How do i convince my freind shock collers are wrong?

Question

my freind got a new dog thats about 2 years old and of course is playful. but they have a shock coller on her and evry time she gets a little rough they use the coller (only set on levle 1) i told him that it hurts the dog but he says tha the trainer said it doesnt .I tried to convice him to use it on his hand to see if it hurts but he says no and wont even let me try. i feel realy bad for this dog :(

Answer 1

Sock Collars arent wrong they are a valuable training tool when used correctly and it doesnt sound like your friends are doing anything wrong. It is a personal choice on how to train a dog.

Answer 2

Shock collars CAN hurt a dog if they aren't used correctly; however, having it set on level one to correct behaviors isn't going to hurt the dog, its just going to be annoying. My husband and myself purchased a shock collar to use on our French Brittany pup who likes to try and run away at every chance she gets, we live near a busy road and can't have her continuing this behavior. It has worked fairly well, and she is learning quickly. I would personally leave him alone...he's got the right idea.

Answer 3

tell him to ask another trainers opinion. There are ways to train your dog without a shock coller. i think its cruel and if he doesn't think it hurts his dog ask him to look up the meaning of SHOCK in the dictionary

Answer 4

We have one and we all used it on ourselves. It does not hurt at all. My son used it on my husband on 5 and he didn't even react and then he said do it again cause i didn't even notice it and i want to be sure it was working so my son put it on 8 and we didn't tell him and he did it again and my husband jerked a little and said did i do anything was there any reaction and we was cracking up. Anyway all it does is send a little shock threw your body, but no pain at all. My son (17) uses it on himself all the time. Him and his friends play with it like it's a toy. Teenagers are crazy, but i'm sure that him and his friends wouldn't play with it if it hurt them. They think it's funny and i have to yell at them not to play with it cause it runs the batteries dead.

We only use the beep now on our dog and that is if it is even on him anymore. My husband and i don't need it on him anymore cause he is a well behaved adult, but i tell my son to use it on him when he takes him out just incase. He only got shocked twice with it. We had to do it for safety reasons. We rent and we are not allowed to fence in our yard so to me that is safety. I would rather my dog get a quick shock then get hit by a car or something. When he was a pup he ran out the door and straight for the road and that really scared me. We don't have a high traffic road, but still people ride up and down it and one of our neighbors well i will just say is not all there.

The dog listens to it cause it gets there attention not cause it hurts. My dog would just look at me like what when i used it. He doesn't run, yelp or anything for that matter, but then again my son used it higher on himself then i ever did the dog. He just looks at me then i tell him to come and he does.

I will say this though. The only think that we used the collar for was so that he doesn't get hit by a car. Nothing else. I trained him myself for everything else. Safety only. I think that if you train your dog yourself it brings a better bond between you and your dog. The collar is not going to do that so if you want to deter your friend from using it then tell him that.

Answer 5

Thats sooooo Mean so what shes playful the dog is still a puppy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shock collars are inhumane.

Answer 6

There's not much you can do to convince someone that the method they're using is wrong if they are convinced it's the best method for them and their dog.  I'll give you info, but really there's not much you can do to stop her.  Especially if she has a trainer who's encouraging it and saying things like "oh, I know, because I'm an expert."

First, of COURSE it hurts the dog.  It's an aversive and if it's going to deter the dog then it's going to hurt the dog so the dog doesn't want it to happen again.  Level 1 is very low, but if it doesn't hurt the dog then why does the dog stop the behavior?  Now, the level of pain can be argued.  Is it like stubbing your toe pain or your foot falling asleep pain?  I don't know, I'm not a dog.  But it's obvious from the reactions of dogs who have a shock collar on them that it's causing some sort of irritating pain.  

Second, there are some studies where the dogs know that it's the human who is causing the pain, either because the human put the collar on them or because they see the human hit the switch and the pain begins.  This can damage the trust between human and dog.  Yes, dogs will still love their owners and obey and be loyal.  But it damages the trust.

Third, dogs don't "live in the moment" like some folks say.  They have memories that have been tested at almost 2-4 year old levels.  While that doesn't mean they remember forever, it also means they remember some things.  You won't see a 3 year old touch a flame more than once.

Fourth, dogs don't always understand why they're being hurt.  Basically, if two dogs are playing and one of the dogs has a shock collar, and they get rough, and the shock collar is used to correct the dog and make it stop... it very easily can decide that it was the other dog who did this and this can create an aggressive towards other dogs animal very fast.  This can happen when a dog is outside and runs towards a child to say hi and someone shocks it, and the dog decides it was shocked because it wasn't trying to attack the child instead.  The only time pain methods should be used is if the dog understands the behavior you want so they can't transfer the pain to an inappropriate item or event.  

In other words, it's no good for training, it's only good for enforcing already trained behaviors.

Fifth, some dog's do not have the psyche to handle being shocked, to put it bluntly.  I've seen dogs break down even on "vibrate".

Honestly, I agree with you 110%.  Behaviorally, I agree with you 100%.  But trying to convince your friend?  Especially if it's working from their point of view?  I have never had success.

Reassure yourself though that at least it's something like this and not them pulling out a whip or lash for the dog.  There's worse methods, believe me.  I'll include a link to a talk given by a vet about problems with shock collars.

Answer 7

my friend got a shock collar for his dog to help with training and we set the voltage up to max and tried it on ourselves. It does hurt but nothing serious, just enough to stop the dog from doing something bad and teach him the correct thing. some dogs need it if other training methods will not work. If your friend has tried all other training methods and they don't work put the shock collar on the dog. Especially if the dog is one of those big mean breeds (pit bull, rot, doberman, etc...). you don't want a law suit on your hands because your dog will not obey you.  

Answer 8

They are not wrong or abusive. It is a good way to train dogs. Just let it be. Level one is not going to hurt the dog any way, it just tells him that he's not supposed to do whatever he's doing.  

Answer 9

Oh, the shock collar doesn't hurt the dog. Try it on yourself it won't hurt. I have tried the shock collar on myself, and it shocks quickly and then it's done. Doesn't hurt at all. Leave him a lone and let him train his own dog. Better to have a trained dog than one that ends up tied in the yard, or one that has no training and is a liability.

Answer 10

Well, I think of shock collars or chokers this way: you wouldn't put that thing on your child, so why would you put it on a dog?

Maybe try explaining that to your friend? I absolutely agree with you that no dog should have to wear those. It's wrong!

Answer 11

Shock collars keep my dogs alive. Otherwise, they would be out of the fence roaming the streets getting ran over!

Answer 12

REALLY GOOD STORY;

  You are VERY right they can hurt the dog. BUT there is a compromise. Try a citronella collar. They work GREAT.  I have a 150lb Great Pyr (Kash) who was such a protector, and I have a neighbor who is a butt head and kept taunting him. I had a shock collar and it did nothing but shock him and make him cry and he would get so mad.  So I got a citronella collar. Well, Kash stopped barking right away; the neighbor thought he was inside. leaned over the fence, Kash (bless his canine heart) jumped up in his face and barked; the spray went off and blinded my neighbor. Try to explain that you did not taunt my dog when you smell like Lemon pledge and you can't see; I swear Kash looked like Mutley he was grinning so hard!!

Answer 13

i use those on my hand whenever i see the opportunity, level one really doesn't hurt if anything it's good because it will teach the dog limits

Answer 14

Better the dog and not little children.

Answer 15

SNEAK UP ON HIM ONE DAY .... OR GET HIM DRUNK ...LOL THEN SHOCK THE **** OUTTA HIM

Answer 16

You should put the colar on him while he's sleeping. Then when he wakes up, shock him! Haha XD  If it hurts him then that proves it must hurt the dog too.   lol   id love to try a shock collar on someone.