Alan could you explain this please?  How does "appearance . . . cause pain?"

well thats my dog finished with a collar and lead, it looks like a hangmans noose, put a noose round his neck and he'll hang.
Tried the water pistol to stop him barking a couple of time, he almost drowned, you really did wast your money on that 6 weeks beginers obedeience course alan, not only have you no control over your dog, you only need to look at something and you know how it works and to use it.
Id suggest you use google, type in use prong collars and some variations they sound safer than an ordinary hangmans noose collar and lead, still not as much drama queen writing for you though.

Hi,just discovered that your forum has used a quote that I gave to a local news paper several years ago and I would like to take this oppourtunity to further qualify my statement.Firstly I would like to point out that I am not  professional dog trainer and dont consider myself to be a particularly accomplished dog triallist although I have had some modest success.In relation to the use of electric collars I believe that they are a valuable tool that can be used with good results when training working dogs(my experience is with New Zealand Huntaways and Heading dogs).In my experience one of the best situations to use e-collars is when you have a dog whose natural instincts to try to kill live stock can become too strong and over ride their instincts to work stock.I have found that disciplining the dog as it trys to bite the sheep with an e-coller is far more satisfactory and effective than trying to catch the dog punish it physically.By doing this in the correct manner along with other training methods it is possable to take a dog that is a liability around livestock to one that is a valuable member of your team of working dogs.It has to be kept in mid that most of the dogs that I work with have been bred with strong wills which sometimes make training a challenge but does mean that these dogs are particularly hard working which is essential when you are handling large mobs of animals for long periods.I hope that I have been able to clarify some of the reasons for making my statements to the media as I have.

I would say a headcollar, gentle leader/halti combined with a harness.