants me to talk more on this thread.

Lorraine - I can't really explain anything else to you. You won't hear it.

It means a lot to me that some of you stood up for who I am, knowing I wouldn't do that. Thanks