interesting perspective on shock collars

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On Shocking Our Dogs | Dog Star Daily

On Shocking Our Dogs

December 18th, 2011 by Trish King Just because we can….doesn’t mean we should

I want to eat. Actually, I need to eat in order to survive. However, eating has become a battleground between my need for sustenance and my desire to avoid pain. At each mouthful, I could taste food, or an electric shock could hit the side of my face like a hot, burning, lightning bolt, causing me to gasp and pull back. But, often it doesn’t, in which case, I can take the next bite. But do I want to take the next bite? Need and pain fight each other. The end result is that I eat very carefully, one bite of soft food gently following another. I don’t snack and, while I can’t say I don’t enjoy my food (it still tastes good!) it comes at a price that is difficult to pay. This, by the way, is what happens when you have Trigeminal Neuralgia, a fairly rare condition that was once called “the suicide disease.”

What does this have to do with dogs and dog training? A lot, as it turns out. Over the last decade or so, the use of shock collars (also called e-collars) has been on the rise. No longer the purview of hunters and professionals, their price has come down and the general public has been buying them…and using them. You see them on dogs being walked on sidewalks, on trails, and in dog parks. You see them on aggressive dogs and unruly dogs. They come with a page or a booklet of instructions (which a good many people probably don’t read), and that’s about it.

After my latest bout with TN, I am more even firmly against them than before.

Imagine you are a dog with a desire to sniff – you need to sniff, it’s in your nature. Sometimes, you can sniff, but other times, when you are on your way to an attractive bush, you are hit by a painful electrical jolt on your neck. You immediately stop in your tracks, and turn back to look at your trusted boss, who tells you that you are a “good dog” for coming back. You trot back to him, and go on your way. The next time you’d like a good sniff, you may think twice. Or not. It may take many repetitions for you to associate the shock with the sniff. Even so, you still have this need to sniff! Multiply this association by any number of behaviors, all natural, all not desired by humans, and all of which can be punished by unexpected, hot pain. Puling on leash, not coming when called, eating stuff on the ground, jumping on counters, you name it.

But what about the observation that when e-collars are used on dogs, the dogs still seem to be happy? They still want to be with their owner, their tails still wag, and they still like to run around and play. Doesn’t that prove that the collars are benign? Well, there are studies that show that cortisol levels rise with their use, but I have another observation as well. When you are hit by an electrical shock, it is finite. When it ends, it ends. You cannot remember the pain – you just remember that it was very painful – and you go about living your life as though you were pain-free. Which you are! This is very different from having chronic pain, during which you are always reminded that it hurts. I think chronic pain can make one more irritable, even aggressive. Electric shock pain, on the other hand, is acute, horrible, and then gone.

However, after a shock, many of your behaviors are tentative, as you explore the possibility that they will cause pain. In just the way that I am careful about talking, because I don’t know which movement of my mouth will cause pain (if you know how much I like to talk, you can imagine how punishing this is for me), a dog being taught to heel using a shock collar is afraid to go anywhere except where safety is proven – right beside the owner. When he is there, he is praised, and his tail wags.

There are a few videos on You Tube in which men put shock collars on themselves and then roll around laughing when the shock hits, and they fall sidewise. Maybe this is funny during the videoing, in a perverse sort of way, but what would happen if the shock collars were always on, and they could not predict when the pain would hit – when they took a swig of beer, or lit a cigarette, drove a car, or took a bite of food? Eventually, they would be afraid to do anything. They would be under control. But we don’t do that to people – we do it to dogs, our pets, because we can and they love us anyway.

[BrightEyes]

Shock collars for dog training

Dog Shock Collar – The Good and The Bad

Myths About Dog Training Collars

[brandypup]

From the link- I tried positive trianing methods for hours with no success.

Yes if you want a dog to submit within a hour use a shock collar. You will only get out of it what you put into it.
Simply Shocking - Electronic dog fences

Dog Training Equipment - Whole Dog Journal Article

Analyzing Dog Behavior and Puppy Behavior - Whole Dog Journal Article

Dog Training Without Electric Shock Collars - Whole Dog Journal Article

The Canine Shock Collar Debate - Whole Dog Journal Article

Peaceable Paws

http://www.k9kindness.org/wp-content...ith-Shock1.pdf

[Foodgod1]

Using the collar to set boundries is what we use ours for. Our beagles have a certain distance they are allowed to wander from us and then we call them to us. If they don't respond, then they get the negative feedback. If they come when called, they get a treat. We have to keep it all in perspective. I do not set my collars on #9 and zap them till they are laying over. It's a little jolt to get their attention and a reminder that I am calling them. It's a tool for training and should be used as such. That's all I have to say about that....

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Florida Man Arrested For Torturing Little Girls With Dog Shock Collar

[Vikki]

I live in Wales in the UK and they are banned here! But are available in England (I don't know about Scotland) - a friend (who lives in England) has a cocker spaniel and his trainer advised the electric collar and he uses it a lot (I think to make the dog come back). My trainer said that if you use a collar you have to get the timing perfectly right (I suspect a lot of dog owners never get the perfect timing). I use a whistle and treats and with Poppy being a Beagle I don't have 100% recall probably never will she comes when she is ready - typical Beagle!!!!

I don't know what I think about the collars.

I spent 45 minutes running after Poppy while she was chasing sheep over a year ago. It was the worst 45 minutes of my life my children were crying thinking the farmer was going to come and shoot her. At one point I thought if he does come I will shoot her myself! She was dreadful would not listen to me all she wanted to do was chase/play with the sheep. Luckily I got hold of her, then enrolled in a class and spent a weekend with her training her not to chase sheep - I don't if it worked as she has not had the chance to chase any sheep since (and hopefully never will). I did think if she had an electric collar on when she was in the field I could have pressed it and stopped her in her tracks.

[Dawna]

Originally Posted by Vikki

I live in Wales in the UK and they are banned here! But are available in England (I don't know about Scotland) - a friend (who lives in England) has a cocker spaniel and his trainer advised the electric collar and he uses it a lot (I think to make the dog come back). My trainer said that if you use a collar you have to get the timing perfectly right (I suspect a lot of dog owners never get the perfect timing). I use a whistle and treats and with Poppy being a Beagle I don't have 100% recall probably never will she comes when she is ready - typical Beagle!!!!

I don't know what I think about the collars.

I spent 45 minutes running after Poppy while she was chasing sheep over a year ago. It was the worst 45 minutes of my life my children were crying thinking the farmer was going to come and shoot her. At one point I thought if he does come I will shoot her myself! She was dreadful would not listen to me all she wanted to do was chase/play with the sheep. Luckily I got hold of her, then enrolled in a class and spent a weekend with her training her not to chase sheep - I don't if it worked as she has not had the chance to chase any sheep since (and hopefully never will). I did think if she had an electric collar on when she was in the field I could have pressed it and stopped her in her tracks.

My Feist X jumped 4 fences in about 2 minutes a month ago. And when she gets loose she will NOT allow you to catch her. Like you, I wanted to kill her myself in the 45 minutes it took me to get her! She only weighs 16 pounds, though, and has a delicate, kind of Italian Greyhound/ Whippet body style. But my daughter used a shock collar on her 8 year old Doberman when he was a puppy, until they could get him trained, and it worked quite well. They were living in a house then, but have been in an apartment for over 2 years, and my son-in-law can potty him off leash.