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 have an 11 month old Labrador puppy. He is very friendly and behaves well, with one exception. If he is left outside alone for any period of time he leaves the yard and quick. We unfortunately at this time cannot afford to put a fence up. When we call for him, he normally runs back to the yard, but he often runs far enough he cannot hear us calling. We have to drive around the neighborhood looking for him. I don’t know how to keep him in the yard and I am afraid he will get hit by a car. My husband has suggested using a shock collar, but I am not sure I agree with it. Do you have any suggestions that could help us train him to not leave the yard?
Hello Sophia,
An invisible fence is probably one of the more risky applications of shock collars. This is because the fence line is invisible, which makes it even more difficult for a dog to associate “the right thing” (something he can’t see), to the pain he receives. As a result, there is a greater likelihood of making false associations, and that may ultimately lead to stress as well as behavioral issues. This article talks more about the dangers of an invisible fence system-
http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/2008/02/10/invisible-electric-fence/
In terms of training a dog to stay inside the yard, some people do “boundary training”. The article below gives a really good and detailed description of boundary training.
http://www.petsbest.com/blog/boundary-training-no-fence/
Another option is to build a visible fence. Some people fence up a smaller area of their backyard or build a small dog run. This cuts down on cost but still enables safe containment.
Another possibility is to supervise our dog when he is outside. We would probably want a very strong recall for this option.
Good list of recall training techniques from the ASPCA.
Hello, We have a 10 year old jack Russell terrier who cries and howls every time our infant cries. We initially thought he would get used to the baby crying but it has been 7 months and he still does it every time she cries. We are not sure if he is doing this to tell us something is wrong or if the noise hurts his ears or what. He seems to want to be right next to us or under our feet when this is going on, which is right next to the baby who is crying. We have tried everything from comforting him when he cries to squirting him with a bottle of water to get him to stop. The only thing that remotely works is to have him go to another floor of the house, but he still howls from there. We have been considering an electronic collar as a last resort. The howling has to stop. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.
Some sounds also trigger my dogs to sing. For example, Shania (Husky) will sing when I squeak a soft toy. Lara used to vocalize when the coyotes in the area start to howl. In Lara’s case, it was a new type of sound and she got anxious when she heard it.
With Lara I used desensitization exercises to get her comfortable with the coyote sounds. First, I would start with a very soft version of the stimulus, i.e. play the coyote singing at a very soft volume. Soft enough that Lara can tolerate it and stay calm. Then, I get her to do some very simple commands, and reward her really well for it. If all goes well, then I very slowly increase the volume of the sound and so on. Here is more on noise anxiety and desensitization.
It is important though, that during the retraining process, we do not expose our dog to high volumes of the stimulus. Otherwise, Lara will keep practicing the howling behavior, and it will undo the retraining work.
If the behavior is the result of anxiety, using pain based techniques may cause a dog to become even more anxious, and worsen the behavior.
Finally, studies (Steiss, Soraya, and others) that have been conducted on nuisance dog barking with spray and shock collars, show that spray collars have the same effectiveness as shock collars.
We have a 2 year old basset hound that has become very well behaved…listens pretty good. BUT…when we let him outside he jumps on the house and the doors, has ripped screens out of windows…because we are inside. If we go out with him, he doesn’t do it. HOW do I get him to stop? We are getting new siding and windows this summer and I do not want him jumping on the house anymore. The only suggestions I have been getting IS the shock collar…because we can be in while he is out… Would REALLY appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Hello Michelle,
Based on what you describe, it sounds like it may be a separation anxiety issue. He may be trying to get back into the house to be with his people because he is anxious and stressed when left alone outside.
Does he stay in the house alone sometimes? What does he do when he is home alone?
What helps my dogs with anxiety is to-
1. Help build up their confidence through desensitization techniques.
2. Exercise them well.
3. Socialize them well to new things and new environments.
Here is a bit more on separation anxiety.
Here is a bit more on dog anxiety issues.
I also teach my dogs door manners so that they do a simple pre-trained command, e.g. Sit, before I let them in. If they do behaviors that are undesirable, I no-mark and tell them what to do instead, e.g. Sit. However, if it is separation anxiety, a dog may be too stressed to listen to commands so desensitization and counter conditioning techniques would probably work best.
Getting a professional trainer to come over and observe the behavior may also be helpful. A good positive based trainer will be able to identify the trigger for the behavior (whether it is from stress/anxiety or something else) and be able to suggest a good plan for re-directing the behavior.
Hmmm. Anxiety. I really appreciate your input! He does HATE his cage. He only goes in it when we are not home….because I don’t trust him. (He ate the sofa cushions once) He is better now when we leave the house and leave him out for short periods of time. If we put him in his cage he drools all over it and leaves a HUGE puddle. He does the same thing by the back door when he is trying to get in. When he know he is going to go in his cage, he starts piddling on the floor the whole way there. He’s a good dog, very smart (knows how to get ice to come out of the door of the fridge so he can eat it). Just need to figure out how to get him to not jump on the house. Thanks for the links…
Michelle
Yeah, excessive drooling is another sign of anxiety. Here are a couple of articles more on separation anxiety-
Separation anxiety from the ASPCA.
Separation anxiety in dogs from the Animal Humane Society.
I have a two year old boxer/pit mix that is full of energy. We live on a farm and have some chickens and sheep. She has a strong prey drive so animal that attracts her attention sets off a chase. I just started use a collar so I can break her off of the chase. Do you think there are better ways?
Thanks
There is a guy who comes every winter to clear out the brush in our surrounding hill area. He has a large number of goats and a helper Border Collie dog. It is amazing watching his dog work. He doesn’t train using a shock collar, but he works together with his dog and has very good command control.
His dog is very focused on doing his work, does not try to attack goats, and sometimes chases off coyotes that come too near. Here is an interesting article on herding and shock collars.
Of course, breed also matters as well as the temperament of the dog.
If I were looking for alternative training methods involving livestock, I would probably look to the people who do herding using positive reinforcement techniques.
There are also management and prevention methods such as fences, leashes, etc.
Hi. I have a 3 1/2 year old Australian Shepherd / Border collie mix, named Marty, and he’s a fantastic dog. I inherited him about 5 months ago. He’s gentle and loving and typically gets along well with other animals. My girlfriend just got a lab puppy and Marty gets along very well with the pup. My problem is that when anyone comes into my house Marty becomes extremely aggressive, he barks, and the hair down his back stands up and he’s quite scary. He has not bitten anyone, but they sure think he’s going to. I’ve tried to discipline him to show him that this type of behavior is NOT acceptable, but nothing seems to be having any kind of impact. In most cases, when the person is in the house for a while, he seems to gradually calm down and accept them, but the other night we had a couple over for dinner and he just kept on and on and on, I finally had to take him downstairs and shut him up in the bathroom, so we could enjoy the evening. I finally started to consider a shock collar because I’m at my wits end. I need to be able to teach him that this behavior is unacceptable, but I don’t know how. Any ideas?
Dogs may get reactive to new people because they are an unknown quantity and may be a threat. As a result, a dog may try to protect himself and warn the new people away, try to protect his family/pack, and/or try to protect his belongings. This is especially true when on home turf.
What has worked well with my dogs is to retrain them to associate people with positive experiences and outcomes. I use people desensitization techniques to help my dogs be more comfortable around new people, and to teach them new behaviors to deal with stress.
The key with desensitization is to start with a weakened version of the stimulus – for example a new person who is sitting far away and not moving. Also no talking, and no eye-contact, which can also be seen as a threat. I get my dog to do commands with me and reward him well for staying calm, in the presence of a new person. Once we are comfortable with this, I move one step closer to the person, get my dog’s focus again, and so on.
I make sure to go slowly and I keep training sessions short and rewarding. Through this process, my dog learns to relax around new people and learns to associate new people with positive, or at worst neutral experiences.
During the retraining period, I also make sure *not* to expose my dog to people-situations that he cannot handle, i.e., I take him out on a walk when friends come over to visit with the family, or put him in a very quiet part of the house where he won’t be disturbed. I only try regular people greetings when I think he is truly ready, and I keep him safe and on-leash.
I have a 13 month old German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois crossbreed. She knows her basic commands – sit, lay down, short stay/long stay, leave it, drop it, etc etc. but I am having a lot of difficulty when I take her for play dates, as she has recently begun showing a lot of aggression toward other dogs. It started last summer when another dog (about 50-60lbs) jumped on me and my girl heard me say “No!” very firmly. She proceeded to tackle this dog and keep her pinned. When I got my dog off of her, there was no sign of physical harm, she had simply let the dog know this was not acceptable. The problem now is that every time we schedule play dates for these two dogs, my dog immediately wants to attack her. We have only had a few play dates since, as I am worried of my girls behavior. Each time my girl attempts to tackle this other dog in some way but ONLY when we are outside (where the initial event happened). If we all play indoors, there isn’t much problem. I was considering a shock collar to correct her behavior, as well as enrolling her into obedience classes and doggy day care one day a week to start; I am very fearful of how she interacts with other dogs. She was even slightly aggressive with a puppy and doesn’t seem to understand that she is very rough! I’m mortified, as she never showed any signs of aggression until literally that one jumping incident. Suggestions?! She is well acquainted with clicker training, as we started training at 8 weeks old. She is beyond obedient for me when we are home…. I’m just lost to the rest of it!
I also add she has never physically left a mark on another dog, and has been knicked twice but doesn’t seem phased by it. Her pain tolerance is extremely high, hence my consideration of a shock collar. But I don’t want to make her more aggressive! I want her to play nice, which is impossible off leash and outside right now…
My Shiba Inu, Sephy, also used to be pretty reactive towards other dogs. Here are some things that helped with Sephy –
1. I only do small supervised play sessions with him. During these play sessions I set up very consistent play-rules (e.g. no humping, no stealing, no playing too rough). If he breaks any of these rules, I no-mark the behavior, and stop play temporarily. Since he really enjoys playing, that is a very good motivator to get him to follow play rules.
2. I throw in a lot of play-breaks. My Huskies are very food focused so every so often, I call them over, get them to do some simple commands for me, and reward them really well for it. This gets them all to calm down and focus on working cooperatively for me. Most importantly, this helps me to manage their excitement level.
3. I try to stay very very calm. If I am stressed, frustrated, or fearful, then Sephy will pick up on my energy and become even more reactive.
4. Sephy enjoys being with playful, goofy dogs most. He likes to wrestle and chase, so he plays best with larger dogs. He does not like dominant dogs because he will not back down when challenged. I try my best to set him up for success and pick playmates that will work well with his personality.
5. When Sephy was young, we also did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with him. This helps him to get more comfortable with other dogs, but in a very structured way. It also teaches him to use alternative behaviors for dealing with his stress.
Hi, I have a 10 month old male German Shepherd, named George. He’s shown signs of food aggression literally since the night we got him – at only 8 1/2 weeks old. I’d never seen a dog that young growl like that before. We started professional training, and while he’s learning and become pretty well trained across the board, his food aggression has only become much worse. We’ve done the whole “be the alpha” thing, and he knows I’m the boss..unless it involves his dish. He has always growled/snarled if you’re near his dish – but tonight he bit me (for the first time in about 6 months). He continued to growl and snarl at me (until I (terrified) took him to the ground and threw him outside). He’s 85 pounds. He’s the sweetest dog 95% of the time…but when it’s feeding time he’s meaner than mean. The funny thing is, I can feed him out of my hand and he’s fine (sits and waits to be released to eat, eats gently)…but when food is in his dish, or even his dish is empty he’s very aggressive. We plan on having children in the next few years…and honestly I’m terrified. He’d be at face-level with them. We’ve come to the conclusion that we have 3 options: 1) avoid it, and just feed him alone in the garage for the rest of his life…2) try to adopt him out? or 3) put him down because we don’t know what he’ll do next. I love him so much, but he scares the crap out of me. And I shouldn’t have to feel like that. Can you offer any advice?? I really don’t know what to do. It would break my heart to give him up, but I’m too scared to see if he’d hurt someone else, a kid, or me again. Shock collars have been suggested to us, but I’m scared it’ll just make it worse (more stressful for him). Please help – I feel like we’ve tried everything.
Hello Natalie,
What kind of training techniques are you currently using with George? What did the trainer advise wrt. to his food aggression? What was George’s response to the techniques?
Hmmm, not totally sure what you mean by “took him to the ground” – was it an alpha roll? If so, here are some of my experiences and thoughts about alpha rolls.
While training Sephy (my Shiba Inu), I found that he is very sensitive to my energy. If I am fearful, angry, frustrated, or otherwise not-calm, Sephy will pick up on it. This will cause him to get even more excited/stressed, and his behavior would worsen. Here are a couple of articles on my early experiences with Sephy –
Pack leader to an aggressive dog.
Afraid of my dog.
Here are some of my experiences with Sephy and food aggression. Some things that helped with Sephy’s food and resource guarding behavior.
Note though that Sephy never attacked me, anyone else, or other dogs over food or resources. He was starting to show guarding behavior, e.g. growling and defensive posture. We started to retrain him at that point. I think it is important to retrain food aggressive behavior because if I or someone else accidentally drops some food on the ground, I do not want Sephy to suddenly become aggressive.
Some things that helped with Sephy during our difficult times-
1. I visited with several professional trainers (both reward and aversive based).
2. I did a lot of research into how dogs learn and on various dog training techniques. There is a lot of misinformation out there, so it really helped to understand the science behind dog training. This also helped me to evaluate the trainers that I talked to.
3. I observed Sephy a lot more closely, tried to understand his body language, and tried to understand where he was coming from.
4. I instituted a very fixed set of rules, a fixed routine, and a very consistent way of communicating with him. I also follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs. They work for all of their food and don’t get any food from a bowl.
5. I had clear and safe plans on how to address each of his difficult behaviors.
6. I set Sephy up for success by not exposing him to highly stressful situations that I know he won’t be able to handle. The more he practices bad behaviors, the more likely he is to repeat them in a wider variety of contexts.
7. I try to stay very calm when he misbehaves. The first step to getting Sephy to calm down is to stay calm myself, and have a clear and safe plan of action.
Hello,
I thought your article was very unbiased and well written. I own a 1.5 year old pug that doesn’t know much about cars. I am leaving the country for a little while and I have to leave her with my parents. They do not have a fenced yard and a my pug is capable of being on a road with frequent traffic. She doesn’t necessarily chase cars but sometimes her instincts take over and she chases the tires. I have tried calling her off the car but she is totally distracted by the car. I was thinking a getting shock/vibration collar for her. I plan on watching her from a window and making her collar vibrate if she approaches the road (I want to teach her not to go to the road at all). I know she doesn’t like vibrations (because she doesn’t like my phone when it vibrates). If she persists I will use the shock mode on low. Do you think this will be an effective method? If not, what are my other choices?
Hello Sara,
This article from the ASPCA has a good list of recall training techniques-
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-articles/teaching-your-dog-to-come-when-called
The thing with off-leash training though, is that no matter which methods we use, there will still be some outlier moments. Dog behavior is not always predictable, and is very dependent on surrounding context, which is also very unpredictable.
I only do off-leash work with my dogs in a safe enclosed space, or when we are in large hiking parks, and are far enough away from the road.
One of my neighbors has a pug who walks with her off-leash, but he is a very senior dog and his days of chasing cars are far behind him. Her little guy sticks very close to her most of the time, but there are still some moments when he sees a running cat, squirrel, or another dog, and he tries to move into the road. He is not very fast though, and she is right next to him, so she picks him up. Still, there is some risk involved.
Is your girl an indoor or outdoor dog? Is it possible to do on-leash walking and be in the house for the rest of the time? Some people may also enclose up an area of the backyard to create a small dog-run.
I really would not take any chances when it comes to dogs and cars. A collar also does not prevent other dogs from coming over and starting something.
I intend to buy a shock collar for one, and only one purpose: I live in a region, where poisoning of dogs as a preparation for burglary is common. I have trained my dogs to never eat anything, that is not in their food bowl or given to them by my girlfriend or myself. Works 100 %, as long as we are with them. One of us has laid out different treats (including raw meat) on a known course, the other than walked that course. The dogs show no interest in the treats. BUT, if we leave something on the outside and then let the dogs out in the yard, while they can not see us, they eat it immediately.
I see no alternative to the shock color, that has the potential to stop this behavior. As changing this behavior might save the dog’s life one day, I want to do everything in my power, to do so.
If anybody here has better ideas, I would be very grateful to hear them!
My younger Husky, Lara, used to like digging on our landscaped backyard grass. She does not do this when I am out in the backyard with her, but when alone, she may dig if she smells something good under the grass.
To stop Lara, I stay inside the house where she can’t see me. However, I am watching her from my hidden position. As soon as she starts to dig, I give her a loud no-mark (Ack-ack) to let her know that it is an undesirable behavior. She usually stops when this happens. If she does not, I will go out and bring her in and she loses her backyard privileges temporarily.
After repeating this a bunch of times, Lara learned that even though she can’t see me, I am watching her and she can’t get away with digging on the landscaped grass. The behavior became unrewarding, and she stopped doing it. Now, she only digs in the back part of the yard that is not landscaped.
All Lara needed to learn was that even though she can’t see me, she still has to follow backyard rules.
In addition, one common method for discouraging a dog from chewing on or eating particular items is by using taste deterrents.
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/using-taste-deterrents
I always make sure that the deterrent is safe and does not upset my dog’s digestive system.
Hi shibashake,
Thanks for the great article. We have never considered a shock collar, but our Giant Rat Terrier (Decker) Merlin has us really tempted…
We have a great dog park and go almost every day…Merlin is young (4 years) and athletic, and gets lots of exercise playing with his friends (several of whom are Shiba Inus)…a very positive activity.
At the dog park, Merlin is a frantic marker. He was neutered at 8 months and does not lift his leg all that much elsewhere, NEVER in the house, but at the dog park he has a 3 gallon desire but a half cup bladder…after a few minutes it’s mostly just ritual, but he’ll lift his leg several times a minute. No problem EXCEPT….
He tries to pee on everything more than an inch tall, which of course includes other dogs, which everyone seems to accept, but also PEOPLE, which is at best embarrassing. He’ll lift his leg on a half dozen people in a 45 minute visit to the park. Virtually always just leg lifting, not actual peeing, but still…
Because he can cover ground so quickly it’s of course impossible to stay all that close to him, and even if I’m just a few feet away a shout does not stop him quickly enough to prevent the leg lifting.
Your perspective on how the shock fits into the dog’s sense of the cause and effect of it all makes me worry that he will just associate the shock with leg lifting rather that the particular circumstance of lifting on a person. If he’d just realize fence post ok, log ok, rock ok, person not ok it would be a wonderful thing, but we sure don’t want to punish him for lifting his leg at the dog park…any thoughts on our dilemma?
Hello Steve,
Does Merlin show this behavior when playing at home with other dogs? How much time does Merlin spend playing and how much time does he spend doing the marking behavior? Does he do this every time he visits the park? Is there something that triggers the behavior (e.g. when the park is crowded, etc.)? Does he start marking right away as soon as he arrives or does he do something else first?
From what you describe, it sounds like the marking *could* be a displacement behavior that is a result of stress or anxiety (similar to biting nails, pulling hair, or pacing in humans). Dog parks can be exciting, but they are usually also high stress environments because there are frequently many dogs in a fairly limited and enclosed space. The environment is very unpredictable because new dogs are arriving, existing dogs are leaving, there may be kids playing, there is a lot of excitement, energy, and little supervision or structure.
What worked well with my Shiba Inu is to invite friendly neighborhood dogs over to have smaller and more structured play sessions at our house. In this way, I am able to supervise well, establish clear play-rules, and Sephy still has fun playing with other dogs. The situation is more predictable, less risky, and I can use it to teach Sephy positive behaviors because he is very motivated to keep the play session going.
Here is a bit more on our enclosed dog-park experiences-
http://shibashake.com/dog/enclosed-dog-parks-good-or-bad
This is a pretty interesting article on dog displacement behavior-
http://voice4dogs.blogspot.com/2011/05/displacement-behaviors.html