Training With a Shock Collar

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the use of shock collars, also known as e-collars (electronic collars) or remote collars. The collar is meant to be an aversive and does hurt, otherwise it wouldn’t be effective.  Trainers use them in a few different ways including as a form of positive punishment in Operant Conditioning (adding something unpleasant to decrease the probability of a behaviour occurring) where they apply stimulation when an unwanted behaviour occurs. It is also used as a form of negative reinforcement (taking away something unpleasant to increase the probability of a behaviour occurring) where the stimulation is continuously applied until the desired behaviour occurs.

There are different types of shock collars including pet containment devices, bark control collars or training collars, which are the most susceptible to abuse and negative side effects.

Does a shock collar work? Yes, it can-but according to scientific research it comes with a price. In a recent study it was discovered that the dogs trained using shock collars showed more stress related behaviour such as lowering body posture, tongue flicking, avoidance and redirected aggression even outside of training sessions. (Schilder & van der Borg, 2004)

In another study is was discovered that the stress levels in dogs who were able to clearly make a connection between their own behaviour and the shock did not have as high cortisol levels as dogs who could not associate the shock with the stimulus.  Shocking a dog that cannot make the connection can lead to insecurity and extreme states of anxiety. (Schalke et al 2000)

This is no secret to seasoned shock collar trainers who maintain the opinion that the collars should never be used to teach, only to proof a learned behaviour.

The use of shock collars has actually been banned in a number of countries including Denmark, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden and many parts of Australia, while others are now considering introducing a ban.

 In my opinion I don’t come across situations that call for shock collars in training and particularly not for behaviour modification.  The side effects alone could take so much more time to modify that it really isn’t a shortcut.