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.
i recently bought a shock collar for my dogs, i have a rescue lag cross with who knows. and a pure breed syb husky. the lab is 3 years old and the husky is almost a year. the collar i bought is a remote control one for walks and large property, being i live on acreage. my husky was freaked out by it at first but he was able to quickly ignore the pain almost on max. so i quickly decided hes not to be off leash, we will try again once he is older. now to the reason why i bought it. my lab took off the other day we thought she was just messing around on our property, when she did not show up the next morning we freaked out, turns out someone picked her up happy ending though as they told us she was at the end of our driveway and didnt know she lived their. she is an extremly energetic dog with a huge heart and huge anxiety issues she just needs to please. so we put it on her and let her in our yard, and i have got to say, it worked perfectly, it has a beeper on it and i now have her trained to come to me or the house when she hears it, if she doesnt she gets a light shock followed by the beep again..if she still doesnt she gets a harder bump till she does. as of now. i no longer need to shock her, so it makes our animal tracking trips soo easy now i dont have to yell my dogs name every 5 seconds, i just press the lil green button and there she is. as for wireless fences.. they are all rubbish. i had a wimerainer growing up that would jump over the fence and take the highest volt to the face to go play with kids. stick with wood or chain for containment.
As a co-owner of a dog supply store for travel and outdoors, I even refuse to sell electronic collars that offer the multi-modes of operation: beep, vibration and shock. Beep and vibration are ok but who is to say that someday who buys one will not use the “shock” mode. For this reason, we do not carry any of those collars. http://www.proudsnout.com/blogs/news/14913993-proud-snout-says-no-to-shock-collars
I used to be very anti e-collar. I’m still very much dislike electric fences, because I think it’s very easy for the dog to make the wrong association. I know so many dogs that will only leave the yard to go greet a dog/person/kid. It’s so easy for them to think that those things caused the shock, and that can cause way worse behavior problems than just trying to manage the dog in your yard.
My dog is a husky mix (her mother was a husky, she’s a rescue) and she’s almost 5. Due to really unexpected things, about half a year ago I had to move in with my uncle, who has no fence, and essentially lives at a highway exit. She has been on tie-outs before and physically broke her collar to chase animals.
She actually has a great recall, and is very good off leash (With years of training that, it doesn’t come naturally for huskies…). I would take her to parks at night frequently (after other people were gone) and let her run in the woods or take off leash walks in other appropriate places. But those places weren’t near big, busy roads. I looked up one of the gentlest, but generally effective e-collars I could find. I tried it on my self, and used it far more times on myself and on willing friends to make sure it really wasn’t that bad. It was unpleasant, but not painful.
I’m already good with timing in training though, and if i wasn’t, or I used the collar too much, I feel like the results would have caused behavior issues in my dog. After using the collar though, I realized something really odd – my dog HATES the warning vibration on the collar. But if you shock her, she could care less (Even if she’s not chasing something, say she’s out of the yard smelling something). She just wags her tail and smiles as if nothing is happening. But the vibration in the same situation? She turns her butt right around and comes back. She’ll quit chasing a squirrel or rabbit as well. I know plenty of dogs wouldn’t care, but I’ve actually used just the vibration on quite a few dogs now, and they hate it, and I know it’s not hurting them or causing too much fear or stress because I make sure they know it’s because they didn’t do what they were told. I’ve used the word “wrong” with clicker training for years, just as a “No, try again, not what I asked.” For chasing behaviors, I’ll vibrate immediately, because I don’t have time, but if she would just left the yard, I would call her, say wrong, and then after saying wrong I would vibrate her. And she has always realized to stop what she’s doing and come right back.
It also has been a life saver for my grandma’s border collie mix, because he’s incredibly fence reactive and loves to chase semi-trucks. You heard me, semis. He had a whole host of issues with fear and reactivity, and we spent 4 straight months on positive reinforcement training for his host of people issues. It’s important to know that you can’t ever, EVER use an e-collar on a dog that’s reacting to fear. Now that he likes people and isn’t afraid of anything that moves, and he’s been taught decent impulse control and how to stop himself mid-chase when chasing a ball or bird, we added the vibration (Only, he doesn’t get shocked.) in to help stop his semi and bike chasing habit. There’s a fence, but the cars drive into the fence to park, so the gate is open for small periods. After 2 vibrations, I saw him go to chase a semi, actually stop himself mid-chase, and turn back around to come to us for praise and a treat.
These collars are horribly mis-used, and for 95% of cases they probably shouldn’t be used at all, but if it stops a dog from getting hit by a semi truck, I’ll do it. Period. I really liked your blog post though, I actually think it represented the facts pretty well, and the anti-bias was a good things, because anyone should be hesitant to use a shock collar.
I am considering buying a shock collar for several reasons but before I invest 100+ dollars into it, I need some questions answered. First, is it overall safe for the dog? In further detail, how great of a risk that the shock collar will break and possible overshock the dog? Second, how effective is it? Will it fix only a few problems or many? Third, how much time and effort will be needed to make it work? I’m not saying I’m too lazy to train my dog right but if it takes months and months for a bad behavior to end than I would find a more efficient way to stop it.
I came across this webpage after looking into shock collars and trying to decide on the best ways to train my dogs. I have 3 Shiba Inu’s that are all family. The mother and oldest of my dogs is 7 and her two daughters are 3 years old. The mother and one of her daughters cannot be together anymore because they fight. Even when they see each other they get angry and growl. I am a graduate student and also have a small 2 1/2 year old daughter so I don’t have the time I would like to work with the dogs. I don’t want to sound like I am looking for an easy training method because I understand that no matter what I do it is going to be difficult, but I am wondering what type of training regime I need to start with my dogs to get them to get along again? I have considered shock/vibration collars to vibrate them when they growl but I don’t know if they will work? I’m not sure that giving the dogs snacks for positive behavior alone will work. I have tried giving them snacks when they are calm around each other, but soon after the snacks are gone the growling returns. It is a very strange situation because all the dogs used to get along, but now it seems like they want to fight to the death. There have been a few serious fights where one or both dogs have been injured. Any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Given that the fighting is serious and there is a young child in the house, it is probably best to consult with a good professional trainer. When I was having difficulties with Sephy, I looked for trainers with a lot of experience, and who are familiar with training Shibas.
http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer
http://www.apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
With my own dogs, I help them get along by creating certainty and structure. I set up clear dog-to-dog interaction rules, and supervise them so that I can teach them those rules.
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog
I also did dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with my Shiba, to teach him to be more calm around other dogs. I do training in a structured and controlled environment, so that Sephy stays in control and is not exposed to more than he can handle. I carefully manage him, so that he does not go into reactive mode throughout the *entire rehabilitation period* (not just during training). The more calm experiences he has, the more his behavior improves. Similarly, reactive encounters will worsen his behavior and significantly set back training.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
In general, I want to maximize successes and minimize negative encounters. Therefore, I make sure to start small, go slowly, and redirect his energy into positive activities. I would stay away from pain based punishment, as it would only introduce more stress into an already high stress and volatile situation.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-shock-collar-good-bad/comment-page-2#comment-78125
Note though, that dog behavior is very context dependent, and retraining will depend on the temperament of the dogs, the surrounding context, and the key triggers of the behavior (source of the conflict). As a result, each situation is different, which is why in cases of aggression it is usually best to have a good trainer visit with the dogs and see the behavior firsthand.
Thanks for the response. I will have to try to find a trainer that can offer some assistance and try to create some positive spaces where all the dogs can co-exist and learn to re-enjoy each others company.
Thank you,
I prefer positive reinforcement training and have used it on all my dogs over the years very successfully. However, I now have an 18 month old male Doberman (pushing 100 lbs) who totally over powers me when walking. I just returned from a walk where he DRAGGED me down the sidewalk to say hello to another dog. Had that other dog been across the street, I would have been dragged into traffic. I am a strong woman, but I am completely powerless when he wants to drag me! We are on our THIRD trainer (this one came very highly recommended) and although he walks perfectly when she’s around and when I am ‘training’ him with treats etc., it’s a whole different story when we’re out in the real world. I feel that both he and I are at serious risk because he is so strong and stubborn.
So, against my previous opinions about using e-collars, I am seriously considering buying one. After trying to teach him to walk since he was a puppy with the help of not one but three trainers, I shouldn’t still be getting dragged. I’ve used several different training collars and ‘no pull’ harnesses and a Gentle Leader and NOTHING has worked. I don’t know what else to do. Walking him is a nightmare and I’m afraid he’s going to get onto the road. At what point is it okay to use an e-collar? I know people who have had great success with them and their dogs aren’t stressed out at all. I can’t keep getting dragged. Any thoughts???
I completely understand your frustration. My 2 year 75 lb old cheesie recently dragged me across a lawn & over a retaining wall chasing a family with dogs. He broke my right ankle. My husband & I are in a disagreement over e-collar training. I am at wits end, he is agood boy most of the time but his juvenile delinquent behavior is getting worse. I will keep you posted. Frustrated in Denville, nj
Pulling can be a self reinforcing behavior. If a dog pulls and then gets to go where he wants, then that rewards his behavior, and he will continue to keep pulling.
With my dog, I always start small and build up very slowly. I start leash training in a very low stimulus area, for example my backyard. I repeat doing this until we are walking well together, and my dog is comfortable with the collar and leash. We also practice doing commands and such so that she gets used to listening to me during walks.
Once we are very very comfortable doing this, then I *very slowly* increase the environmental challenge. I start by doing shorter but more frequent walks. In the beginning, I only go to very quiet areas with few people and few dogs. We drive her to quiet trails and pick our walking times as necessary.
In this way, I maximize successful walks and minimize pulling. This helps to create a routine and my dog slowly learns to control her excitement around exciting stimulus. I also did a lot of desensitization exercises with my Shiba Inu, which helped in terms of his reactivity towards other dogs.
However, it is always very important to *not* let my dog pull successfully or it will keep reinforcing the behavior. Both my Sibes are medium sized, so I can stop them from pulling when needed. Some people use a head-halti to stop large dogs from pulling. As with anything else though, it has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Have you talked to your trainer about how to deal with excitable stimuli? Perhaps you can do training with her in more real-world environments? What does she suggest for situations when your dog just pulls and you are unable to stop him?
The key with my dogs is management of their environment. I want to set them up for success, so that they learn to control their level of excitement and can learn positive behavior. A mistake that I made early on with my Shiba Inu, was in exposing him to more than he can handle, he goes rear-brained, he keeps practicing reactive behavior, and his behavior worsened.
More on how I deal with reactive behavior and the ‘Squirrel Instinct’.
I am on the fence with shock collars i see the pros and cons. I have a 2 year old Old English Bull Dogge. Recently he has become more aggressive toward my girl froend which he has lived with for a while and has known her for over a year. I dont know how to stop his bad behavior problems with growling and not listening when he becomes over excited. He is becoming worse daily. This dog means the world to me and is my best friend. He use to listen so well. I cant afford a trainer i started looking into shock collars for corrective purposes. Please help me
What is your dog’s routine like? Does he interact with your gf on a daily basis? What are his daily interactions with your gf like? Are you always there? Is your gf afraid of your dog? Does your dog show aggressive behavior with your gf all of the time? Only when you are there? When there is food around?, i.e. what things trigger the behavior?
I help my dogs to be calm and comfortable around people by doing desensitization exercises, and helping them to associate people with rewards and positive experiences. The more successful and calm experiences my dog has, the more confidence he builds, and the more he learns how to act around people. Similarly, the more negative and bad experiences my dog has, the more he views people as a threat, and the worse his behavior gets.
More on how I do desensitization exercises with my dog.
More on how I change my dog’s bad behavior.
More on how dogs learn.
However, it is important to note that dog behavior is very context dependent. Each dog is different and each situation is different. While general dog training principles may apply, I always make sure to-
1. Properly identify the source of my dog’s behavior, and
2. Properly adapt techniques to suit my dog and my situation.
For example, based on what your describe, it is unclear whether the behavior stems from guarding, fear, excitement, or something else.
This is why it is often best to get help from a good professional trainer, especially in cases of aggression, where the consequences of mistakes can be quite serious.
I enjoy seeing my dog run free and know that if I call her to me , she will come back to me 70% of the time.I can do this because I used a e collar to train her. She’s happy, im happy and we are best of friends. I used positive and negative reinforcement. I give treats for following orders and a low level shock when not following orders. Its not rocket science, its just common since. Treat them like your kid and they’ll fall inline. I highly dislike people who talk down to people that uses e collar for training, people that hurt their dogs with
High voltage e collar usage. And people and would yank there dog by the neck and look up in my face and tell me im ducking my dog up.
I have used a shock collar on my Weimaraner-German Shepherd mix but I’ve only actually “shocked” her no more than 6 times. She instantly understood she was doing something wrong and was kept in check. I go camping and hiking with her therefore I had to teach her to stay close to me when we are in high stimuli areas and to not go further than I allow her to. The shock collar was great for achieving this. After having used the primary electric function I switched to using the beep mode and that is all I need now. As I was training her with the collar I also used A LOT of positive reinforcement training. Every time she looked back at me, when she would walk beside me of her own choosing and when she came so sit down next to me when resting she would get a treat. Any positive behavior was rewarded immediately. I can now walk her without a leash and not have to worry about her going towards other dogs and causing a fight. I sometimes have trouble with wild animals but I believe that is a natural instinct I will not be able to erase because of the mix of breeds she is. I can also control her with just my voice in most cases and she has become excellent at recall. I am very pleased with the results.
Agree
I would love to find some non-biased information out there but that is proving difficult. Why can I tell by the third line in the article whether or not the author is for or against these collars?? Sure, there is always some type of pros and cons listed in an effort to look impartial, but it’s typically blatantly obvious where the author stands on the issue. Sorry, but biased research along with biased references that are cited, immediately cause me to want to reject their claims. In one online search I found over a dozen articles supporting properly used shock collars as a viable training tool based on personal experience, but most of those were guilty of the same type of bias personally suporting the collars. Can we PLEASE see the results of a neutral study that does not have an agenda or personal feeling about this???
The purpose of scientific method and inquiry is to reduce bias and produce data that is as objective as possible.
Studies are often conducted to prove or disprove a hypothesis. For example, drug companies conduct studies to determine the safety of their products, and whether there are any side effects. They are required to do this by the FDA. If a study shows that a drug has serious side effects, then further studies will likely be required. If multiple studies show serious risk, then the drug will likely not be approved, because there is substantial evidence indicating that it is not safe. The data from a study helps us to prove or disprove a hypothesis, and is not an indication of bias.
A scientific study must be properly documented so that it can be reproduced by others. In this way, anyone can verify the results by re-running the study. Detailed documentation also means the process can be carefully scrutinized by others. Please refer to a dictionary definition of scientific method for a more detailed explanation. In the article above, I provide links to the published studies, which are also peer reviewed.
I may not always like the conclusions of a scientific study, but that does not make it biased or unsound.
Shock collar companies are very motivated to highlight the positives of their product. Therefore, if we look at white papers from shock collar companies, we can see the studies used to support shock collars. Based on what I have seen, the argument is two-fold –
1. Shock collars can help prevent euthanasia, in certain *very extreme* and specialized cases. Therefore, they argue that the product should not be fully banned. Tortora’s study is used to support this claim. I talk more about Tortora’s study here.
2. In certain very limited circumstances, in particular, where the dog can “clearly associate the electric stimulus with their action”, there is no increase in stress levels. This was shown in Schalke and Christiansen’s studies and is discussed in the article above.
If there are other peer-reviewed, published studies, which support shock collars in new ways, please share them with us.
I simply have not found much scientific evidence to support the use of shock collars. Based on the studies that I have read, I choose not to use them on my dogs. The details are in the article above. That is all.
This is your site and therefore you have the right to express your opinion on it. My intention is not to question your stance. My goal is simply to learn as much as I can so that I form my own opinion. But to do that I need to find neutral sources which has proven to be difficult. Your references that you cited are a start and would like to find more objective studies. And no I don’t have any studies to cite which is why I found your site in the first place, to research.
I understand scientific method just fine. I do not have a hypothesis to prove or disprove. I am not starting on either side of the fence and have no opinion about shock collars yet. I do have a question though. Are they effective yet safe? I would like to find studies that answer this without being told if the people sharing their findings likes them or not. We can debate the definition of safe, but your article focuses on stress levels of dogs going up and the lack of evidence supporting their use.
If the dog’s stress levels only go up during bad behavioral correction, that is not a deterrent, especially since I am the only one who’s stress levels are currently being affected 🙂 I value my dog’s relationship very much though, and I would not use a shock collar if there was sound evidence of lasting damage to dogs that were shown to be directly caused by these collars, whether the damage be emotional or physical. To address your article directly, I mean beyond the “maybe’s” or “might’s”.
Regarding the manufacturers, of course the companies who make these products are going to support them. This is the equal and opposite end of the bias spectrum which I am not even taking into account.
My time for research is limited to the internet and people in the veteranary field whom I have asked. Asking people in the industry has gotten me nothing except emotional opinions on both sides. That is why I turn to these forums for guidance. I would like to see more studies like the ones you mentioned above to make the most informed decision possible.
When I was looking into shock collars for my dog, I looked at the studies presented by the proponents (shock collar companies) as well as by the opponents. This gives me a good spread of both sides of the equation.
For example, the presentation of Tortora’s study by the shock collar company may be biased, which is to say that they only present certain parts of the study and not others, in order to make a stronger case for themselves. If we read the study itself, it presents a different picture. Therefore, when in doubt, read the original study. However, just because it appears in a shock collar company white paper, does not make it worthless to consider, nor does it make the study itself biased. The same applies for studies presented by opponents of shock collars.
As I have said many times, I did not find much convincing evidence supporting either the efficacy of shock collars or their safety, even from the shock collar company white papers. This is a very important point, because it shows that there is *not* a general lack of evidence, but rather that there is very limited evidence supporting their use, even from the people who have a strong vested interest in promoting them.
Here are two studies that try to measure the benefits of shock collars in training – from DEFRA and University of Bristol.
Please remember that just because the results of the study come out one way or another is not an indication of bias.
As for stress levels, it is significant because it can impact behavior (and possibly also health). I talk more about this in the article above, including Schalke’s study which showed that
Why is this significant? Because it shows that the dogs have associated the shocks with their environment, and this may lead to avoidance of the stress location, fear responses, and more.
Of course, this does not mean that every dog will react in the same way, have the same changes in behavior, or show the same fear responses. However, the risk for this is higher. For example, if we drive a car while impaired, there is a higher risk of an accident. This does not mean that there will absolutely be one, nor does it say anything about the seriousness of the crash. However, the risk is there, it is real, and in both cases, I do not think that the benefits warrant the risk.
When I look at shock collar studies, I am looking for supporting data of risk/cost and supporting data of efficacy/benefit. This is why I looked at both proponent and opponent papers and studies. After examining the data, I can decide whether a shock collar is appropriate based on what I understand of dog behavior, what I plan to use it for, the temperament of my dog, past experience, possible benefits I might derive, etc. I have described my reasoning process in the article above. For me, it is pretty clear what the data shows. If the best that the shock collar companies can present is Tortora’s study and limited use cases of “clear-association”, then they have a very weak case, especially given the evidence showing risk.
My dogs are very important to me, just as yours is to you, so I made very sure to make an informed decision about this. I continue to be open to new studies if any should turn up, showing new evidence. Ultimately, if we do not want to rely on the interpretation of others, then the only thing left is to look at the original studies themselves.
Thank you for this discussion. It has helped me to see certain things more clearly.