I've never vigorously pruned my honeysuckle, but it's always been full and well behaved. I did add a new one to the yard a couple years ago and it did require some encouragement to climb up the trellis, after that - it quickly filled it out.

My older ones came with the house when I bought it - they had been trained onto chicken wire that had been hung from the cinderblock privacy wall.

Here in NM, they're pretty tough, and I've seen businesses hack them down to less than a foot long in spring and they're back to full shrubby vines by Fall. The first time I saw them do that I thought they were getting ready to remove them, and I was steaming mad! hehe.

I've never pruned that hard 'cuz I don't want to re-train them up the trellises :P I usually just cut out the dead stuff mid-season - when I can enjoy the fragrance of the blossoms while I'm working.