Ban on shock collars in England

[SilverHairedCat]

Great news is afoot!

Shock collars are to be banned in England:

Electric shock collars for pets to be banned - www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-45320038

Wales and Scotland already have bans coming but I don't know about Ireland / NI.

I saw two dogs at a campsite last week with shock collars on for barking - sadly their owners had been advised to use them by a behaviourist.

However, their friend was also a dominance theory trainer (as in don't let dog sit higher than you, don't allow dog to eat before you do, don't give a dog a cuddle variety) so I guess they were getting mixed advice from confused sources.

Any thoughts?

Thinking laterally, if there's now going to a glut of these collars on the second-hand market, I might see if i can pick a few up cheap. I'd never use one on a dog but I can think of a few human candidates.

I hate shock collars

I also hate check/choke chains and prong collars

None are needed with a dog if you train properly

I've also always believed, there's worse things for an animal than being put to sleep.

They don't see the future. They don't know they are going to die.

They drift off nicely instead of being tortured and terrified by an electric shock.

I know what I would rather do

I can't believe some of the responses on here. Dog's hiding under sheds when a stranger comes, dog's not coming back as quickly as the owner would like, horror at having to use a muzzle.

If the dog doesn't come back is shocking it preferable to putting it on a lead? What the hell's wrong with putting a muzzle on a dog? Oh no lets not bother with a muzzle, let just give it a good shock. And as for the poor bloody dog who's terrified of strangers so hides under the shed after being shocked into submission? All I can say to that is there are worse things for a dog than being pts.

Shock collars are vile and can cause painful injuries. There is never any excuse for using them on any animal.

It's wonderful news for dogs that they've been banned. They're barbaric.

I have had a dog with terrible recall as a teenager. Drove me mad with anxiety and stress but would have thought giving him a shock would have been the worst thing to do when he wouldn't come back.

I guess it gives the results people are after otherwise they wouldn't use them but I couldn't bring myself to do that personally.

We had a dog once with awful recall. We tried for years with various methods of positive reinforcement until finally we used a shock collar. We used it in the lowest setting and I tried it on myself first. The dog had 10+ years of amazing off lead hikes after that. I think it took a dozen zaps. After that just the vibration would work. It was totally worth it for a decade of off lead hikes. I think what would have been better is to only sell them to properly certified trainers.

I can't believe what I'm reading here

I really can't

Electric shocks are not acceptable!! Never!

Especially not as a recall method

Brilliant news. Asdf12345 Your post sums up what’s wrong with shock collars, a dog that is so fearful she hides under a shed when meeting people is not a success story. That isn’t kinder than being PTS. My girl has issues but we have overcome most of them through teaching her there is nothing to be scared of! It wasn’t as quick as putting a collar on her though.

Should be banned. Barbaric and whoever says its not put it on your own neck and then say it's ok!

Shock collars are used as a lazy solution by people wanting a quick fix - and they cause dog's to suppress their natural communication.
In the example above of a dog showing aggression to a postie - that would have been better solved with desensitisation, but that's a longer process. As it is the shock collar reinforces the fear and can cause the dog to skip early warnings which as a growl and go straight to a bite.

To use a shock collar as an effective training method you need a thorough understanding of canine behaviour, a thorough understandingly learning theory and impeccable timing - and if you have theses three things then you don't need a shock collar.