The shock collar, remote training collar, or electronic dog collar is most commonly used in four areas –
- Keep dogs inside our property. Our dog is corrected every time he nears the fence-line. This is also known as an invisible fence or underground fence.
- Stop dogs from barking. The collar automatically delivers a correction whenever our dog starts to bark. If he continues to bark, the force, duration, and frequency of the shocks may be automatically increased.
- Train dogs and stop problem dog behaviors. Shock collars are most commonly used for off-leash training. However, some dog trainers and pet owners also use it for behavioral issues such as food aggression, and dog aggression.
- Teach dogs to stay away from dangerous animals and objects. A common use is in rattlesnake aversion training. A dog is shocked hard, but a very small number of times, when he nears a caged rattlesnake. This teaches him not to approach rattlesnakes in the future.
The use of shock collars on dogs is a very emotional topic. Discussions will often degrade into personal attacks, accusations of dog cruelty, and other types of name calling.
In this article, I will try to stick to the facts, and consider whether it is something I would use on my dogs. Note however, that facts are not always convenient, and facts are not always balanced between the two sides.
If you have already made up your mind about using electronic collars and are looking for validation, this article is not for you.
Electronic Collars vs. Shock Collars
Not all electronic collars are used as shock collars. There are three main modes – 1. Beep mode, 2. Vibrate mode, and 3. Shock mode.
All electronic collars have the shock functionality, but the beep or vibrate functions are optional.
1. Beep mode
In this mode, a beep is emitted whenever the collar controller is pressed. This beep can be used as a marker, in the same way that clickers are used in clicker training.
For the beep to be an effective marker, a dog needs prior training for associating the sound with a positive or negative consequence. For example, if the beep always precedes a sought after reward, then our dog may stop and wait, because he knows that something good is coming. Similarly, a dog may freeze or submit when he hears a beep, because he knows that failure to comply, will be followed by a painful shock.
The beep can also cause a startle response, similarly to blowing a whistle. This can be used to get our dog’s attention or to interrupt his current action. However, for this to work, we must only use the interrupt signal on very rare occasions. If applied too frequently, our dog will become accustomed to it, and just ignore it.
2. Vibrate mode
In this mode, the collar vibrates, similar to how our pager or phone vibrates to get our attention. Like the beep mode, this vibration can be used as a marker or as an interrupt.
Both the beep and vibrate modes do not deliver an electric shock to the dog.
3. Shock mode.
In shock mode, the electronic collar will deliver an electric current to the dog through two contact points at the dog’s neck.
This electric current will cause pain and physical discomfort to the dog, otherwise it would not be effective in conditioning him.
The amount of pain delivered to the dog will depend on three key factors –
- The power/voltage of the electric current,
- The duration of the current, and
- The frequency of the current.
The amount of pain that the dog actually feels, will also depend on the physical characteristics of the dog (e.g. size, skin, and fur), as well as the temperament of the dog. Some dogs are more sensitive to pain than others.
Sometimes, words like stimulation are used to describe shock collars. I even saw them described as gentle training collars.
Beware of these sales gimmicks. Accept an electronic collar for what it is. If you choose to use it, make an informed decision that is based on the actual pros and cons of the system, which I will discuss below. Note that the subsequent discussion is solely based on the shock functionality of remote training collars (not on the beep and vibrate modes).
The Good
1. Allows us to control the amount of pain delivered to our dog, and administer that pain from a distance.
One of the great challenges of implementing pain based aversive techniques such as leash jerks, muzzle slaps, and finger pokes, is in controlling the amount of force delivered to the dog.
- Too much force and our dog may break down, and become extremely stressed or fearful.
- Too little force and our dog will get habituated to the corrections, and just ignore them.
Master aversive trainers are able to deliver just the right amount of force, so that the dog will not repeat a bad behavior, but at the same time, he will also not become unbalanced and fearful.
Unlike other aversive methods, remote training collars allows us to easily adjust the amount of pain delivered to a dog, and to keep that level of pain consistent in subsequent corrections. We can also administer the pain from a distance.
However, it should also be mentioned that the amount of pain actually ‘felt’ by the dog as well as the resulting response, depends on many different factors, not just the level of shock applied.
Although these devices are presented as a highly controllable method of modifying behaviour, via the controlled administering of pain/discomfort (the collars are designed to allow operator to set the duration and intensity of shock), an individual animal’s experience when a shock is applied will be influenced by numerous factors. In addition to individual temperament, the experience will be affected by the dog’s previous experiences, frequency of application, location of shock, thickness of hair and level of moisture on skin (Lindsay, 2005). Given that many of these factors are not easily determinable by the operator, this makes the device far less precise than suggested.
~~[RSPCA]
2. Can automatically deliver a shock correction to the dog, even when we are not there.
Another challenge of implementing proper aversive corrections, is using the right timing. We want to correct our dog as soon as he performs an unacceptable behavior, and stop correcting him as soon as he stops that behavior.
Electronic collars can be tied to a particular trigger event, such as barking or proximity to our fence-line. In this way, a shock is automatically and consistently delivered to the dog, as soon as he starts to bark or tries to escape. In fact, the invisible fence or shock anti-bark systems are convenient, because we do not even have to be there to deliver the corrections.
Shock collars such as these may sound tempting and easy to use, but unfortunately, consistent and automatic timing does not necessarily mean correct timing.
Studies show that automatic collars are risky, because tying a shock correction to a single trigger event, such as barking or proximity, is too simplistic and will frequently result in bad timing. This can subsequently lead to aggression and other dog behavioral issues.
There are some anti-bark collars that use sound aversion to stop dog barking, for example the Ultrasonic Anti-bark Collar. However, customer reviews have been poor because the sound stimulus is often insufficient to prevent the barking behavior.
3. The source of the aversive stimulus is less clear.
When we use other pain-based aversive techniques, it is usually obvious that the pain comes from us. This may teach our dogs to associate people with physical distress, which can also lead to fear. If this happens, we may lose some of our dog’s trust, and jeopardize our bond with him.
For example, when we apply a leash correction, it is apparent that the pain originates from the leash, and sometimes (if not redirected), from us. Therefore, the dog may decide to fight with the leash, or worse, with us.
This is less of a problem with electronic collars because the source of the pain is obscured, and there is no leash to fight with. However, because the pain comes from seemingly nowhere, our dog may mistakenly associate it with something he sees in the environment (e.g. another dog), the environment itself, or to multiple unrelated objects and events. This may cause misplaced stress, fear, and aggression, toward those objects.
Automatic shock collars also have a high risk of over-correcting a dog.
The Bad
1. May increase aggression in dogs.
According to Polsky’s study, dogs kept in shock containment systems (i.e. invisible fence or underground fence), can show extreme aggression towards humans, over and beyond their normal behavior.
Polsky’s results show that a big danger with electronic collars, especially automatic e-collars, is that they may cause dogs to make the wrong associations, and learn the wrong things.
Dogs may associate the pain from the shock with the environment or with objects in the environment (including humans , dogs, or cats), rather than with their escaping or barking behaviors. This may lead to anxiety or negative associations with those objects, which can ultimately result in aggression.
Some dogs that have been conditioned in this manner, may not want to set foot in the yard, for worry of pain. They may also start to attack humans and other animals, that wander too close to the fence perimeter.
Some dogs may get habituated to the shocks, and learn that if they can tolerate the pain close to the fence-line, they can escape. Once they escape, they are rewarded with no more shocks. In this way, the dog learns that escaping is a good thing, whereas staying in the backyard is not.
2. May increase stress in dogs and reduce their quality of life.
Schalke et al. conducted an electronic collar training study on fourteen laboratory-bred Beagles. Shock collar training was conducted over 7 days, for 1.5 hours per day. Then the dogs were released to freely hunt for 5 days, and to hunt on leash for another 5 days. Schalke’s study showed that the dogs who
… were able to clearly associate the electric stimulus with their action, i.e. touching the prey, and consequently were able to predict and control the stressor, did not show considerable or persistent stress indicators.
~~[ Excerpt from ScienceDirect.com ]
However, the two other groups of dogs that were not able to so clearly predict and control the delivery of the shocks, showed elevated stress levels, with the highest levels present in the dogs that were arbitrarily shocked.
Most importantly, the group of dogs that received a shock for not abiding by a recall (Here) command, were also significantly elevated.
Even more distressing, is that the results remained the same when the dogs were reintroduced to the testing area after four weeks. Their stress levels remained high, even though they did not receive any shocks during this reintroduction period.
The results from Schalke’s study indicate that electronic collars are extremely risky to use even for the short term. Stress levels of the dogs were high after just 7 days, and were elevated as soon as they returned to the shock treatment environment. This is consistent with Polsky’s study, which show that dogs may associate the shock and stress they receive, with the environment itself.
This study provides strong evidence that shock collars are inappropriate for most kinds of dog training, as even common recall training will result in elevated stress levels, and a lower quality of life.
3. May weaken our bond with our dog.
Polsky and Schalke’s studies show that dogs often associate the pain from electronic collars with their environment, as well as with people, animals, and other objects in that environment. Even after shocks are no longer administered, the dogs still attach the environment to something stressful and negative.
Therefore, using a remote training collar on our dog may cause him to associate our home or backyard, with stress and pain. Or worse yet, it may cause him to associate the stress with other dogs, other people, or with us.
Remember that Schalke’s results show this negative attachment forming in a matter of 7 days.
Alternative to Shock Corrections
When I first got my Shiba Inu, I had a lot of problems with him. At the time, I was under the false impression that reward methods would not work on my dominant, stubborn, and aggressive Shiba Inu. Therefore, I was using aversive training and briefly considered the use of electronic collars, because the other aversive-based methods were not working well.
However, after doing a lot of reading, I decided to give reward dog training a chance.
Reward training is not a miracle cure, and it will still take a lot of work, consistency, and patience, to train our dog. However, reward techniques can work on dominant, stubborn, and aggressive dogs. It has worked well for training my Shiba. In fact, he stopped showing aggression toward me and others, after I stopped using pain-based methods.
Common Justifications for Shock Collars
1. Save a dog’s life.
Proponents of electronic collars sometimes argue that they are used to save a dog’s life, by preventing him from running into traffic.
It is important to note that off-leash recall is never 100% reliable, whatever equipment or training methods we may choose to use.
This is why there are leash laws in most neighborhoods. This is also why off-leash parks require dogs to be on-leash when they are in the parking lot area, or in areas that are close to roads and traffic.
I use a no-slip collar and secure leash to walk my dogs in the neighborhood. I also regularly check the collar and leash to ensure that they in good working order. Off-leash exercise can be had in fully enclosed spaces or large parks, where we are far enough away from traffic that a failed recall, will not result in an accident. Do not play Russian Roulette with our dog’s life.
2. Do not cause much pain, just a tingle.
Some people try remote training collars on themselves, and report that it only causes a tingle, so it really does not apply much pain to our dog.
However, to closely experience shock collar conditioning from my dog’s perspective, I would have to put the collar on my neck and surrender the controller to a handler. I will not know why, when, or where the shocks will be administered.
As I carry on with my day, I may feel the need for a smoke. I reach for it, and feel a tingle on my neck. It is just a tingle, so I continue.
At this point, the tingle not only persists, but increases in intensity. I am strong willed though, so I keep going. After all, that is exactly why I needed the shock collar in the first place.
The intensity keeps increasing until finally, I drop the bad object. My hand shakes. The experience was unpleasant, and now I want relief more than ever. Unfortunately, I do not even have a patch, all I have is this locked-on collar that I cannot remove. My eyes stray and my hands start to reach again …
Electronic collars are NOT harmless, nor are they just a little tingly. If they were so, they would not work. Their use is illegal for children and non-consenting adults. Here is another case in Utah. Trying the collar on ourselves, and doing a single, short, expected shock, at low intensity, is *not* how the collar will be used on our dogs. It is merely a gimmick to convince us that the collars are innocuous. If they were truly so harmless –
- Why is their use banned for children and non-consenting adults.
- Why is there so much scientific data showing how risky they can be.
- Why are they on the “do not use” list of so many well-respected dog advocate organizations.
- Why would they “work” on our stubborn dog, when other pain based aversive collars such as prong collars or choke collars have stopped working.
Logic tells us that this is a false claim.
3. Everybody else is biased and dishonest.
Another common argument, is that those who point out the risks of remote training collars are biased and dishonest. Personal attacks or ad hominem arguments such as these are not only pointless, but they also discourage rational discourse and the exchange of ideas. More on bias.
In this article, I describe what attracted me to look into electronic collars as a possible training tool for my Shiba Inu, as well as some of the risks that were of concern. Based on the studies and articles that I found, I also include counter-arguments (if present) for each of those points. In general, I found very little scientific evidence to recommend its use, while at the same time, there are many studies that show the risks involved.
After reading the results of Polsky and Schalke, it is difficult for me to come up with cases where the shock collar would be appropriate in dog training. Perhaps the only case would be in animal aversion training, such as teaching our dogs to fear and stay-away from rattlesnakes.
If you know of supporting scientific studies or substantiated data which highlight the good of remote training collars, it would certainly contribute much to the discussion, so please share them with us.
However, based on current reliable data, shock collars are not something I would use on my own dogs or generally recommend to others. It is also worth noting that the ASPCA, AVSAB, RSPCA, Kennel Club, and Blue Cross, are all against the use of shock collars for companion dogs.
How to I tactfully tell my neighbor that their dogs barking is annoying, bothersome, and rude. Is it too much to request they not let the dog out til 7 am ??? All she does is bark!
Let them know. They may not be aware. If it contiues, then buy an ultrasonic bark deterent an point it at your neighbor. You have the right to peaseful enjoyment of your property.
Hi There,
I really need your help and thank you for your article.
I have a 7 month old labrador and our issue is that he constantly eats every bit of bark, stick or mulch in the park. I have tried clicker training with “leave it” and “drop it” and int he park it does not work. I tried to keep him on leash but that didnt burn the energy a 7 month lab has.
I recently started using a shock collar on him, I started with the beep and vibration and the first two days there was an improvement. He doesn’t seem to react to the collar I think as his head is bent munching he is not feeling it.
My main questions to you is what can I do to stop him eating all the sticks/mulch/bark in the park. Its not an issue when walking but a major issue off leash. I understand all dogs chew but the quantities are excessive and it cant be good to throw up all the time and have a sore tummy. Many thanks, D
Training a strong recall may help-
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-articles/teaching-your-dog-to-come-when-called
When I do recall training, I start in a very low stimulus area, e.g. my backyard.
With Sephy, I also did controlled “leave-it” exercises with outside objects that he likes, e.g. pine cones. Once he is doing well in a low-stimulus environment, I very slowly raise the environmental challenge, number of tempting objects, and distractions. What works best with Sephy is to start small, take one step at a time, do training in a structured environment, and set him up for success.
Consistency is also very important. If there is something that I do not want Sephy to eat, I consistently supervise him and stop him from getting any. If he is allowed to eat it sometimes and sometimes not, he will be encouraged to try harder, because the next time he may get lucky and be allowed to eat it. If I give the “Leave-It” command, I make sure he does not get whatever it is that he is trying to get. Otherwise, the command will lose all meaning.
Thanks Shiba for your response. I will keep working on the leave it command but I am hoping he also grows out of this habit in time as I really cannot isolate him from all the garden/park things he eats to 100% control the meaning all the time. I am starting small but I have a lot of Labrador energy to burn and when he is at the park he is fixated on sniffing out things – not sure if its a puppy thing or if he is destined to be a working dog sniffing out things. Thanks for your help and ill let you know how we go in time.
I would also look at your dog’s diet, even excellent diets don’t suit every dog and a lot of dogs eat harsh things like sticks and bark to deliberately make themselves sick to sort out an upset tummy. It may be a displacement behavour but I know that sometimes we can look at training to stop dogs doing something but in fact their are health reasons for the behaviour. This may be completely off for this but it’s something I’ve found happens.
have one american bulldog [5] and one ambulldog/labmix[3] about every 3months bulldog gets a”little” excited and starts tearing into other dog…bad,messy gettin them apart very scary,then they feel baaad,scared and hiding….,think scockcollar is the answer on the am bulldog…off leash great…love people,just that…..scary for me …and love them both….
Using a shock collar while in the middle of a dog fight will very likely worsen the situation.
Even aversive trainers who use shock collars in training, advise *against* using them in a dog fight.
Once a dog fight has started, the dogs are in instinct mode, and are no longer capable of learning. The best we can do at that point, is to minimize the damage inflicted to both dogs and people. As is stated in *all* the articles above, breaking up a dog fight requires experience and skill, is risky, and can result in bites on us (redirected aggression).
Therefore, the key with dog fights is prevention.
What has worked best for my dogs is to manage their level of excitement, set up a consistent set of interaction rules (so they know exactly what to expect from each other), and use desensitization techniques to raise their instinct threshold.
For serious aggression issues and dog fighting issues, I would get help from a professional trainer.
http://www.apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
I have always been very strongly against the use of shock collars, but am starting to wonder if it’s the only way I can keep my dog safe. She’s a beagle who has developed strong hunting instincts and has now disappeared in pursuit of deer 4 or 5 times. The most recent incident, she was gone for 2 hours. I don’t have any safe and enclosed parks nearby, just acres of forest. I don’t want to confine her to walks on the lead for the rest of her life, but I also don’t want her to be hit by a car or train while chasing something.
Is there really any likelihood that I can train her not to chase deer with any traditional methods? I just want to keep her safe, but still let her enjoy life and a good romp in the woods.
Yeah Beagles are bred to follow their nose. When they catch a scent, instinct will take over and it will be difficult to override their DNA and stop them from following the scent trail – whatever training methods we use, including shock collars and invisible fences.
Here is an excerpt from the National Beagle Club of America,
As for recall training, this article from the ASPCA gives a good list of methods. It is important to note, though, that recall training will never be 100% reliable, especially with breeds that have high prey drive or scent hounds that have been bred to follow their noses.
Given that shock collars are risky, increase stress, and are not fully reliable, it is *not* something that I would use on my own dogs; except perhaps in the very limited case of snake aversion training. Even there, though, shock collars can result in more behavioral issues down the road. Therefore, given current data, it is not something that I would recommend to others.
Are off-leash dogs happier than on-leash dogs?
Thanks for writing an excellent article. I despretly want to be able to run around the woods with my belg sheepdog and I am considering getting a shock collar. I voted “more important to have off leash than stress” but I am aware that if I didnt work and go to school, I wouldn’t need this shortcut. Maybe ill go to the dogpark today and get the e collar next weekend.
I have two labradoodles ages 2 and 6. We have lived on an acre of land with a big backyard and an invisible fence that kept them safe and in the yard and they learned quickly and didn’t mind it and were happy. The dogs bark constently and loudly every morning when neighbors are still asleep and in the middle of the day aswell. We are haveing to sell our house and downsize and our soon to be new back yard for the dogs is much much smaller and the houses are close together and we are afraid the barking will cause problems with the neighbors and result in them poisining our dogs. We are thinking of barking shock collars, but I love my dogs very much and dont Want them to stress or be in pain but they MUST stop barking! Our dogs are very spoiled and are terrible with training (they think they’er the boss) what do I do to stop the barking and help make the move easier for them to adjust to the new house and backyard?
I think that that is a very good goal.
In terms of barking, dogs may vocalize for a variety of reasons. To fix the behavior, I first identify what is causing it. For example, one common reason for dog barking is anxiety. Some dogs may get anxious when they are separated from their people, and this may cause continuous barking and whining. This is also known as separation anxiety.
Some dogs may also become anxious or fearful because of negative associations made with the environment. For example, the studies described above show that dogs may associate the pain received from a shock collar to the environment, rather than to a particular behavior. This may in turn cause the dog to become anxious while in the shock environment (e.g. backyard), and result in vocalizations or other stress coping behaviors.
Some things that help my dogs with anxiety and barking –
1. Daily exercise and structured positive activities. Exercise helps to relieve stress, and gives my dog a positive outlet for his energy. It also helps with bonding and fulfills his need to explore, smell, and see new things.
2. A consistent routine and a consistent set of rules. In this way, my dog knows what to expect from me and his environment. He also knows what I expect from him. This reduces uncertainty, which will reduce stress. When we moved to a new place, I set up some routine and rules right away. In this way, I can re-establish some consistency amid all the large changes. I also increased my dog’s daily exercise.
3. I put the barking behavior under command control. In particular, I teach my dog “Speak” and “Quiet”.
I need to buy a shock collar for our Aussie. She wants to attack the 2 baby calves we just bought. Also, about 800 feet away from our house is my parents house. She goes up there and scares them. They wont even go outside cause she wants to attack them. There has never been any incidents between them, and when we are there she is so sweet to them. I can not spend 100.00 on a collar.. please advise what is best?? Oh, She has been fixed, she gets chained at night (And is loose only when I am outside) . And she is not allow to wander and I live in the country. There is so many brands, so expensive. Please advise ASAP. D Richards
Some things that help with my dog –
1. I do people desensitization exercises with him to teach him how to interact with people and to help him associate people with positive events.
2. In my previous house, I did not have a secure yard, so my dog stayed inside the house with me. For exercise and socialization, I would take him out on several supervised walks every day. This creates a consistent structure and routine for him, which helped significantly with his behavior.
3. I try to redirect my dog’s energy into positive structured activities, including training exercises, working for his food, structured games, etc. Herding training may work well for an Aussie. It will engage her in a positive ‘job’ with her people, and put her herding drive under command control.
In terms of chaining, my understanding is that it can cause frustration in dogs, and lead to behavioral issues including increased aggression. A bit more on chaining.
I’m considering the electric fence to keep my dog from chasing deer. We live in a wooded area that is pretty remote and there are allot of deer. He goes completely nuts and will chase them for hours 6-8! He has come home with every kind of injury you could imagine. We now have a second dog that will run with him, so we have to keep him on a chain and I think the electric fence would give him more freedom. What do you think?
Yeah, my Sibes also have high prey drive and like chasing deer. In my old house I did not have a secure yard, so what worked well is to have my dog inside the house with me, and then I would take them out on daily supervised walks.
Chaining can cause frustration in dogs, and lead to behavioral issues. More on chaining.
The electric fence also has some issues –
1. Dogs still escape from electric fences, and once they leave, they will not want to return. If they return, they will get shocked again, so they learn to stay away from their own home.
2. Dogs often associate pain from the fence with their environment or with the people, dogs, and other animals in their environment. This may cause a dog to become fearful of their own home. Polsky’s study and other studies also show that the electric fence can lead to increased aggression towards people and other animals.
3. Schalke’s study shows that electronic collars increase stress in dogs and leads to a lower quality of life.
4. The electric fence does not keep other animals from coming into our dog’s space.
What works best for my dogs is to only leave them unsupervised in a fully fenced area. To save on cost, we can also fence up a smaller area or a dog run. For exercise, we go on daily supervised walks.
We have a 7 yr old Jack Russell who’s been a very non-typical JRT for most of his life. In the last year or so he has become obsessive about barking when he hears noises – even neighborhood kids outside will send him into a frenzy. He rushes the door when someone knocks or rings the doorbell and barks non-stop until it’s opened.
We don’t want to completely discourage him from barking at an intruder, for example… but this constant and obsessive barking at noises is becoming unbearable.
He’s already very sensitive to being reprimanded – a lot of the time it just takes a look to make him appear ashamed. However, we are running out of ideas when it comes to the barking issue. We don’t think that an audible collar would work as he also obsesses over squeaking and other noises. We’ve started looking for other options, and are thinking that we may have to go to a shock collar. The main concern is that we don’t want to stress him any more than he already is.
Would love to hear your suggestions.
Hmmm, what is his daily routine like? When he is out on walks, does he show similar behavior with people and other dogs? Or is this something that only happens when he is in the house? Did something change a year ago when his behavior changed? Have you noticed any physical issues – e.g. with his sight?
When my dog shows reactive behavior, I start by identifying the cause of the behavior. For example, is it from a physical issue? Is it because of stress? Is it because of frustration? Is he guarding?
Understanding the root of the behavior is important because using a shock collar on a stressed out dog will likely increase his stress, and worsen his stress symptoms and behaviors.
When my Husky got stressed with certain loud noises, I did noise desensitization exercises with her. This helped her to build her confidence, and also enabled her to better cope with the stress. Here is more on dog anxiety and stress.
More on dog barking.
I’m Just everyday guy, hope this helps. Just to put things into perspective, people say, jokingly, don’t look them in the eyes, that’s when they got you. If the dog’s, looking at you, such as in pitiful begging eyes, so that you won’t tell it No or enforce that. My personal opinion, the dog found out it works, and every animal will get it’s way if it can. Dogs do not recognize being considerate, in my experience. If you want the dog to still bark at intruders, what good is a shock collar. Consistency, tell him Quiet, but not as though you are competing with him for loudness. Of coarse you have to teach him Quiet first, it helps to give the dog a recognized command that will remove him from the situation. The alternate command, Leave It or Go Away perhaps will give him an idea that you don’t need his help in that regard. If he does not respond, block him, or hold him by the collar, assuming you can stoop that low, he may be too focused on barking to notice your command. If this does not work, remove him from the situation for a while. You may have to reintroduce him to the stimuli and remove him many times before he understands command. And obviously, praise him when he does right, even accidentally. Except not immediately after he stops, because then you’re just telling him you liked what he was just doing right there. Without the praise he may never know what you Do want from from him. Show him right and wrong.
Hi I have a 5 year old Siberian husky named Bowie. Bowie is a rescue dog that is neutered and seems calm,until he goes into prey mode. We are currently working with a dog trainer for behavioral problems i.e his high prey drive. We have tried rewarding him with treats but that didn’t seem to work for long. We also tried the prong collar to help with the training but he ended up breaking the collar and attacked a small dog. Bowies prey can be anything from dogs to kids. He so far ignores every command even when presented with treats for good behavior. Our trainer now wants to try the remote shock collar in order to snap him out of prey mode. Should this be out next option or is there a better one? Please note that he has broken out of the prong collar twice and has attacked two dogs and a child.
Re Prong collar:
Yeah, it is common for prong collars to break or pop open especially when put under strong pulling pressure. I used a prong collar on my Shiba Inu in my very early days of training, and we used a flat collar together with the prong. In this way, if the prong breaks, I still have control of my dog.
The article I quote from below has some really good information on prong collars and leash corrections.
Here is a bit more on my own experiences with Shiba Sephy and leash corrections.
Re Dog-to-dog aggression:
Sephy, my Shiba Inu, was also quite reactive to other dogs. Here are some things that helped with Sephy. I did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with him early on, and that helped to raise his instinct threshold and impulse control. The key with desensitization training is to start with a very weakened version of the stimulus; weak enough that our dog is able to stay in control, and to learn.
Here is an article on how I deal with my Siberian Husky’s prey drive.
If a dog gets shocked every time he lunges at another dog, there is a very high likelihood that he will associate the shocks to the other dog instead of to his lunging behavior. This is also true of lunging at children. Polsky’s study and many others show that there is a high risk of dogs making the wrong associations with shock collar training. This can lead to more problem behaviors, including increased aggression.
This article from the RSPCA has more useful information and scientific studies on shock collars as well as aversive training.
Re dog training and dog trainers:
I started with an aversive based trainer with Sephy. He taught us some useful management techniques, and knew a lot about different aversive collars, and techniques. However, the training he proposed did not bring us good results.
There is a lot of misinformation out there about dog training, and there is very little regulation on dog trainers. Later on, I found the APDT site to be a useful place to start when looking for a good trainer.
http://www.apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
As for dog training information, I usually turn to scientific studies, behavioral articles from good vet schools (e.g. UPenn, UCDavis), and articles from well-established dog advocate organizations (e.g. RSPCA, ASPCA).