Obviously you have to have the "equipment" to walk your dog before you start. Different collars can bring about completely different results. It's important to choose a collar carefully. All of my animals have neck collars (Collars with a buckle or plastic snap made with nylon and cloth.) yet none of those collars were for walking them, at least not at the start of walking training. Basically the neck collar is a means of having their identification with them. If you look around and think about the structure of your dogs face and their "personality" you can easily match collar to canine. There are dogs bred for harness work. It would make sense not to use a harness in your walk training?
Dogs are most powerful in their upper body particularly across the chest and shoulders and using a device that "harnesses" that energy makes it difficult for some dogs to associate a walk from something entirely different in their minds. If you sit in a park on any summer afternoon and watch some of the owners you can clearly see who is walking who? We'll get back to this in a second . . .
The collars and harness combinations I've seen used and used myself are as varied as the stars. This is also true of leash selections. As I've said a normal run of the mill neck collar is pretty much only useful as a surrogate wallet and nothing more. It is not the collar used for walking until your animal knows what a walk is in accordance with the pack leader.
There are choke collars (chain collars) and also collars that are pronged that provide pressure to points around the neck. Of the two the pronged collar is the safest for the animal. A choke collar teaches a dog nothing about walking or behaving on the walk, it only teaches frustration for both the animal and the owner. Again, these are collars that should only function as carry-straps for the dog's I.D. but in short shouldn't be used at all. The pronged collar should only be used for certain breeds obviously and only by those trainers who also are very clear on its responsible use. This is not a collar for the average dog owning individual.
The Martingale Collar is a useful training device. Essentially it is a morph of neck collar and choke collar and provides the benefits of both without the negative characteristics of either. Most of the collar is regular neck collar and then two rungs enclose a ring of chain or cloth that pulls the rest of the collar together to pressure the neck. Because the collars are wide and do not "dig in" they are a safe way of training a dog proper "walking etiquette!"
There are the "Head Collars" which use the dog's motion against them. These collars act like a bridle on a horse. When the dog tries to pull his head tucks back and down and your pet does not ever want his head in that position. His pulling creating this action and discomfort and most animals quickly learn with these collars to walk proper without pulling. Originally designed to train dogs with 'strong' pulling instincts there are now a variety of designs that fit many muzzle sizes. I used this collar to teach Duma as he is a pulling dog, quite powerful and has the perchance to pursue the occasional squirrel.
There are several warnings I will offer. First, this is not meant to take away from the eventuality of walking with only a neck collar or without a leash at all someday but only to supplement your own training program with a dog that has a rampant pulling instinct. It is NOT therefore a replacement lifelong collar or shouldn't be. Insure for a proper fit. Although they have a vast range of adjustable size it is in the fine tuning of the collar where you get the best results and least discomfort. Expect your dog to thrash about using both paws to try to remove this strap that crosses his face. Expect him as Zab (A friends Boxer) did to jump in the air at not more than six months old to a height of 6 feet looking like a circus acrobat. This behavior, more in line with someone on some kind of insane overdose should settle out within a short time. Duma and Zab by about the third walk both settled into quite a nice routine.
Harnesses abound. The many styles, colors and sizes give an owner a variety of choices in their purchase. Decide first is a harness going to accomplish what you want it to accomplish? For new walking learners I would say no, unless you've adopted a dog that already knows this training of course. A harness lets your pet utilize the strongest parts of his/her bodies in misbehaving. Again understand the power that canines have in these areas from the neck, down and across the chest shoulder to shoulder. It will make a 65 Lb. dog feel like twice that in a pulling action. I have witnessed inattentive owners pulled to the ground when their dogs took off without warning to investigate something that they sensed or see.
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