A List Of Things That Shock Collars Are Not
Shock collars are also known as e-collars or remote training collars. They have two metal prongs which rest against a dog’s skin on their neck (typically, although some trainers also place them against other body parts, including stomach or genitalia). These metal prongs deliver electric shock when a button is pressed on a remote control, or when a dog barks, or when a dog crosses a boundary line ‘fence’.
Some trainers use shock collars to train dogs to do stuff using negative reinforcement: sit, recall, retrieve, heel, and so on. In this case, the dogs will be cued, then the electric shock starts. The trainer will only terminate the electric shock when the dog does what the trainer wants. Once the dog is trained, they will do the cued behaviour quickly, in order to avoid being shocked.
Some trainers also use them with dogs who are scared of people or who bark and lunge at other dogs (among other ‘nuisance’ behaviours). Shock collars are used on these dogs to teach them to stop showing these behaviours using positive punishment. In these cases, the shock comes after the behaviour, and teaches the dog to refrain from barking, or lunging, or snarling in the future, in order to avoid getting another shock. This training is used by some trainers despite the fact that stopping these dogs from barking and lunging does not address the dog’s underlying emotional or motivational state. It typically produces a scared dog who is no longer comfortable communicating that they are scared, which is a potentially dangerous outcome.
There are no cases in which positive reinforcement or negative punishment (neither of which use painful or scary consequences) wouldn’t function to train the dogs being shocked, so shock collars are an elective tool. They are illegal in some countries, and I’d put cold, hard cash on shock collars being illegal in my own country in my lifetime. I have used bark collars in the past—much to my regret—before I was a dog trainer. I will never use them again. Shock collars, like all aversive tools and techniques, can cause fearfulness and negatively impact a dog’s welfare.
The people who use shock collars in training are experiencing push-back from the general public, animal welfare advocates, veterinary associations, and dog trainers committed to an approach which does not cause harm to dogs in order to change their behaviour. Due to this increasing push-back, shock collar trainers and manufacturers are finding new ways to describe shock collars, in an attempt to maintain their revenue stream and continue to train dogs using electric shock. They are using phrases and metaphors which obfuscate the way shock collars work. Here is a list of terms which are used to describe how shock collars work, and which are, in my opinion, attempts to hide the truth of the matter: shock collars function by delivering a painful electric shock to a dog’s neck.
1. It’s just a ‘tap’.
The next time you are in line at the post office, tap someone on the shoulder. See how they react. Then, deliver an electric shock to them using a shock collar. See if they react any differently. (N.B. please do not do this as you may get sent to jail, an irony so potent I might weep). If shock collars are just a tap, then they wouldn’t function, certainly, to change a dog’s behaviour. And if they’re just a tap, why not use a tap? Why buy an expensive collar?
2. It’s muscle memory.
The dictionary says that muscle memory is “the ability to reproduce a particular movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement.” Back in the Pleistocene, I used to take ballet lessons. My muscle memory was…well I won’t say a perfect picture of beauty and elegance, because we are talking about me here. But I could certainly get through a piece! And never once did my ballet instructors deliver electric shock to my neck. This is such an odd metaphor for shock collar use that I don’t quite know how it came about. I could just as legitimately say “It’s seizure” or “It’s rock crushing”. If shock collars were required for muscle memory, how are so many dog trainers getting the same results without them?
3. It’s a TENS unit.
“Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a therapy that uses low-voltage electrical current for pain relief” (source). When people use TENS units they often turn the dial themselves and select a comfort level that isn’t unpleasant. And further, even when it is uncomfortable, people use TENS to reduce pain. Shock collars are used to change a dog’s behaviour by causing pain or discomfort. You don’t see a vet recommending you place a shock collar on an arthritic dog…because they are not used on dogs to reduce pain and suffering. This is an analogous metaphor to saying ‘well, yes, I just slapped you, but a sharp slap is the same as a massage, because both involve contact between a hand and person’.
4. It’s communication.
I communicate with my dogs verbally, like when I ask them to do a recall. I also communicate with my own body language and with various hand signals. They communicate with me through barking, body language, and behaviour. We are (I don’t mean to brag) pretty good communicators, all of us…better than I was at ballet, anyway. I do not communicate with my dogs by shocking their necks, even when I’m training them to refrain from—for example—brawling because two of them decided to go through the door at the same time (fun point: they now are able to walk through the door gleefully together! Chalk up yet another yet another yet another yet another win to positive reinforcement). If you communicate with your children, spouse, friends, boss, teacher, subordinates, or random strangers on the bus, consider whether shocking their necks would be a good replacement to words, sounds, or body language. Is it really just communication, then?
5. “It’s a gentle vibration”.
Vibrating collars vibrate, and feel (I assume) like your phone on vibrate—in fact, the vibrating phone analogy is sometimes used by shock collar trainers. However, your phone does not shock you, and if it did, you would take it back to the store and demand a replacement (and maybe even threaten litigation…imagine if dogs could do that?). Often, a dog trainer will hear that a dog doesn’t even need to be shocked anymore, as the vibration (or just ‘holding the collar up’) is enough to alter behaviour. Although using just the vibration warning feels like a more gentle solution here, the vibration only works because the dog has learned that a shock is next. I can make you behave in certain ways with “just” the threat of bodily harm, too…does me aiming a gun at you or your dog to change your behaviour feel ok?
If you do not feel convinced that vibration is not the same sensation as electric shock, I would encourage you to wrap your hands around the prongs on two shock collars, one set on vibrate and one set on shock. See if you can tell which is which.
6. It is only used to get their attention.
When I need my dog’s attention, I say their name or I ask for a recall. Since my dogs have a wondrous reinforcement history with recalls, they pay attention to recall cues, and quick like a bunny. (Yes, even when they are chasing an actual bunny…the power of good training!) In the same way, my spouse gets my attention by saying “come look at how cute Timber is” or if we’re across the farm from each other, with a text message. Probably something along the lines of “come look @ how cute Timber is, I’m at the barn”. I can also get my dog’s attention by patting another dog, crinkling a treat bag, cawing like a loon, happy talk, or thinking “I suspect it is time to walk the dogs”, without moving a single muscle. With all these relatively quick and easy ways to get my dog’s attention, it stretches belief that shocking their necks needs to be on the list.
7. It is stimulation/It is low frequency.
Stimulation has many good associations in our language, which is why it is co-opted in this way, I believe. We stimulate our minds (and encourage dog owners to stimulate their dogs’ minds with enrichment), and we find clever conversationalists stimulating. But in the end, it doesn’t matter if we say the shock collar has low frequency, low current, low voltage, low snortage, low alien-power, or low pumpkins. If it didn’t hurt or cause discomfort, it wouldn’t change behaviour. It changes behaviour, therefore it hurts. Imagine a child educator talking about strapping kids in these terms: “well yes, I strapped your child, but only with low frequency and duration.” Or a husband beating his wife. “I hit her with a rod, but it was a very thin rod.” If it worked to change the child’s, or the dog’s, or the wife’s behaviour…it hurt.
8. It’s just asking the dog for a connection.
Imagine if your colleague (or child, or your boss for that matter) asked to connect with you by shocking your neck when you didn’t behave exactly as they wanted. They asked for a reply on an email and you didn’t comply, or you didn’t comply quickly enough. Is it someone else’s right to mould your behaviour in this way?
9. It’s E-Stim.
This is another TENS Unit argument. “E-stim sends mild electrical pulses through the skin to help stimulate injured muscles or manipulate nerves to reduce pain…for many people this painless procedure is accelerating recovery and providing relief from painful or uncomfortable symptoms” (source). If E-Stim is painless, then it is not a shock collar, which functions by causing a painful or uncomfortable electric shock. And if it reduces pain, then it is absolutely not a shock collar. The only time ‘relief’ comes into play with shock collars is after a long-duration shock ends when the dog being trained does what the trainer wants, which is what negative reinforcement is.
If you are seeking dog training help or have sought dog training help and someone recommended a shock collar under any name, I apologize on behalf of my scattered, balkanized, and unregulated profession. If your dog is currently wearing a shock collar to help you handle their behaviour, and you’d like to try something new, I firstly thank you from the bottom of my heart, and then point you to this list of trainers who are willing to help and who have the skills and knowledge to do so. You’ve been wronged, but it is never too late to start a new, pain-free journey. If you’re not ready yet, let it percolate for a while: we’re here when you are. You can find a trainer who will be as caring with you as they are with your dog.
I am not allowing comments on this post, as trainers who use shock collars are feeling cornered by the humane training movement and tend to react strongly to articles like this. For the same reason, I will not respond to pro-shock e-mails.