The electronic collar – is it shock or not?

I am so sick of the “dancing around the truth” surrounding the electronic collar (remote collar, e-collar, shock collar) and I’m amazed at how many dog owners believe these discussions that it’s only stim – it’s not shocking the dog. This has nothing to do with the beep or vibrate functions.

Philippe Dhont put out a great document on the outputs on the various e-collars on the market, and it’s a great read. Now please tell us how these are simply tens machines and not a shock collar. He appears to be a dog trainer as well, and for him to go this distance – full respect.
https://gobobby.be/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The-electrical-signal-in-e-collars.pdf

E-collars come in 2 major variations – Alternating Current (AC) is the latest technology, and Direct Current (DC) which has been around forever when it comes to shock collars. They all do the same thing – apply electricity through 2 probes to garner a reaction – that reaction is a muscle contraction. The higher the voltage, the bigger the contraction – and it will hurt at some point. You are shocking the dog. Put a 9 volt battery on your tongue – you’re shocking yourself and depending on how much life is left in the battery – 9 volts can hurt. Take the measurements from e-collars via a volt meter, some are putting out 100 volts or more to the dogs neck on the highest setting.

The average e-collar takes 2 or 3 batteries – doesn’t sound like much does it? Lets take 2 batteries at 1.5 volts each – only 3 volts input – but that input is driven through a transformer which ups the voltage quite a bit.

Trainers try to call it something else – “stim” for example. Or it’s no different from a tens machine – but even tens machines can hurt – I’ve been hooked up to them for nerve damage. Or they will tell you to put the e-collar in your hand – and they will stim you, doesn’t hurt right? Well, put it on your body where the dog is going to wear it – on the side of your neck. Move it around on your neck, you WILL feel when you find a nerve and start putting electricity through it. The electrical impulse will travel to your brain and down through your chest – that hurts and it’s dangerous.

If you read up on Balanced dog training forums – the e-collar and prong are being pushed more and more. Trainers aren’t asking questions when owners post – but they typically recommend a tool to “fix” it.

It’s the overabundant use and the capacity for abuse that I don’t like. Think about what you’re doing to your dog.

I only use it on 5 on the dog! This video is of a Sportdog remote collar, not cheap in Canada – I’ve tried one on personally – level 1 is too much. She made it to level 5, I’m surprised – but it really changed her mind in a hurry. It’s hard to believe that people use these collars on their dog without trying them on first.

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