Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990 TAG: 9003091984
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: KARREN MILLS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
On the second day of class, Plante replaced Bailey's choke collar with a nylon head halter. This gave him the control he needed by working with, rather than against, the dog's natural instincts.
"He was the pack leader of his litter so he was especially anxious to be in control," Plante says, "but with the Gentle Leader he's a good dog."
The Gentle Leader is one of three new non-choke training aids developed by veterinarians, dog obedience instructors and psychologists as humane, effective alternatives to choke collars.
"We feel we are killing up to 10 million dogs a year because people can't cope with them," says Dr. Robert K. Anderson, adding that studies show behavior problems are the reason for about 70 percent of those deaths.
At the same time, choke or prong collars traditionally used to train dogs can cause pain and injure the delicate tissues of the dog's trachea and larynx.
The Gentle Leader harness has one looped band that goes around the dog's muzzle just ahead of the eyes and another around the back of his head behind the ears. The bands join to a ring where the leash is attached just under the dog's chin.
Rather than cutting off the dog's air supply to gain control, the harness applies force where a mother dog controls her puppies, on the scruff of the neck, and where the top dog in a pack asserts his dominance, around the dog's muzzle.
"It can't hurt the dog's neck because it's pulling on the strong muscles at the back of the neck," says Anderson, a veterinarian who invented the training aid with Ruth E. Foster, a trainer. "The nice thing about the Gentle Leader is that you're not causing the dog to be afraid. The tail is always up."
Other non-choke training aids are the K-9-Kumalong, developed about five years ago by a veterinarian in New Mexico, and the Halti, similar to the K-9-Kumalong and sold in the United Kingdom for about 3 1/2 years. Anderson says both are bigger and put most of the pressure around the nose rather than at the back of the neck.
About 30,000 Gentle Leaders have been test marketed through veterinarians, pet stores, obedience schools and mail order and will soon be widely available at retail outlets. The adjustable harnesses come in three sizes and range in price from $12 to $20.
The University of Minnesota, where Anderson is professor and director emeritus of the Animal Behavior Clinic and Foster is associate director, holds the patents on the Gentle Leader and receives the royalties, with half going to its Center to Study Human-Animal Relationships and Environments.
Karen Peltier, director of education and community relations manager at the Ramsey County Humane Society, tried using a choke collar to train her 15-month-old pointer mix puppy, then switched to a Gentle Leader.
Peltier also has used the harness on dogs brought into the Humane Society for adoption because their owners couldn't handle them.
"I've taken a totally undisciplined animal out of a cage here and within 10 minutes I was able to take that dog for a walk using a Gentle Leader," Peltier says. "The short time it takes to get them to behave is phenomenal."
Gentle Leader is marketed by Ameri-Pet Inc., Minneapolis Minn. For information call (800) 666-3647.
by CNB