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The Electronic Collar.

Many trainers don’t like prongs and e-collars, and I get it – and they bash instead of educating. We know that e-collars work, but why do they work? And why should people consider not using them?

The e-collar has 2 probes that hit the skin – the probes pass electricity across these probes, through the skin and muscle, to garner a muscle contraction. Depending on the severity of the electricity, that contraction can hurt – bad. That’s what it was designed to do – and no, it’s not a tens machine – put one on your own neck and run through the levels. Lots of dog owners have the e-collar in the middle of the throat – that “muscle” you’re contracting is the thyroid gland – damage that and all bets are off. Hypothyroidism can create aggression and behavior issues.

I’ve challenged trainers that keep pushing e-collars to meet with me, put the e-collar on their neck and give me the remote. I’m going to correct you fairly for what I feel are bad behaviour, and you’re going to find out why they work. If you like coffee for example, but I think coffee is bad – I’m going to correct you every time you attempt to get a coffee and it won’t be long til you don’t feel like a coffee anymore. If I remove the e-collar, you’re going for a coffee. Would make for a great quit smoking program.

Now, understand, I’m correcting you for what I believe is bad behaviour – do I have that knowledge? I’m punishing you for what I believe is bad behaviour. It’s nothing more than a tool of punishment and control. Listen to me or I’ll punish you. And we wonder why some dogs keep running away. Wouldn’t you?

Violence begins where knowledge ends. And many trainers push the e-collar as a lifelong tool for the dog – just in case they need to punish again. Why bother taking it off. Why bother, that’s called normalization.

And this has been normalized by dog owners out of simple frustration.

I’ve been watching dog training closely. Balanced trainers weren’t all about e-collars and prongs 5 years ago, but they are today – many had great discussions to at least attempt to help the owner understand. They used it as a tool and eventually get off the tool. Now the attitude is changed to “meh, just leave it on the dog, just in case”. And many honest trainers will admit that the e-collar will be a tool for the life of the dog. Are dog owners being told this? Or are they finding out the hard way. I love when owners post video of their dog running around off leash – but on e-collar. My dog loves being off leash, and the e-collar help with that!

We are managing to normalize that. And that really bugs me.

Positive reinforcement was different 5 years ago and longer. They used to push treats to a limit – at some point, wean the dog. Now, people are saying to get a treat pouch use it all the time. Why take them off? You’ll be feeding your dog treats for the rest of its life. This is what positive reinforcement has pushed you into.

Why take them off? The question should be – why can’t you take them off. If your dog gets excited, and you shock it – the dog is likely going to calm – you would too. Is the tool training the dog to calm down, or is the dog being made scared to get excited? I’ve watched alot of trainers using these tools, trust me, the dog isn’t being a drama queen like some owners believe. Put it on your neck, move it around and you will find a nerve – it shoots to the brain and down your chest, and it hurts.

If we put honest warning labels on possible bad outcomes of using these tools… Would that change minds?

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