It has been said that even a chimpanzee can train a dog with a shock collar (e-collar), as it removes much of the skill from the trainer. Interestingly, most seasoned dog trainers are firmly against the technology, considering it to be ‘cheating’ – while others leave it in reserve for only situations where everything else has failed or in extreme situations. Such as cases where dogs have attacked and killed sheep or similar.

Typical of today’s society the method is increasingly being used more and more by both lazy trainers and those with little empathy for animals, perceiving it to be their number one ‘go to’ method of training, or ‘quick fix’ training.

E-collar training isn’t rocket science – there are being principally two methods (1) corrections when the dog does something perceived to be wrong by the trainer or (2) The dog’s action stops the stim / shock being delivered, whereby hopefully the dog learns to ‘make it stop’, so ‘learns’ from the ‘experience’.

Advocates of e-collars tend to describe the stimulus as a stim, as it sounds less offensive than ‘shock’. It is well understood within the dog training fraternity, that poor e-collar training has ruined many good dogs.

I can clearly remember one guy who called me out of the blue with a supposedly trained Rottweiler Guard dog which was going nuts. He had fitted an electric bark collar, so each time the dog barked, the animal was shocked, causing the dog to yelp in pain and was then duly shocked again, and so on. He wanted ‘me’ to help him remove the collar (and risk getting bitten!). Well, this was an easy one for me, I simply asked him who recommended the collar? His reply was music to my ears, a “dog trainer” he said. I simply redirected him to contact the dog trainer that provided the advice – an easy one!….

While the Government (past and present) have been investigating for years, whether to ban this technology being used in the UK (already banned in Wales aka ‘sheep country’). The outcome should be known ‘fairly soon’. However, it is felt by most ethical dog trainers, that it’s not a case of whether e-collars will be banned, it’s more of a case of when, since more and more Countries are becoming concerned with animal welfare including Germany, Austria, France, Sweden. However, they seems to be freely used in the USA and China evidenced in Countless YouTube videos.  Of special note all of the respectable canine organisations within the UK, the Royal Kennel Club, the RSPCA, The GSD League to name but a few – are all seriously against this aversive method of training. Perceiving it to be cruel, even a form of cheating, as it forces animals (our friends) to work in a non-natural way. If you ever see a dog working like an automaton, rather than having a natural flow, then there’s a very good chance, electric collars have been used, as the dog is ‘afraid’ of making a mistake. The look portrayed by such animals is often described by dog trainers as – ‘remote control dogs’.

One of the problems of using such technology is it that in can cover up underlying flaws in both training, but  importantly GENETIC. If an ill-informed dog breeder witnesses a dog that he or she perceives to being doing well in competitions etc; they could be hoodwinked into thinking, this is dog is what I need to introduce into my breeding program. E-collar training, could indeed be hiding character flaws that could be passed onto future generations. One of the key reasons, why many dogs seen on YouTube etc are wearing e-collars – for without them, the owner might not be able to work the dog safely…

E-Collars have been developed over the years to become very covert with hefty price tags to match. It could be argued that the users are ashamed of having to resort to the technology being used – otherwise why would you spend £000’s on covert equipment in the hope that no one will notice, that they are using them. These are typically, wide and colourful collars that mask the electronics hidden beneath with ring finger controllers, rather than having overt remote handsets. Some even phone apps that can remotely switch the collar between shock and vibrate.

The caveat here is – if you rely on e-collars, then their days are numbered, but as with everything, there will always people be who will use them “Come What May”.