Oh Sleipnir - no I'm very sorry - I absolutely did not mean to imply that I think you're hurting your dog - I simply expressed my own opinion about my little dog. And I'm only a week into dog ownership anyway - sometimes you can read things into these posts that are not there. I probably shouldn't have commented on this because I am so new at dog ownership and I know ZIP. Please accept my apology and take heed to all the other posts, so many others know so very much more about dogs and their training than I do - I'm just learning. HUGS