Breaking to Chain.
Some dogs take kindly to instruction in this regard, others rebel against it. Put a collar on the dog several days before you intend breaking it to chain. Try conscientiously the coaxing process first; if it fails, then nothing remains but to drag the dog along till from fear of choking it is forced to follow. Once having undertaken it, don’t stop till you have accomplished your object. This treatment should not in stubborn cases last over half an hour, though sometimes heavy and headstrong dogs may require two hours. In the majority of cases after half an hour’s teaching the dog will lead “steady by jerks,” and in a couple of days will become used to the chain. If, however, after a week’s experience it tugs and pulls on the lead, use a slip-noose collar, which tightens as the strain grows greater. Choking off its wind when it pulls hard, it will soon grow weary and act rationally. Should this treatment still prove inefficient, some people resort to the spike collar, which, however, should be used only with the greatest judgment. No one ever treated his dogs more kindly than I, yet, though I never had a dog upon which it became necessary to use a spike collar, still, perhaps I would have used one rather than have my shoulder pulled out of its socket by a dog which I took out for companionship. I would use it only as a last resort, and then with the utmost caution.