Shock collars have long been a hotly debated topic when it comes to dog training. For as long as they have been around, there have been people on both sides of the fence when it comes to their use. While some firmly believe that shock collars are an effective tool to use when training a dog, others are firmly against their use, citing them as barbaric and inhumane. With such controversy surrounding the use of shock collars, it can be hard to determine the truth. That is why in this blog post, we will be discussing the effectiveness of shock collars for dog training and how they can be used safely and humanely. We will begin by discussing the basic principles of shock collars and then move on to discuss the pros and cons of using them. We will also cover some of the best practices for using shock collars, as well as potential alternatives for those who are morally opposed to using them. By the end of this post, you will have a better understanding
The Best Dog Training Collar and System
Ty advised me to get a shock collar after witnessing at least five different hikers yell at me. Several years ago, when Sansho was pursuing a young bighorn sheep up a cliff and getting close to a kill, wildlife officers nearly shot his Karelian bear dog and forced him to make the purchase of one. I expressed concern to Ty that using harsh correction methods might ruin Teddy’s gentle demeanor, but he insisted that using the collar outright was very infrequent because it produced training results almost immediately. He talked about it nonstop on the way home, so I decided to invest in a $250 Garmin Sport Pro training device.
The Sport Pro comes with a handheld controller with a 3/4-mile range and a collar-mounted training device with automatic bark correction. The collar vibrates to alert the dog when it detects barking in automatic mode. If the barking persists or gets louder, the collar will then begin to shock the dog at the lowest level. With the help of the handheld controller’s ten selectable levels of shock and vibration and beep cues, you can make that adjustment manually. The batteries in both the collar and handheld last for up to 60 hours, and it can control up to three collars.
Will Using a Shock Collar Cause Your Dog Pain?
First, I tried it on myself. In the lower settings, it begins as an unpleasant tingle before increasing to the point where it causes a muscle spasm. At its highest setting, the shock spasmed my entire forearm and hand while I was holding the shock collar, causing me to unintentionally drop it. Although it’s undoubtedly unpleasant, the feeling is only fleeting and intense rather than painful.
However, I don’t want to subject my dogs to it more frequently than is necessary. Thankfully, it seems that Ty was accurate: you don’t need to use it at all.
I got to see the automatic bark correction in action after a few days of trial and error figuring out where the device’s prongs needed to be placed on Teddy’s throat to detect barks and how tight the collar needed to be for those prongs to penetrate her thick coat. Teddy was out for a stroll in the evening when a dog on the opposite side of the street barked at him loudly before whimpering briefly. She continued to bark and whimper before remaining silent for the remainder of the walk. She acted like the same vibrant, happy dog we love; she showed no signs of fear and was just as curious about sounds and smells as before. She’d just stopped barking.
Most importantly, the collar doesn’t appear to have stopped Teddy from barking when the situation truly calls for it. She is what she is, and we don’t want to stop her from being a good guard dog. Even when she is not wearing the collar, she will still enthusiastically roar at anything she perceives as a threat, even though it has reduced her overall instinct to bark. The cottontail that lives under our deck is safer than it’s ever been for us.
I also intended to use the tool to get her to stop concentrating so much on other dogs while we were hiking. If I called her off, I needed her to listen. I began by keeping her on the leash on hikes where there were other hikers. I would call her to try to get Teddy to pay more attention to me if we passed another dog and she became overly fixated on it. She had a threshold for responding to the stimulus at level four (of ten), so if she didn’t comply, I would shock her at that level. She didn’t respond when I called her during a leashed hike, which shocked her. She listened the rest of the time while maintaining her usual behavior.
Users of the Sport Pro are advised by Garmin to conduct an initial trial to gauge their dog’s sensitivity to the shock. When the collar is properly adjusted, start with a level one shock and work your way up until the dog reacts to it. Teddy’s response is to whimper; there’s no flinching or cowering. Once you reach that point, there is never a need to shock your dog more intensely; you have discovered their training threshold. Your dog only needs to respond to the stimulus once for it to learn from it. On my own testing, level four only causes a mild tingle.
I’ve started letting Teddy go off-leash while still wearing the collar after those initial on-leash hikes with the training tool. I’ll shock her if she sees another dog and runs after it despite my warnings. She always responds to that, but she hasn’t yet reached the stage where the problem is fully resolved off-leash and without the shocks. It’s a significant improvement regardless, and I have no doubt that it will prove successful with more time and effort.
It Doesn’t Change Behavior Long term
If your dog immediately stops engaging in the behaviors that result in shock, using shock collars for dogs may seem like a great solution. But they do not understand that what they are doing is improper behavior. Simply put, they are learning that if they do it, they will be shocked. When the collar is removed, the behavior is probably going to return because it doesn’t demonstrate for your pet what he or she should be doing in its place.
FAQ
Are shock collars cruel for training?
The use of aversive collars, or those that use physical discomfort or even pain to teach a dog what not to do, is not considered to be a humane practice. While they might stop the undesirable behavior, they don’t teach the dog what is appropriate, which can lead to anxiety and fear, which can then result in aggression.
How do dog trainers feel about shock collars?
One of the main issues with shock collar training is that the animal has no control or knowledge of when the shock will occur. Many trainers use shock collars on themselves to demonstrate that they don’t hurt. The issue is that they can decide when and how strong the shock will be.
Are police dogs trained with shock collars?
Police K-9s can be trained off-leash and at a distance using e-collars, which are special collars with batteries, electric contact points, and a radio receiver tuned to the handler’s handheld transmitter.
Do professional dog trainers use training collars?
Dog Training Collar There is a reason that some people refer to these collars as choke chains and others as training collars by professional dog trainers. When used appropriately, the collar never chokes. People frequently put the collar on incorrectly, which will choking the dog.