We're glad to see that K9 Magazine has taken this sensible way of looking at the thorny issue of electric collars and their use. Many dog owners are against these collars as they believe them to be unnecessarily barbaric and potentially dangerous.
However the proponents of electric collars point out that their use can save lives, that they are very quick to work and can be little more painful than the shock obtained by static. Read on to find out the case for and against their use...
K9 Magazine takes a look at one of the most controversial subjects in the entire dog world, a much maligned defendant takes to the stand. The electric shock dog training collar. These are the collars that actually administer an electrical charge into the dog’s neck when activated and should not be confused with other varieties of a remote dog training collar or anti-bark collar that use a variety of different methods to achieve desired results such as sprays and noises.
The Case For The Prosecution: (Against Electric Collars)
Electric shock collars, you stand accused of being one of the single most vivid examples of man’s ability to use modern technology to the detriment of all that is natural and justified in the animal kingdom.
Whoever conceived the idea of a device capable of administering a painful electric shock into the neck of a creature devoid of the ability to comprehend electricity or its effects on the body should take a serious look into their conscience and picture the pain and anguish suffered by the thousands of dogs all over the world who have been electrocuted in the name of ‘better’ or ‘more socially acceptable’ behaviour.
Whoever had the notion that a device operable by a completely un-trained or un-qualified ‘ordinary’ pet owner, capable of sending an agonising current through the veins of an unsuspecting animal, would be an advancement of the human / canine interface must consider the damage and destruction they have caused to that most sacred of relationships.
Quite simply the electric shock collar would have been best left un-discovered in the same laboratory as Mustard Gas and gun powder.
The concept of the device is simply horrific. Dog partakes in behaviour not to the liking of dog’s owner, owner electrocutes dog. Forgive me for thinking we lived in a society that had long since abandoned the ideals of drowning Witches or burning people at the stake but I am convinced that future generations will look back on the world who embraced the electric shock collar with a similar level of disdain.
Electric shock collars, you have caused harm, you continue to cause harm. The pain and anguish you have delivered in your time could never be justified by the pro-electric shock brigade who seem to think your ability to inflict instant ‘correction’ and the possibility of such an action being capable of righting the wrongs of a dog whose behavioural misdemeanours have placed him in life’s last chance saloon, are a reasonable argument for their role in society.
How many times must we hear the argument that electric shock collars have saved the lives of dogs considered to be too unruly or too untrustworthy to co-exist in human society? Dogs with temperament problems who could be considered beyond the reach of the most successful canine behaviour experts still do not deserve to be persecuted and tortured into submission.
There are humane methods to change and influence the behaviour of any living breathing creature capable of thinking, a dog especially so. Remote control electrocution simply can not be considered a humane or acceptable solution, whatever the necessity to alter behaviour. Even convicted criminals, sentenced to death in the Electric Chair are spared the long term agony of punishing electrical charges being pumped into their bodies. Death comes relatively quickly for these people and as barbaric as the act itself may be, even murderers would never be subjected to a daily electrocution until such a time as they had ‘learned their lesson.’ Why, therefore, should a dog?
Members of the K9 Magazine jury, I ask you to consider the following:
Is it in any way conceivable that a dog, an animal born of no inherent malevolence, a creature whose psychological makeup is influenced entirely by environmental conditioning and its interaction with members of the human race, could ever commit an act worthy of this most vile and excruciatingly painful example of human cruelty as a means of justifiable reprisal?
Furthermore, that companies who profit from the sale and manufacture of a device renowned for its capability to inflict a deplorable level of brutality on its animal victims, should do so at the physical and mental expense of those dogs who have to endure the consequences of its potency all in the name of ‘more desirable behaviour’?
Is this a product that we, a supposed Nation of animal lovers should be tolerant of as it is made freely available for sale in the United Kingdom to anyone who so desires to one?
Does not the sheer concept of a device, created to inflict punishment by means of remote electrocution on an animal we refer to as ‘man’s best friend’, strike you as being barbaric, hypocritical and contradictory to everything that modern society stands for?
I put it to you, members of the K9 Magazine jury that you use your jurisdiction to sentence the electric shock collar to death by way of your consciences compelling you to speak out against anyone reckless enough to use one or any business mercenary enough to sell or manufacture one for profit. I say stop this shocking tool from being made available for sale and spare the anguish of thousands of dogs. Call for a ban on the electric shock collar.
Case For The Defence: (In Support of the Electric Collar)
Members of the K9 Magazine reader’s jury. Before I say anything, I credit you all with the intellectual capacity to have already spotted the fundamentally flawed motives of the anti-electric collar bandwagon.
The charge levelled against this most innovative and successful product is without foundation and is confounded when you view the successes that have been achieved with electric collars.
Whilst it maybe true that many a dog trainer would have you believe they would never stoop so low as to use an ecollar, the facts are that many trainers who do sample the device when pressed with an apparently insurmountable behavioural problem capable of ultimately leading to the destruction of a healthy animal, discover a life-saving tool that is effective ONLY because it fits with the dog’s own understanding of negative or positive behavioural re-enforcement.
Jury, you must understand what the anti-collar browbeaters fail to acknowledge. Dogs are not humans. It sounds obvious, in fact it is obvious but the reality is lost on the anti-ecollar protesters. Dogs, not being human, have learning and thinking systems that are very different to our own. Dogs understand the blackness or whiteness of a situation but not grey. That is to say a dog has the capability to understand if a behaviour it participates in is acceptable or not. It does not have a comprehension of a behaviour being anti-social or ‘not in keeping with the expectancy level of its human counterparts’.
Let’s take a hypothetical case: A family dog, let’s say he’s a 12 month old Labrador. His owners let him sit on the sofa in the living room every day. Every day that is apart from Fridays when his owners hold a very important dinner party in which case he gets scolded for being ill-mannered enough to even attempt to get up on the sofa and carry out behaviour which he understands to be acceptable on other occasions.
He doesn’t know he can’t get on the sofa on a Friday. He understands a pattern that says he either can get on the sofa or he can’t. He’ll pretty much accept either rule but what he really struggles with is this horrible, human inflicted grey area. I will re-iterate, dogs understand black or white, hot or cold, acceptable or not acceptable. They do not have a great ability to add in scenario evaluation or circumstance-relevant decision making to their thought process.
The dog’s black or white learning pattern is the main reason why the electric shock training collar is so very successful and fair. It has the capability to instantly and effectively communicate a highly comprehensible message to the dog. ‘Your behaviour is acceptable or your behaviour is not’.
Dogs do not enjoy the shock. Some ecollar advocates try and play down the fact that the device can (and sometimes does) cause discomfort. This is true, conceded. But neither does a dog enjoy an existence where there are no clearly defined social boundaries or confusion, for example dogs who pull on lead and are constantly being ‘strangled’ by an owner who has never correctly taught the dog to walk properly. Dogs understand rank and the system of a pack which is why the most successful and contented packs consist of pack leader who is on hand to administer discipline and order to the rest of the pack the instant it is required.
That discipline may range from a ‘stare’ in minor cases of behavioural misdemeanor to a full scale exertion of physical dominance, including the infliction of some degree of pain, in cases where the pack leader’s authority is being severely challenged.
Here is where the case for the defence overwhelms any charges brought against the electric collar. If used correctly in accordance with manufacturers instructions and only in cases where there is a severe challenge of authority that threatens to destabilise the entire family unit (pack) either by way of the dog’s behaviour becoming a danger to people or to their own lives, the electric shock collar has the power to save thousands of dogs lives through its ability to act quickly and decisively leaving the dog with no grey area difficulties.
If dogs could speak they would all seek to communicate their desire to live and conform in a human-lead, modern society ahead of the prospect of having their life terminated as a result of our human inability to translate our acceptable behaviour standards sufficiently into a language that they can understand.
The case for the defence rests and leaves the jury with this final thought:
“Ask a dog to choose between certain death or one final chance at being shown the path to acceptable human-interaction and behaviour and you have the very reason why electric collars have a valuable role to play in modern society. There are thousands of dogs who are only alive today because of this ground breaking, innovative use of modern technology and advanced understanding of canine behaviour”
Witnesses Called To The Stand:
