Electric collar.......is it cruel?

[queenie521]

I have two dogs and even after obedience school I have trouble getting my dogs to obey some basic commands, especially come. This is a big issue as if they get out of the fenced area, it is nearly impossible to retrieve them. I am afraid of them being hit by a car and hurting themselves.

Has anyone tried an electric collar? Did it work? Would you do it again? Is it a cruel form of training? Please advise.

 

[Sweet72947]

If you use the search function, there are many lengthy threads on this subject. Most of the people here do not reccomend electric collars. Training with adversives can be psychologically damaging and make problems worse, or cause other problems to arise. Admittedly, my dogs have electric collars, but that is only for the electric fence. I do not use them for training in any way. I reccomend finding a good trainer who uses positive techniques.

Good luck!

 

[queenie521]

Ive also seen 'vibrating' collars for sale. I am guessing that it is a similar 'idea' however it vibrates the collar (i am guess to get their attention) as opposed to 'shocking' them. Has anyone heard of these? Are they useful?

 

[Charliesmommy]

opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:

 

[Maxy24]

Most of us don't like hurting out dogs. It makes training a scary or negative experience. There are other ways to get a dog's attention. We had a thread about vibrating collars and how the vibration is so small it could not possibly hurt. The dog in question would not respond to the owner yelling poking and such. Well what I didn't get was that if the dog would not respond to that then why would he respond to something that does not hurt? Which made me think it is hurting/scaring/making the dog uncomfortable in some way and that is not how you want a dog to view training. Training should be fun for the dog not a constant worry of being hurt. With pain you are RISKING psychological problems, with positive training you can get the same results WITHOUT the risk (plus you don't have to hurt your dog, which, unless you are cruel, should not ENJOY doing).

It does work for some people but fails for many. I would NEVER do it. I love to train dogs and find positive training is enjoyable for me and the dog and I would never have it any other way.

If you need help with something post another thread about how to teach it and we can help you, that is what we are for.

 

[Zoom]

I personally suggest that A) you do a search on this forum as to both your questions about training (there are some awesome answers available) and B) to your question about the shock collars.

barring that, take another obedience class with your dogs! Just like people, dogs don't always get it on the first go. This one pup in my class right now is picking up most everything else well, but is having problems with "sit". You have to put a ton of work into your dogs to make them reliable, especially with "come". It's unfair to the dogs to whip out a shocking device when they haven't been properly taught what's expected of them in the first place.