Training by electrocution

[Cad Jackson]

I am no expert on training, but I have always had good results with treats and love with my dogs. I think that it seems cruel to shock your dog just because they didn't sit when you told them to. And the long term effects probably wont be good on the dog either, even when the collar is off she still will be affraid of getting shocked everytime he barks out a command. And it sounds like to me she is obeying out of fear instead of obeying because she wants to please the master. I personally would never go that route, but like I said before, I am no expert.

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Thor&Sade's Dad

[Tenaj]

My friend had to use one on her dog but only because of his inherent desire to kill cats. He would jump the fence everytime he saw one and she could not get it stopped. It was becoming a very big problem with the neighbors since these were they're cats. One day he finally got one of the cats and killed it. That was it the dog had to go or else be trained. She opted for the training and went to a trainer who helped her get him started with the electronic collar. She hasn't had problems since. The dog is not scared and does not appear to be hurt at all by this but it was a low grade shock. The trainer said that in the wrong hands,just like every training collar, it could be cruel. He also said he usually dosen't suggest using the electronic collars but in her situation she needed something that would work immediatly and it did. All these collars are supposed to do from what I understand is give the dog negative corrections when it does something it's not supposed to be doing. It sounds like this guy was one of those do it himself type people instead of looking for assistance from a trainer to teach him how to use it correctly and this may have been the wrong dog to use this type of collar on.....

[AngelBunny]

my2rotties:

Your observations of the Golden, "she would cower after a command" and "She was very uptight, and on edge at all times" aren't what you want to see in a well-trained, happy, self confident dog. Her owner is lazy and cruel--there is no justification for the Average Joe to use such a device on his dog.

There are instances where an e collar is needed, but these devices don't belong in the hands of the Joe down the street.

Poor dog.

[SarasMom]

These collars are good for poison proofing, breaking dogs from running livestock, and I'm sure other problems areas I can't think of right now. They are used on coonhounds to stop them from running deer.
As far as using them for an everyday control device, I don't think that's good at all, but they are advertised for this in magazines all the time. There is an ad in one dog magazine showing a lady using one with her two Rottweilers. She claims in the ad that it gives her "easy control" over the dogs. She can take them to the beach etc, without worry. http://www.rottweiler.net/rottie/frown.gif
I have a friend that uses one with her crazy GSD. She got this puppy from a BYB when it was about 3 weeks old. I told her she was making a big mistake but???? Anyway, she is disabled and cannot control this mentally unstable dog without the ecollar. I have known this dog since it was a puppy. I was in her living room petting it one day, and then got up to see her parrot in another room. When I turned my back on the GSD, it tried to nail me. The only thing that stopped me from getting bitten was the shock she got from the ecollar.
I use an electric fence charger to poison proof my dogs, but it is not the same thing. I would only use an ecollar to stop a very bad behavior that couldn't be resolved any other way.

[K9-man]

This guy is an imbecile. If the dog is cringing he’s correcting it WAY too much, EXACTLY how your NOT supposed do it. He is being cruel to that dog.
I’ve used a shock collar on some of my dogs for chronic behavioral problems (stool eating, jumping up on fence) but usually not obedience training.
They come with instructions; mine even had a video, so there’s no excuse for not doing it the right way.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Only in the most difficult cases should an e-collar be used and only by an experienced trainer. If it were up to me you wouldn't even be able to by one over the counter only through a professional trainer which in most cases would refer you to a behavioral specialist because this method is not for the average dog. If the dog is cringing after the command that means he isn't using the collar properly or the dog would relate obeying the command with not receiving a shock not obeying the command and receiving a shock. If you read about these collars you will find that yes, there are such dogs that require this type of training but its not for the average dog or the amature dog owner.

[jensav]

I agree with Diane that shock collars should not be a "over the counter" training device. People should be required to have some kind of training to use these, as they are inhumane in the wrong hands. Personally, I would not ever use one.

[HackN2it]

In the hands of a well trained proffesional trainer, A great tool. In the hands of your average Joe shmoe, a cruel and inhuman torture device!

Oh and those things really pack a punch!, my friend had one for his dobbie and he learned the "proper" way to use it. He also wore it himself to set the "shock". He felt if he was to shock his dog then he wanted to feel it as well to learn how much effect it had! Boy did he keep it set low!

Hack

[K9-man]

I guess I’m somewhere between your average Joe Shmoe and a well-trained professional trainer. I figured out how to use the shock collar effectively without the dogs cringing or getting uptight. It can be a very valuable training device when all else fails, if used CORRECTLY.
It does bother me to see these on the shelf at the local Walmart. I’ll bet a lot more are being used the wrong way than the right way.

[Ken Butterfield]

Diane,Hack,I agree
By a Pro in the right situations, yes.Most others its a sure recipe for disaster!!!
There is a club here in town, we call the shock-collar club.Unbelievable! Every dog and PUPPY has a shock-collar. Some have 2.
One on the neck and one around the belly. It is an all breed club that even uses these to train basic obedience.One thing that caught my clubs eyes was the 7 month old rottweiler that was cowering while doing the heel for the heel.Now they are trying to do Schutzhund.Now that is dumb leading dumber !!

[Katarina]

I use the tritronics, but only after I know my dogs understand what is expected of them. They were slowly introduced to it around 18 mos. By that time they knew obedience and the collar was used for distance reinforcement. I have seen so-called trainers just throw the collar on and go! NOT! Having said that, people can make their dogs cringe just by talking to them! I have seen dogs cringe with choke collars. As many others have stated its not necessarily the tool, its how it is being used.

[Lil E]

I got a shock collar after numerous attempts to try to not have my girl jump at a big glass window in my living room when she sees another dog.. I was terrified she would break it and get hurt. Well she ignored it, I finally just started telling her to go to bed when she starts for the window and if I'm not home I put her in the bedroom. These collars can be used effectively in the right hands but I don't believe they should be used excessively or in place of proper training. What I did works for me because I'm home all day and I can reinforce with treats. I gave up on using it, it takes too big a shock to deter a determined Rott and I couldn't do that to my dog.

[Fergy]

I have a friend who's 4'11" and 90lbs and her Rottweiler bitch weighs about the same. She said she used a shock collar training device on low stimuli to train her dog. I see no negative side effects in her bitch from the method. Myself being somewhat old fashion, I prefer the old tried and true methods.

[my2rotties]

We were at the river, teaching Diva how to swim over the weekend. We came across a couple with a Golden retriever bitch. She was a beautiful dog, but I could not understand why she would suddenly start yelping.

Upon closer inspection, I saw a shock collar around her neck, and the owner had the control pad around his neck. At first I was very impressed with the way that she behaved and responded to commands. When I realized that she had the collar on, I watched her more closely. She was constantly cringing after a command, thinking she would get shocked.

I have never used this method of training, so I cannot make an unbiased remark on it. However, I saw this to be very cruel to the dog, and just felt the guy was too lazy to train her with patience and kindness. I asked him how much of a jolt she would get, and he said it was a pretty good one, and wanted to know if I wanted to try it on myself... NOT!

Is this a good method of training? I personally, would never use it on any of my dogs, but what do you think? I just felt so bad for this poor dog, the way she would cower after a command. She was very uptight, and on edge at all times. What is the reasonong for a training method such as this one? I know it may take me longer to train my dogs, but I would never want to cause them any sort of pain or discomfort, in order to have that kind of control.

The guy said that set up with the collar and remote control was over $500, so I am glad that not too many people can afford it. Maybe this is not too bad in the right hands, but I feel the guy was over doing it with his dog. What do you all think about this method of training?

[Barbara Surplus]

Diana, sounds as though he's using this collar for basic training (instead of working the dog himself) which is absolutely what it's NOT supposed to be used for. What do you say we take our Rotties down to the river some day and show this bimblebrain what well-trained dogs are REALLY like and maybe give him a few pointers on how not to ruin a perfectly good dog out of sheer laziness. grrrrrrrr.......
Barbara