There has been a lot of discussion in the dog training industry recently about which methods are most suitable with some trainers advocating the use of rewards the dogs like using positive reinforcement and others advocating the use of shock collars.
‘’Either you’re okay using pain, fear, discomfort, as well as intimidation in dog training or you’re not’’ – Victoria Stilwell.
At the JSPCA, we are not. We have to question the ethics of using aversive training techniques and tools such as shock collars in dog training. Shock collars can be effective at training but that isn’t the argument. The issues with it are the welfare implications, the effect on your relationship with a dog and associations made when they are shocked.
We’ve had some cases of dogs being relinquished to us needing homes that have had this type of training prior to coming to us and the impact has been both heartbreaking for the dog and frustration at the training methods used because the dog now has some trauma that we need to unravel which is incredibly difficult and takes a long time.
Confrontational training methods can increase aggression in dogs which we saw with Bobby*, a beautiful cockapoo, who was so sweet, loving and playful. He was great with everyone and dogs but he would also guard food items, toys and his bed. His owner had been told by a trainer to not allow him to do this, that she should stand her ground, use intimidation techniques and show him she is boss. The conflict between her and the dog escalated until he bit her badly enough that she had to be hospitalised. The bond and relationship between them was so broken. It most likely would have been a completely different outcome with a trainer that took the time to understand the dog’s emotional needs, that he was scared his things were going to be taken from him and instead teach him that his owner doesn’t want his food, his toys or his bed.
We also had the cutest cross breed called Andy*, he would guard his home and female owner through growling, lunging and barking. They decided to use a trainer that used aversive techniques including shock collars on him. By the time Andy came to the JSPCA, he didn’t show any body language or vocalisations such as growling to let people know he was uncomfortable about a person being in his vicinity. He would let the person approach and then launch and bite. Due to the training methods used, Andy was a dog that had no warning signals as they had been punished out of him and he had learnt that using them meant something aversive would happen to him so he would just go straight to bite.
Not only that, his owners were led to believe this was the best training for him but when the control was handed back to them, they couldn’t do it, they felt terrible. Pet dog owners with no experience of using a shock collar are bound to make mistakes and there is potential fall out from that.
Shock collars work to punish the behaviour but don’t address the root cause of the behaviour so therefore aren’t the best long term solutions. If they had chosen a trainer that took the time to understand what emotions were driving Andy’s behaviour and addressed that by making him feel more positively about people coming onto the property or approaching the female owner, he might have never ended up at the JSPCA. Andy went into a guardian home and with food rewards being used along with environmental management for his training, his behaviour improved and he started communicating with body language when he was uncomfortable. This meant his guardians could keep visitors safe and keep Andy happy.
There’s plenty of videos online where shock collar trainers are trying to persuade people that they don’t hurt, they’re just a tickle or a vibration. This simply isn’t true, if it was a nice sensation, they would not be effective at punishing the problem behaviour. There are comedy programmes where they shock the contestants if they get answers wrong and you can see it hurts because they scream and jump when they’re zapped and as much as some people find this funny, it is also obvious that the person is experiencing some discomfort or pain.
We urge you to please consider your dog trainers methods and try to put yourself in your dogs shoes to understand how it might be for them. If the dog trainers plan doesn’t sit right with you, then change trainers before the damage done to your relationship and your dog is irreversible.
