The Truth About Shock Collars
Whether you are buying a bark collar, remote training collar or dog containment system that gives the dog an electrical impulse through a collar, we are generally talking about a ‘shock collar’. The term shock collar is used quite openly in the US whereas in Australia we tend to use more gentle terms like e-collar, static correction collar or electronic collar. At the end of the day, we are comparing apples with apples.
There is certainly a stigma that goes along with the term shock collar for dogs. The insinuation for many is that we are delivering some earth-shattering correction to a dog that risks melting the electrical grid, though nothing could be further from the truth.
Device Improvements over time
Now I cannot speak from experience, but several decades ago when dog shock collars first came into existence, they were by all reports fairly barbaric and delivered a very high impulse to any unfortunate dog that was wearing the collar. Thankfully, things have come a long way since those times thanks to improved technology and responsible safety measures being introduced by reputable manufacturers such as SportDOG, Dogtra, DogWatch, PetSafe and D.T. Systems.
Today, bark collars and remote training collars deliver a static electric shock rather than an actual electric shock. Modern bark collars even have a safety cut-off switch that prevents the dog from receiving a prolonged correction as do containment systems collars in case a dog gets stuck in a correction zone. No longer do electric shock collars have one high level of correction but multiple levels designed to find the right level for each individual dog without causing stress. Any dog will not be able to absorb and learn in a stressful situation.
As a one-time police dog handler/ trainer and now in my capacity as a private dog trainer, I have used and seen electric collars used in ways that resulted in far less physical and mental trauma for the dog than previous more traditional methods. I can remember having blistered and bloody hands from pulling hard on leads and reefing the dog around from pillar to post. What stress and potential damage to the dog was happening at the same time?
The benefits
I have trained some animals of individuals with physical disabilities that have wanted to exercise their dogs, but without the assistance of an electric training collar would not have been able to do so. Do we leave the dog locked in the back yard getting no walking or exercise whatsoever or teach it with a remote training collar to walk in a manner that enables the owner to control the dog? I think I know what the dog would prefer! Also, I firmly believe the escaping dog would be far better off receiving a few “electric shocks” corrections than the sensation of being hit by a truck, by simply installing a quality Electric Dog Fence!
In all seriousness, no matter what opinion I put forward on the whole “shock collar” debate, those that oppose their use will continue to do so. ‘More training’, is one popular alternative that is often prescribed before resorting to shock collar type products, and I agree in some cases. However as any reputable trainer will admit, the hardest behaviours to train out of a dog are the ones that occur when you are not there. Barking and an escaping dog often falls straight into this category. Training/exercise used in conjunction with these types of products is often a far better alternative to achieve instant results. This may in fact save the dog's life if it is escaping into traffic or the neighbour is threatening to kill your barking dog.
"The static electric pulse your dog feels is similar to when you rub your feet on the carpet and touch a metal door handle and you get that little zap."
The risks?
So, what do these ‘shock collars’ do to the dog? Can the collar physically harm my dog? Will the collar hurt my dog? These are all very common questions I do get asked regularly. Firstly it is important to give you a very simplistic view of the output of these dog training collars. The static electric pulse your dog feels is similar to when you rub your feet on carpet and touch a metal door handle and you get receive that little zap. Static electric collars actually deliver less of a stimulation than that little door zap! Dogs also feel the correction much less than we do because they don't have sweat glands in their skin.
As the shock collar increases in correction level, the individual pulses increase in number per second, not in the electrical output. This means the intensity of shock does not change even as you increase the correction level. At all times, reputable brands like the ones mentioned above have an output of less than 2 percent (100milliamps) of what is required to create any type of thermal burn. So can the collar cause any type of injury to my dog? Absolutely not.
