Interesting article about shock collars in the UK

Advocates for their use claim that such devices don’t hurt but mostly emit an unpleasant vibration.

Hard to trust an advocate for a product, if said advocate has no idea what a shock collar does. What they are describing is a vibration collar. Vibration collars vibrate; shock collars shock.

When measuring salivary cortisol levels (related to stress) of the dogs with or without shock collars, the researchers found a significant increase of cortisol levels in the dogs exposed to shock collars, when they’re fitted with a collar a second time. This indicates that the anticipation of the stimulation immediately increases the stress level of the dogs. Behavior changes also indicated that the dogs were more stressed and tense than dogs trained using positive reinforcement.

This alone is enough to put me off using them. When I'm training my dog, stress should not play any sort of role in it.

Very good article!

It would be nice to think that the powers that be will take note of it!

Well, nothing wrong with wishful thinking!

Again - it is a training tool that is misused as a short cut to teaching your dog properly.
I don't have a problem with them when used correctly but I do have a big issue where they are misused.
They can be very effective: A lady at our school had a German Shepherd that would break through her cars windows to get at people outside, even while driving at high speeds. A few shocks and he had new found respect for the invisible barrier keeping him inside.
Everything has it's place.

Hard to trust an advocate of anything that causes pain!

Sorry, Theresa, but i disagree. Most behaviour problems can be solved through humane means - they may take a little longer, but the effects are better, stronger & more lasting.

Glad people can have differing opinions without it getting nasty. A lot of the time, people get so annoyingly defensive when somebody disagrees with them.

Caryll wrote:Sorry, Theresa, but i disagree. Most behaviour problems can be solved through humane means - they may take a little longer, but the effects are better, stronger & more lasting.

Most behaviour problems - sure. We're not numpties. We tried everything we could source.
If a dog cost you R27000.00 in one year in vets bills from breaking through car windows you need to make a plan ASAP.
He jumped out the car on the highway at 120km/h. Broke 3 ribs, dislocated his hip, broke a front leg and numerous scrapes and burns. Bit holes through his tongue. Amazing that he survived. She almost crashed her car a few times as he jumped on her while driving. 35kgs of infuriated GSD is not easily dealt with.
And note this was a very obedient, well trained dog. When I first met him he was in Advanced training. He was a rescue and was protection trained very wrongly as a young dog. He would break through the window to attack people walking outside or going into a shop.
She even had house burglar bars fitted over the cab of her bakkie and he broke through those. Put him in a crate and he would attack it the moment the car started moving.
He was a lovely, friendly dog if you met him outside a car. Put him in the car and he would try and kill you.

I understand the severity of his anxiety but still can't condone the use of shock collars. I just can't believe there was no alternative.

It sounds like he had very bad experiences in cars before he came to his present home, but careful & gradual reintroduction to cars over a period of time would, in my opinion, have been better.

My problem with aversive training methods is that it doesn't 'cure' a behaviour - rather, it 'masks' it until the dog overcomes its fear if pain.

Your friend's GSD certainly has a problem with cars, and I know this might be a daft question but wouldn't a securely fixed dog harness stop him from jumping through car windows?

Caryll wrote:http://blog.smartanimaltraining.com/2013/07/31/new-findings-on-shock-collars-why-the-uk-wants-to-ban-them/

Sorry... not even going to read the article. They should be banned!

tracyp wrote:

Caryll wrote:http://blog.smartanimaltraining.com/2013/07/31/new-findings-on-shock-collars-why-the-uk-wants-to-ban-them/

Sorry... not even going to read the article. They should be banned!

I know what you mean, Tracy, but sometimes pieces like this need to be read and understood by the general public so that they understand why the collars should be banned.  

He wasn't anxious about cars, stressed or worried. He was aggressive as all hell out.
We tried everything for about 2 years.
He chewed through a very expensive harness, leads, he broke a tooth on a chain lead etc etc etc...
Anyhoo, we borrowed one, used it and it worked.
This was as an absolute last resort.

I'm sure it worked, but I still don't like them.

As I said before, they mask behaviours, they don't cure them. Many dogs will overcome their fear/pain barrier and the behaviour will return. Not all, of course, but the chance is there.