Comments on: In The Dock: The Electric Collar

By: Lynn H.

Lynn H. — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:41:58 +0000

My little dog used to love to play with a little Tibetan Terrier at the dog park…run and tussle, roll and play bite ears and necks together. The other dog, come to find out, had on an electric dog bark collar. My pup must have gotten zapped during their play, as he growls whenever he sees the dog now and has been much more timid about playing with other dogs. Can this happen??? One dog get a shock from another dog’s collar?

By: c. jones

c. jones — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:36:45 +0000

I have an 11 month old collie. She lunges at passing cars. If she gets out she will get killed by the first car she sees.No training or distraction has worked. Should I use an electric collar?

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:00:58 +0000

I like to think I am open to all training methods for dogs until I have the information to make an informed choice. I have seen the damage the collars do to dogs both physically and mentally when a ‘dog lover’ who’s pooch is not behaving has used this ‘training aid’and I do feel I am informed on both the for and against e-collar debate.
It’s a load of rubbish and a cop out if you think giving an animal an electic shock to stop it chasing or killing another animal is OK. Keep your dog on a lead, spend true quality time training it to recall or only let it off in safe enclosed areas but don’t blame a dog for yet again the inadequate human owners.
I’m not a slushy animal lover I’m a realist and continue to despair in human thinking when it comes to dogs.
I fostered a deaf dog who had OCD issues and used a VIBRATION collar, eye contact, other dogs and other methods and certainly never needed to electrocute her to get her to work with me.
Make you own choices but don’t think this is a quick fix or you may end up with a much larger problem and a dog who will never be part of your family/pack or ever trust you again.

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:20:42 +0000

The argument in favor of the electric collar looks very similar to the kind I heard when I worked at a law enforcement agency where they hang the K9′s to unconsciousness, kick and shock them. The excuses made in favor of doing these horrible things masked what is really going on, which is some terribly “macho” types like committing violence and witnessing suffering, and they dress it all up in fancy talk to try to make you believe that it is necessary. They like the power, they like having another weapon who will chew your arm off but is afraid of them. I had plenty of time to see through it.

By: Mark Flett

Mark Flett — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:13:18 +0000

I’m afraid there have been some very un-intelligent, knee-jerk reactions to this issue.

Although I have never used a shock collar I can see there is a valid use as application of last resort. Rewards based training to prevent dogs chasing down sheep will not work because the chase and capture of sheep is gratifying for the dog which has this tendency, much more than any kind of tid-bit.

I live in the country and if either of my two much-loved border collies had a propensity to chase sheep I would not hesitate to use one for training purposes. Although harsh in the short term it protects both Dog and sheep from being killed, which all animal lovers would want to avoid.

By: Jitka

Jitka — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:57:44 +0000

I support that. Experienced in treat-based dog training, I was rather reluctant to get the e-collar for my mum’s dog which began chasing deer. The dog would come back after few minutes or more, and sit perfectly in front of me, happy to be back. “Explaining” later that chasing is not allowed is tricky.. Missing out on the treat and some strict obedience training definitely was not enough. Consistent use of the e-collar only when the dog is misbehaving and not responding to the command otherwise known to it gives a clear feedback to the dog. Though there is no lasting pain, the impulses are unpleasant at the intensity, which the chasing dog would notice – we tried on ourselves. But there is no damage to our relation – our dog knows we will protect it from the “biting” deer and can enjoy walks off the leash. The dog now limits itself to watching rabbits and deer rather than chasing and killing them.

The other question is whether there should be some policing/licensing on who is allowed to use the collar. I would say yes.

By: hairybeasty

hairybeasty — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:57:33 +0000

I acquired a Border x Lakeland terrier with problems.
On a walk it would behave perfectly for a while sometimes 10 mins sometimes for an hour.Then it was like a switch had been pressed in its head,and she would run off,no amount of calling,bribing with treats or threatening would bring it back. People who knew the dog would ring me up from several miles away including the Gamekeeper who said it had been killing Pheasants on a large scale.
So after hours of recall training the dog was perfect;she would stay close and was great on the recall.
Many weeks passed,no more problems,we had a good dog.
Until one day…..dog tanked off and never came back.
Nine days later the phone rang..”please come and pay £800 for the dead pedigree sheep I have lost..oh and collect the body of your dog, caught in the act..”
If we had owned an ecollar I’m sure this could have been stopped earlier.I have one now

By: Bo McLeod

Bo McLeod — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:14:24 +0000

Even as a Police K9 handler, to an extent I would say that the
E-collar is effective; however should only be used as a last resort. My First K9 had such high drive, it took using a E-collar. It didnt take that many times before he realized that he would decide to obey. Even to this day when I start to have obedience problems out of him, I can put the collar on without ever turning it on and it normally does the trick for a extended period of time.

As far as ordinary / household pets, No this item shouldn’t be used. Far to many other methods to be tried.

By: kay parker

kay parker — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:58:46 +0000

Until 5 years ago I would have been totally against e-collars and agreed with the people totally who are calling them totally inhumane, and would never suggest for a minuit that they should be available for anyone to use without being used in conjunction with a good training club, I have to say they are a useful tool to have when training a deaf dog, when used on a low frequency, which only vibrates the collar, a dog can be trained to give you eye contact and so can be given the relevant hand signal for example your dog gets a whiff of something nice and smelly across the road and follows his nose, as they do, when trained correctly you can vibrate the collar & Toby(in my case) will look for me and await a sign to either come or stay if there is a car passing.After a while the collar is no longer needed as the dog anticipates the vibration and has learned to keep watch on me for signs. I must repeat though this is on the low/vibrate frequency.

By: APBTA Inc

APBTA Inc — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:37:19 +0000

I had a bitch hell bent on killing MY cats. That’s some prey drive. One cat left home from the time that dog was 4 mths old. She was still around, but only to snatch a feed when that dog was asleep behind a barrier. I didn’t see that cat for 2 years.
I tried all the things the behaviourists suggested, but after having a cat chased through the cat door in such a panic she smashed the glass pane, I purchased a training collar.
I had been warned to buy a good collar that delivered the punisher instantly. Some cheaper models have a delay which is bad news if the dog has already stopped the behaviour.
The collar had several levels of power from a slight zap to a reasonable belt. Yes we did try it on ourselves.
We had to go to the ‘belt’ level before she gave it up, but give it up she did.
The video that came with the collar showed footage of a farmer training a young sheep dog who was biting the sheep. Sitting on his horse at the top of the ridge, whistling, bellowing and all to no avail he galloped down into the gully. Meantime the dog stopped biting the sheep and went on to something else, but the farmer finally got to the dog, got off his horse, grabbed the dog and beat him cruelly with a length of alcathene pipe.
Dogs live in the moment. According to Houpt & Wolski’s studies a delay of 5 seconds in delivering a deterrent halves the effectiveness of that deterrent, while a delay of ten seconds renders the deterrent ineffective.
A zap from a training collar let that sheep dog know immediately that biting the sheep equals something unpleasant, whereas a beating like that for no apparent reason in the dogs mind was just
a pointless exercise in cruelty.
Having said all that, using a training collar for aggression is contraindicated as it is more likely to exacerbate the situation so they need to be used under expert guidance and only for specific purposes where the situation warrants.
Citronella collars seem more appropriate for barking problems and similar lesser ‘crimes’.