If we saw someone choking, shocking, or dragging a dog, we would intervene, right? But chances are, we have—and we didn't.

It can be intimidating to tell another dog guardian that he or she is being cruel, but people who rely on choke, prong, or shock collars to control their dogs need to know about the harm that they're inflicting. Dogs who are made to wear these collars experience a fear of pain that often results in psychological stress, anxiety, and displaced aggression. And the potential physical injuries are just as serious.

Choke and prong collars can cause dogs to suffer from spinal cord injuries, including intervertebral disc protrusion or paralysis as well as nerve damage, a crushed trachea or larynx, and bruising and damage to the esophagus and the skin and tissue in the neck.

Depending on the size of the dog, how hard the dog pulls, and how forcefully the person holding the leash yanks, prong collars can cause serious injuries.
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Shock collars can cause burns, cardiac fibrillation, and changes in heart and respiratory rates, as well as behavior problems.

"Gentle Leader" or "Halti" head halters aren't ideal, either, because they wrap around the dog's muzzle, which most dogs find uncomfortable—it reminds them of the feeling that they get when another dog bites down on their muzzle in a warning gesture. And when the dog tries to pull, the halter pulls the dog's head downward and to the side, which could potentially cause a neck injury if the dog is pulling hard or moving quickly. A better "no-pull" alternative is the Sense-ation harness, which has a ring located at the dog's chest, not the neck, for attaching the leash, allowing you to redirect your dog back toward you when he or she pulls or lunges without causing pain.

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We each have a responsibility to explain as diplomatically as possible to dog owners that positive, reward-based training methods are kinder and more effective than painful choke or shock collars and that having dogs wear harnesses while out walking is much easier on their necks than using any kind of collar.

Dogs are safest and most comfortable wearing a nylon harness when outside.
© PETA

We can use ourselves and our dogs as examples. I show people my dog's harness and I explain to them that I trained my dog by giving her praise and treats when she walked calmly on the leash and withheld them when she did the opposite, and she soon figured out that good behavior has its rewards. I also planted my feet and refused to move forward as long as she was pulling, and that sent a very clear message that she understood in record time. Now when I walk her, she does really well, and I'm so proud of her.

No dog deserves to be choked, shocked, and dragged. Let's make sure dogs are treated better than that.

While it's important for our dogs and cats to wear collars (although never choke or prong collars) and proper identification when they go outdoors, just putting a collar on and assuming that it'll be fine for the animal's entire life is a recipe for disaster. As animals grow or gain weight, a too-tight collar can result in severe neck wounds, as the following cases illustrate:

• Dan, a staffer from PETA Foundation's Literature Department, was trying to help a neighbor get his semi-feral cat spayed when he spotted this cat in the neighborhood. Dan sat with the trap for more than two hours (at 10 p.m. in a neighborhood with a high crime rate) until the cat was captured. The unneutered male cat had a deeply embedded flea collar wrapped around his neck, armpit, and torso.

 A PETA fieldworker spent the day on Saturday waiting for this feral dog—with a deeply embedded collar—to appear after being alerted to her condition by an out-of-town visitor to the area. It was the deepest collar-related wound that the fieldworker had ever seen.

 Remember: If you can't comfortably slip two fingers between the collar and the animal's neck, the collar is too tight. To learn more about how to care for companion animals properly, check this out.

It never hurts to brush up on answers to questions about animal issues—even seasoned protesters can get a stumper from passersby now and then. See if you know the answers to the following five questions that often pop up in discussions about animal rights: 

What's wrong with eggs and dairy products from "free-range" animals? There are no standards for what "free-range" means, so animals on such farms may still spend most of their time in filthy, crowded sheds. Cruel practices such as searing off hens' beaks with a hot blade and relegating male calves to veal crates occur, and when the animals stop producing enough eggs or milk, they are sent to the same slaughterhouses as factory-farmed animals.

If we don't test on animals, what other methods are available? Computer simulations, cell cultures, human cadavers, and clinical trials are just some of the many options researchers can use instead of animal testing to obtain more accurate and cost-effective results.

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What's wrong with wearing wool? In Australia—where most of the world's merino wool comes from—sheep have been bred to have excessively wrinkled skin in order to produce more wool. The wrinkles collect moisture, which attracts flies, so many farmers resort to "mulesing," a gruesome and cruel procedure in which huge chunks of skin and flesh are cut from lambs' backsides in a crude attempt to prevent flystrike.

Should we put endangered animals in zoos? Endangered animals bred in zoos are rarely released into the wild. Instead, they will spend their lives "warehoused" in cramped enclosures that cannot come close to replicating their natural habitats. As a result, many develop stereotypic behaviors such as pacing, rocking from side to side, and self-mutilation. The only humane and effective way to combat extinction is to protect animals' habitats.

What's wrong with using a choke or prong collar on my dog? As their names imply, choke and prong collars inflict discomfort and pain, and they can severely injure dogs' necks and throats. Far safer and more humane options are no-pull harnesses and halters like the Easy Walk, Halti, or even a standard figure-H harness. For cruelty-free dog-training tips, check out celebrity dog trainer Tamar Geller's video series for PETA.

Have another animal rights question that you've always wondered about? Visit PETA's Frequently Asked Questions page.