Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have used this particular head collar on four different dogs with mixed results. Please note that all dogs were slowly and carefully desensitized to the Gentle Leader head collar, as directed by trainers and the training materials included with the head collar. - The first was a dog-reactive dog. The collar did discourage pulling under low stress conditions and made pulling less painful. It allowed for greater control of the dog. However, if the dog was not kept soundly distracted he would return to fussing over the nose strap. He became so frustrated by the collar that he would rub his face on the concrete, claw at the nose strap, and come away bleeding. I returned to desensitizing him to the collar, assuming I had not given him enough time to adjust. I found myself spending more time training him to accept the collar than working on modifying his unwanted behaviors. - The second dog was a fearful dog. The dog would completely shut down whenever he wore the collar away from his safe zone. We spent more time trying to desensitize him to wearing the collar outside of his safe zone. Because he would shut down and stop responding we could not get any results. - The third dog was a confident, social dog. This particular dog had pulled his whole life. To my knowledge, no one had attempted to discourage the pulling behavior. I noticed improvement as soon as we left the yard. It didn't just lessen the pulling, it stopped it. - The fourth was an untrained and social puppy. Not accustomed to rules or boundaries, the puppy was constantly testing the limits of the collar. If he was not properly engaged in training he would return to pawing at the nose strap, hindering training. Distraction caused by the nose strap was lessened by padding the nose strap with faux fur. He was doing fairly well on the collar and with training. One day, another puppy approached and he began that endearing puppy wiggle, wagging his tail so hard his whole body shook. Without warning, he lunged forward. Despite being on a short leash, he hit the end of the leash hard enough that the collar jerked his head sideways. He let out an ear-shattering yelp and acted subdued thereafter. For safety reasons, we discontinued the use of the head collar. Pros: - Gives greater control to the dog handler, regardless of the dog's size and the handler's strength. - Lessens or eliminates the pain and discomfort the handler experiences when dogs do pull. - Discourages pulling. - Can be used with either traditional punishment based training or progressive reward based training. - Will not choke the dog when used with nose strap Cons: - Requires time for dogs to become accustomed to this training tool. - Requires careful adjustment of straps -- improper fit impedes training. - Can rub hair off and/or cause irritation if worn or fitted improperly. - Capable of injuring a dog that lunges or does "zoomies" while worn and leashed. - May cause fearful dogs to shut down and inhibit behavior change. - May exacerbate reactive or aggressive dogs' unwanted behavior. - The nose strap may irritate the dog, requiring padding to be sewn on by owner. - The nose strap is not durable and can be easily destroyed by chewers. - Dogs CAN learn to ignore the head collar and pull anyway, meaning you will still need to teach the dog how to walk with you. - Short-muzzled dogs may find it easy to remove the nose strap. - Results vary. For successful training, I recommend developing mutual respect and trust with your dog. With mutual respect and trust there isn't anything you can't accomplish with your dog. If I can teach my dog to walk nicely with me, ANYONE can. Don't give up!