Dog Training | Strong Dog

Dog Training:Using Dog Shock Collars

Dog Shock Collars as Effective Training Tools?

Dog shock collars, E collars, Training collars, Correction collars they’re called many things and we’ve all seen the advertisements promoting the use of electric or shock collars for dogs:

“Is your dog out of control?”, “Does your dog bark too much”, “Do traditional dog training methods not work for your dog”, “Do you want to change your dogs behavior in hours instead of weeks?’…then we recommend you shock the shit out of them for that well adjusted, lovable 4-legged, family fun dog you’ve always wanted!

Really? Should we seriously believe that sending an electric shock into your dog’s neck is going to change their behavior for the better? Didn’t we believe the same thing about people in the middle part of the 20th century? How’d that work out?

Shock collars for dogs are often given the cutsie nick name of “E collars” for dogs with “E” meaning “electric”, because the marketing people don’t want us to associate the fact that we are purposefully inflicting pain on our dogs thinking in some way it’s changing their behavior for the better. It’s changing their behavior alright, but we’d argue, not for the better.

1 Out of 100

Did you watch the above video? I would venture to say that this illustration represents 1% of the actual use of shock collars for dogs. Did you notice that there was no one in the room? That the trainer was using a “mild” shock and then immediately rewarding the dog for the desired action? Although this video seems humane, does she really need the dog shock collar at all?

The real life uses of shock collars for dogs are more apt to be found being used by the general, untrained public or in conjunction with the “invisible fence”, which is another way to shock the crap out of your dog when your not around. Most people do indeed have good intentions about the use of shock collars for dogs, and in certain situations under a watchful eye, these dog shock collars can indeed be a useful training aid, even though I may personally think there are other more acceptable options available.

I most often think that the Humane Society is a little over the top with some of their stances, but I must say I have to agree with them when they say, ” The least humane and most controversial use of the shock collar is as a training device. “ The city of Wales in the UK actually banned the use of shock collars on dogs and cats.

Positive vs. Negative

Any dog trainer will tell you that there are two types of dog training aides; positive and negative. We either reward the dog for good behavior or “correct” them for bad behavior. Human psychology is similar often referred to as pain vs pleasure or fight vs flight or as Momma used to say, “get your butt over here if you know whats good for you!”

Examples of negative training aides, where the trainer is identifying the unwanted behavior, are chokers, pinch or prong collars and e or shock collars for dogs. All work in the same fashion where the dog receives a negative physical result based off their action. One problem with this is cross associations. Cross associations would be like when your dog sees another dog and runs towards it and we try to stop them with our handy dandy dog shock collar and give them a wallop, but the dog may associate that shock with the fact that they are looking at another dog, not the action of pulling.

At this point, the owner is changing the dogs behavior with the shock collar, but maybe not in the way they intended. If repeated enough, this will cause the dog to associate negative ramifications at the site of another dog and may lead to aggression towards other dogs.

Other side effects of using negative training aides include fear, anxiety and general aggression due to the pain caused by dog shock collars. This study outlines some other observed consequences of using shock collars for dogs.

Happy, Stable and Fun!

If one wants a happy, stable and fun dog, during training it’s our opinion that shock collars for dogs are not the way to go. Instead there are positive alternatives to dog training which don’t cause fear, pain or anxiety and are still highly effective and what’s more, have a longer lasting effect than simply inflicting pain through use of a shock collar for dogs.

Using treats is a great training tool. A head collar or a flat buckle collar can also be used effectively to correct and reinforce the positive actions we seek. Clicker training, although maybe annoying to other humans, is another safe and effective alternative to shock collars for dogs.

Under certain circumstances there is merit, albeit minimal, in using a shock collar for dogs, but it should be short lived and with low intensity and performed by a professional dog trainer. For the rest of us, realize that there are no training aides that will change our dog’s long term behavior in a few short hours, especially by causing pain through a shock collar for dogs. It takes time, it takes patience and it takes consistency to train your dog properly.

Dog Training: Dog Psychology

Dog Psychology 102

Most of us are familiar with Nobel prize winning behaviorist Ian Pavlov and his famous experiment affectionately know as Pavlov’s dog, but was he a dog behaviorist? Was Pavlov the first of his kind dog psychologist or dog psychiatrist?

No, of course not. Pavlov simply used a dog to prove that he could condition an animal to react in a certain way to a particular stimulus; which in his case was a dog drooling at the sound of a bell, but enough about that. What we want to know is does such a thing as dog psychology or dog psychiatry really exist? Can a dog behaviorist look deep into the subconscious mind of the canine and extract meaningful intelligence to shape theories and conclusions on why a dog acts the way they do?

Maybe to a degree, but in my opinion, doubtful to the extents that are claimed. Dogs want to please, we just need to show them how.

When I here the phrase dog psychology or dog psychiatry I conjure up images of a dog relaxing on a couch with a cross legged therapist asking about a the canine childhood experience. It’s hard not to. There is however a plethora, love that word, of information available on dog behavior some of which is essential while some is simply what I would scientifically refer to as gibberish.

Is it Just Good Marketing?

Maybe the most well know dog behaviorist, thanks to the media, and of course Animal Planet is Cesar Milan, the famed “Dog Whisperer”, but even the iconic dog whisperer has his critics for his approach to dog behavior. Are his antics just for the benefit of TV rankings and well placed marketing?…I wouldn’t go that far.
With this or any topic, when faced with doubt of any kind, it should be well recommended to defer to the “experts”, at least those that are more in the know the the average Joe (I’m a po-et and didn’t even know it). There exists an American Academy of Veterinary Behaviorists, there are self proclaimed dog behaviorists and dog psychologists, I liked her description and there is even a college course for dog behavior if you are so inclined. These people and organizations, however, don’t exist without there being truth behind their craft.

Maybe the most useful, even if you couldn’t care less about what or how your dog thinks, is this blog post which offers sound advise on how to identify an aggressive dog and what one should do if confronted. A good read probably for anyone with children. This notion is superseded by a clinic in Colorado that actually specializes with the most aggressive dogs in changing their behavior.

The Human Canine

The fact of the matter is that although most dog trainers, dog “whisperers”, if you will are the first to tell you that dogs are not human and shouldn’t be treated as such, I would contend that that may be true from a training sense, dog behavior is very closely related to human behavior. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t have ways of even describing it, or describe it in scientific terms that are meaningless to the average person. We relate to our dog because we understand their emotions and behaviors.

No, dogs aren’t human, but if you’ve owned one for any amount of time you can attribute dog behavior to the equivalent human behavior. Fear, shyness, phobias, separation anxiety, aggression, disobedience, etc. The list goes on. As with people, we identify the behavior and treat it. Sometimes the behaviors, be it dogs or people are just too extreme and we divorce the marriage. Unfortunate? Yes, but again, it’s the same for dogs and people. As we saw earlier in this post, there are centers for extreme dog behavior much the same there is for people. Instead of centers, we call those places jail or the psych ward.

4 Legged Children

My point is this: Although there is extreme merit in the diligent, caring and insightful work of dog behaviorists, dog psychologists, dog psychiatrists or whatever you prefer to call them, I would only call on their expert services for the extreme circumstance, not the normal every day one where your four legged friend just doesn’t listen.

Would you prefer some stranger come to your house and raise your children simply because you haven’t taken the time to bond with them, set boundaries, understand them, interact with them and most importantly maybe, respect them for who they are and allow them to respect you for who you are as the pack leader? Well, when you put it like that…Hell No!

Nope, dogs aren’t human. Lets face it, they can get away with walking on all fours and licking themselves in public, (I’m so jealous) but before spending that hard earned dollar on a dog behaviorist or on that dog psychology book, pay attention and bond with your dog and teach them how you want them to act before their insecurities do indeed become behavior problems in dogs.

Dog Training: Talking Dogs

Now Hear This!

Can you really train your dog to talk? Should you train your dog to really talk?…Do we even want to train our dogs to really talk? All valid questions and one which goes mostly un-pondered, and probably for good reason, but what if. What if you could train your dog to talk and hold a conversation, how cool would that be?

I don’t know about you, but I love dogs! I appreciate them for their companionship, and all the other wonderful things that will us to own a dog, but gosh gee golly oh my I hate when dogs bark for what always seems to be no reason. There’s never a dangerous man wielding an axe, nor a stranger or even a cat in the area. For me a barking dog is as pleasurable as chewing on tin foil. As dog lovers we tolerate it, but think how nice it would be if instead of dogs barking at squirrels and other meaningless inanimate objects if they could talk! How awesome would that be? Replace “yip, yip, BARK..whine, bark, yip” with “Good morning fair owner, how are you this splendid day? Can I fetch anything for you or just sit?”

If your house was on fire, would you prefer your dog bark wildly to get you our of bed and have you think they just want to go pee and you be forced to think when you want to sleep? Or would you rather them jump on your chest and say “Hey. The house is on fire”

What Did You Say?

Obviously dogs will never be able to actually string sentences together, or essentially do anything other than mimic their owners, but there are some cute dog videos floating around that do prove that dogs can indeed speak in a human language that with minimal imagination, we can pretty clearly understand. Talking dogs are certainly no stranger to animation or the big screen, but here in real life, I wouldn’t hold my breath for your neighbor’s family dog to do a public service announcement on adopting homeless dogs or anything.

What if we put every ounce of patience, time and know how into teaching a dog to hold a conversation. Could we do it? Even if The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan spent years, the fact is that the fluent talking dogs will be left for fiction. Vocal chords in the canine body simply aren’t meant to produce human language at any length. When considering any sounds a dog may make, we must realize that for the most part, those sounds are ancestral based and used for breed survival such as pleading sounds for help, pain, aggression, contentment and breeding…and I might even throw in annoying the neighbors for fun.

I need a Drink!

Although intellectual conversations won’t be had tonight with your pooch over a sniffer of brandy, dogs do talk, it’s just not in language form. Dogs speak often through vocal cues, but the canine non-verbal communication is much more obvious and prevalent. Dogs will talk and communicate effectively with a tail wag, a change in body posture, a perking up of ears, a paw on your lap and the occasional lick, but I say were lucky to leave it at that and use the dog training for something other than talking dogs. Something more useful like opening the refrigerator door and bringing back a beer.