Prong Collars and the “Mother’s Bite” Myth
Your dog’s mother never came with a leash attached.
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Ask why someone uses a prong collar and you’ll often hear the same story: “It’s how a mother dog corrects her puppies. It mimics her bite. It’s natural.”
It’s a tidy story. It’s also not backed by a single study we could find. Here’s what the vets and researchers actually say about prongs, choke chains and the neck, including one myth from our side that doesn’t hold up either.
Myth 1: “It Mimics a Mother Dog’s Bite”
This claim sounds like science. It isn’t.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) tackled the whole family of “do what a dog would do” ideas in its position statement on dominance theory. Asked whether growling at a dog, biting it or making a claw with your fingers mimics what a wolf does to a subordinate, AVSAB answers: “There are no studies on this.” It then suggests asking a friend who’s been bitten by a dog whether a poke with bent fingers felt the same.
Its conclusion: “we shouldn’t assume that our actions mimic those of a dog or a wolf. Rather, we should evaluate each of our interactions with our pets and observe their response to determine how the pet perceived it.”
That applies neatly to a chain of metal prongs. A person with a leash isn’t a mother dog, and a collar isn’t a mouth. Whatever the dog feels, it’s feeling it from a tool held by you.
A collar isn’t a mouth, and you aren’t his mom.
The “natural” framing also leans on dominance ideas that vets have dropped. Europe’s vets say using dominance as the rationale for positive punishment “has been discredited by veterinary behaviourists and other scientists”.
Myth 2: “It Doesn’t Hurt. It Just Gets Their Attention.”
A prong collar is designed to make pulling uncomfortable. That’s the point of the prongs. If it felt like nothing, the dog would keep pulling.
Here’s what the research found when it looked:
- A study of 42 police dogs compared a prong collar, an electronic collar and a verbal “quitting signal”. The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s 2025 report summarises the result: the “prong collar was deemed to be the most stressful of the methods used.”
- In the 2020 Portuguese study of 92 companion dogs, pinch collars were among the methods used at aversive schools. Dogs from the high-aversive schools showed more stress behaviours and bigger cortisol rises than dogs from reward-based schools. (That study grouped several aversive methods together, so it doesn’t isolate the prong on its own.)
- The same 2025 Scottish report notes that owners who use prong collars and choke chains “report lower satisfaction with their dog’s overall behaviour”.
The AVSAB’s 2021 statement puts prong collars in the list of training tools that “involve pain”, next to choke chains and shock collars.
Myth 3: “Nothing Else Stops a Big Dog Pulling”
This is the one argument with a grain of truth, so let’s be straight about it.
A 2024 study by Johnson and Wynne walked 23 dogs on four pieces of gear for five minutes each: a martingale collar, a front-connection harness, a plastic prong-style collar and a metal prong collar. A strain gauge on the leash measured pulling.
The result: dogs pulled significantly more on the martingale than on all three alternatives. There was no significant difference between the front-clip harness and the prong collars. The authors didn’t find clear evidence of worse welfare by equipment type in that short test, and cautioned that the results may not generalise to real life.
So the prong does reduce pulling compared with a plain collar. So did the harness, with no prongs involved. BC SPCA’s training standards say there’s “no evidence” prong or choke collars “are associated with better training success compared to non-punishment-based collars”.
If you can get the same result without the metal, why keep the metal?
Myth 4: “Choke Chains Are Fine If You Use Them Right”
A choke chain (or slip collar) tightens as the dog pulls or the handler jerks. There’s no stop.
A 2026 review in Frontiers in Veterinary Science looked at the known and alleged physical risks of dog gear. It says “unlimited-slip or ‘choke’ style collars are believed to pose the greatest risk because of their circumferential and unrestricted tightening.”
The worst-case record is grim. Grohmann et al. (2013) reported a 1-year-old German shepherd who was held off the ground by his choke chain for about 60 seconds as punishment during training. He lost consciousness and later developed severe brain damage. He was euthanised. The authors believed it was the first report of its kind.
That’s a single case report, not a rate of harm. But it’s why Quebec’s animal welfare regulation bans choke collars on dogs left unsupervised or tied up, and bans prong-style collars outright.
What Research Found About Pressure on the Neck
Collars put force on the neck. How much depends on the collar and how hard the leash is pulled.
- Carter, McNally and Roshier (2020) tested seven collars and a slip lead on a model neck with a pressure sensor. They applied a firm pull (40 N), a strong pull (70 N) and a jerk (a mean of 141 N). Collars exerted between 83 and 832 kPa. The authors concluded that “no single collar tested provided a pressure considered low enough to mitigate the risk of injury when pulling on the lead.”
- Pauli et al. (2006) measured eye pressure in 51 eyes of 26 dogs. Pressure inside the eye “increased significantly from baseline when pressure was applied via a collar but not via a harness.”
Neither study proves a prong collar injures dogs. Both show that pulling on a neck isn’t nothing, and that a harness moves the force somewhere else.
Myth 5 (From Our Side): “Prongs Crush Windpipes and Wreck Thyroids”
Fair’s fair. You’ll see this claim on anti-prong posts all over the internet. The evidence doesn’t back it yet.
The 2026 review says: “There is no reported documentation of tracheal trauma from chronic use of a collar for training despite claims to the contrary.” On thyroid claims, it says many people postulate a link, but documentation “is, in almost all cases, absent.” Its overall verdict: potential harm is suspected, but “little evidence exists to define the actual risks.”
We don’t need scary claims. The documented reasons are enough: prongs work through discomfort, research linked them to stress, and they didn’t beat a harness at stopping pulling.
If you notice something new after walks, or it comes with other changes, get your vet to rule out pain first.
What to Do Instead
You were sold a tool. Now you know better. Here’s the upgrade.
- Swap the gear. A front-clip harness is the easy first step. Ditch the Prong covers options you can buy in Canada.
- Teach loose-leash walking. Stop Leash Pulling Without a Prong walks you through it step by step.
- Lunging at dogs or bikes? The prong can make it worse. Start with Reactive Dog? Punishment Makes It Worse.
- Trainer handed you the prong? Check How to Spot a Trainer Who Uses Pain. Canada’s vets strongly discourage “choke, pinch, spray, prong or shock collars”.
Welcome to the No Prongs Club. Membership is free and nobody gets pinched.
Your dumb questions
My dog stopped pulling the second I put the prong on. Doesn’t that prove it works?
It proves your dog wants the pinching to stop. A 2024 study found a front-clip harness cut pulling about as well as a prong collar did, without the prongs.
Is it true prong collars wreck a dog’s thyroid or windpipe?
A 2026 review found that claim isn’t documented for training collars. The reasons to skip the prong are the ones that are documented: stress, fear and no training advantage.
Can I just use a choke chain instead?
A 2026 review says choke-style collars are believed to pose the greatest risk because they tighten without limit. Quebec bans them on unsupervised dogs. Swap to a harness.
The receipts
- Position Statement on the Use of Dominance Theory in Behavior Modification of Animals · American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB), 2018
- Position Statement on Humane Dog Training · American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB), 2021
- Joint Position Paper on the Animal Welfare Implications of Animal Behavioural Modification, Training Methods, and Ability to Express Species-Specific Behaviours · FVE, FEEVA, FECAVA and WSAVA, 2024
- Health implications of dog-worn equipment: a review of known and alleged physical risks · Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2026
- Canine collars: an investigation of collar type and the forces applied to a simulated neck model · Veterinary Record, 2020
- Effects of the application of neck pressure by a collar or harness on intraocular pressure in dogs · Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association (via Europe PMC), 2006
- Comparing efficacy in reducing pulling and welfare impacts of four types of leash walking equipment · PeerJ (via Europe PMC), 2024
- Severe brain damage after punitive training technique with a choke chain collar in a German shepherd dog · Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 2013
- Dog training - use of devices: report, Evidence Gathered · Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, 2025
- Does training method matter? Evidence for the negative impact of aversive-based methods on companion dog welfare · PLOS One, 2020
- Dog Training Standards (Version 1.8) · BC SPCA AnimalKind
- Règlement sur le bien-être et la sécurité des animaux domestiques de compagnie et des équidés: guide d'application · Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ), 2023
- Humane Training of Dogs · Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), 2021
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