How do you feel about shock collars

[Dekka]

Used one: yes
Reason: Person I was taking lessons from lent it to me.
Use on yourself: Yes. Settings went to 8. Couldn't feel 1, 2 was unpleasant 3 Hurt like H@LL, couldn't make myself try it any higher.
Did it work: No just made my dog shut down (on 1)
How long did it take: Only tried it 2
Still use: No
Use again: NOT EVER for a training reason. Yes to management. IMO if you need to use pain to train a dog, its the humans failing and the dog shouldn't pay. For example, Snip kills cats. He found out by accident the neighbour's barn is full of cats. I took a lot of time working on our recall. BUT the first time he went out off leash I borrowed an e collar. As a MANAGEMENT tool just in case.

Over all opinion: Horrible things. Seen them used on many dogs in the obed rings, and seen many dogs showing all sorts of stress behaviours the owner's rationalize as 'normal' (cause all the dogs in the class do the same things) and totally unnecessary for pet people to use. If your timing and understanding of training is flawed using P+, you can ROYALLY mess up a dog using a shock collar.

[Southpaw]

I've never used one on my dogs but my sister & brother have both used them on theirs. I can't really comment on how effective they've been since I'm not around the dogs too often, although I do know one of them was definitely better behaved when the collar was on her.

That being said I also don't know if they had problems just because of flawed training methods. If my sister trained her dog the way she raises her children, then yeah, she probably just wasn't trained very well and a shock collar could have been avoided. I do think my brother works hard with his dogs though, one of them just seems a little bit psychotic.

Overall... they are not something I would recommend but if people don't abuse them I'm not against them either. I would never use them on my own dogs, but that's me.

[HoundedByHounds]

I have used a remote one for barking and it worked great. 3 days and the problem was solved and remains solved even tho they no longer wear the collar. Best investment I ever made!

[Dekka]

just a clarification, I make a big diff between bark collars (and invisible fences) and the collars that are used for training. The dog has a lot more control in those circumstances, and the timing is much better than with 99.99% of humans.

[HoundedByHounds]

Not a bark collar in my case...a remote trainer with handheld buttonpusher...*I* administered corrections for barking. Worked wonderfully...and lastingly.

[iwantmypup]

I think they are a good training tool when used in the right hands.
I used a bark collar for Pepperoni, and I don't think it really worked, so I took it off. I think they definitely can work, but every dog is different.

-Ali

[corgipower]

Originally Posted by HoundedByHounds

Not a bark collar in my case...a remote trainer with handheld buttonpusher...*I* administered corrections for barking. Worked wonderfully...and lastingly.

I much prefer the use of a remote collar for barking than an automatic bark collar. With the remote, you can decide if the barking is warranted at the time (alerting to strangers, asking to go potty). You also can issue a quiet command along with the correction.

[Nbc0]

I'm not a fan of them, never had to use them and never will. I'm a clicker girl myself

[Maxy24]

To me it's no different than smacking the dog except the dog won't associate the shock with you. It's still training a dog with fear and pain so I will not ever use one. Vibration collars used to get attention (such as in the case of a deaf dog where the dog is trained the vibration means look at me) are different to me, the collar is not used to correct but to get the dog to look at you so you can then redirect his attention to something appropriate or administer a command. Many people seem to use it, say it does not hurt, but somehow the dog will pay attention to the vibration but not the owner yelling commands or his name. I'd say either it DOES hurt or that the dog has be taught to block out your constant yelling. If the latter is the case than a vibration collar, not shock would work fine but so would something like a whistle or in some cases a new command. But I don't agree with inducing pain in an animal in the name of training.

[RD]

Used one: Yes
Reason: Excessive barking
Use on yourself: Yes, of course. Not painful, but definitely a surprise.
Did it work: No.
How long did it take: Tried it for a couple weeks before coming to the conclusion that Dakota is immune to being zapped or sprayed with citronella.
Still use: No
Use again: A bark collar? No way. I would consider a remote collar for Zaphod as he gets older and his temperament gets sharper.
Over all opinion: Worthless for my hard-headed beastie.