Who Should Use Electric Dog Collars?
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The idea of electric dog collars to shock train a dog is alien to a lot of people, but let's take a look at the argument from both sides...
An electric collar works by remote control, sending a small shock into the dog's neck. The remote control aspect means it can be used for off leash training, great for training a dog for a distance 'come' command.
There are pros and cons to the method. One plus is that it can be very effective, as the dog soon gets the negative reinforcement message, and new behavior patterns can be developed very quickly. A negative is that it does involve negative training, and giving your dog a shock, however light it may be.
Another plus side is that if someone is training a dog by themselves, this leash free aspect is a great help, and can effectively replace a training helper. One of the downsides is that they are not cheap, hardly surprising since they are quite sophisticated pieces of equipment.
It's often said that when using an electric collar, it should be used to give no more discomfort to your dog than a sharp tug on the collar. The counter argument is that the shock can be more than the effect of a leash tug if the electric collar is used incorrectly. Anyway, the argument goes, if all it does is replicate an ordinary collar and leash, then why not just use an ordinary collar and leash!
It's a debate that goes will on for a while yet. I guess the 'play safe' advice would be to only use the collar if the training required has to be quick for some reason, or if off-leash training could be considered dangerous.
It also might be a good idea to only have an electric collar used by a professional trainer, but again there is a counter argument that says firstly that if it's a shock going to your dog, it should at least be you responsible for it, and secondly that a professional trainer would not need to use one anyway. I'm not sure there's a clear right or wrong when it comes to electric collars - probably a matter of personal choice.
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I really do not like these types of collars. There are many other ways to train dogs, even aggressive ones and I really do not agree with the use of these electric collars. Just my opinion tho'. Good information to know about the electric collars. Thanks.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior and the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists as well as many other reputable professional organizations, certified applied animal behaviorists and board certified veterinary behaviorists as well as the top trainers in the world advise against the use of shock collars. You are right in that a good trainer does not need shock to train an animal. In fact, they are illegal in several countries. If we don't need them to train a killer whale or a goldfish, why would we need them to train man's best friend?
rocco071 2 years ago
I used Don Sullivan's collar and it worked fairly well. Wrote a review here: http://hubpages.com/hub/don-sullivan-perfect-dog-r