Agitation collar or harness? - Page 2

I like you am new to the sport and have one helluva puppy for it, I use the harness for a couple of reasons actually. First off because it really kicks my dog into a very high prey drive, much more than the collar does and because she actually leaps in the air when in prey I think it much safer for her. The second reason as stated is safety as already mentioned people have issue with the collar and I personally witnessed a Dutch/Mal mix at our club snap his hock because the leash got tangled around his leg in a long bite and I think the harness places the leash a little more out of the way of a running dog.

That said each dog is so different and your club director and helper will be able to give you the best advise for your personal dog.

zieg .. you bring up a great commentary .. in general ... WHY is there the need for so much agitation ?? .. yes .. IMO a good dog .. not a GSD that you have to make into what it is not .. should be , ready to go  , sort to speak .. i do not do the foolish , 'think tank' philosophy .. keep the dog crated until he is ready to work and take him on the field until he is ready to work ?? HUH ??? as pups i train ... one or two swipes of the tug , BAM into the tug/body for a bite .. hard and fast .. one problem i see is the intense /prolonged agitation ..and i say to myself " of course , just train the dog to rely on a lot of stimulatioin order to perform '' -- "ya,  condition the dog to need stimulation a lot of stimulation" .... ...good grief .. another feature :many times i use NO AGITATION !! i want the dog to initiate with correct behavior ,  to make me move ,in oreder that it thinks he can overcome and control me [ as a decoy].. i stand stkil .. dog acts correctly , bam it gets the bite . this i have found to be very very , intensely empowering to dogs .. talk about confidence and attitude the dogs get.. .. a lot of people think they have to fight with the dog and make the dog win !! HUH .. i prefer to have the dog 'get atitude' by knowing [ really making it think] it can manipulate me , overcome me mentally , and behaviorally even before it encounters  and on the sleeve ame thought processa bpout dogs getting empowered , not about winning as much as shaping the dogs mind .. .. all this over excessive agitation !! wasted energy !!  BTWE if you pump the dog up .. control problems for many and now you are left with taking the dog gown a few notches .. YUP great way to train ... try teaching the dog self control , correct empowring beahvior instead of frustration /conflict etc etc... zeig .. i agree with you 100% ..i second your commentary !!! we create a lot of problems in our dogs !!