Dog Training Collars

A resource for dog training collars

Shock Collar

A shock collar consists of a radio receiver attached to the collar and a transmitter that the trainer holds. When triggered, the shock collar delivers an aversive. The specific aversives vary with different makes of shock collar. Some emit sounds, some vibrate, some release citronella or other aerosol sprays, some apply electrical stimulation. A few shock collars incorporate several of these. Of these, electrical stimulation is the most common and the most widely used. Early shock collars provided only a single, high-level shock and were useful only to punish undesirable behavior. The modern electrical shock collar is adjustable, allowing the trainer to match the stimulation level to the dog’s sensitivity and temperament. The shock collar can deliver a consistent and measured level of aversive stimulation, ranging from a tickle, tingle, twitch, or a prickly twinge to a highly aversive electrical event that produces significant discomfort and startle but without risk of producing physical injury. Although the shock collar is inappropriate for use as the initial or primary means for establishing basic obedience control, no comparable techniques or tools can match the efficacy of the shock collar for establishing reliable off-leash control. It is worth noting that shock collars, used with discrimination and introduced with careful adjustments for a dog’s sensitivity are capable of marking behavior in exactly the same manner as a clicker, ie. only as a touch cue.
Controversy surrounds the use of the shock collar due to the extremely rapid effectiveness of dog training with a remote collar and the assumption that electronic stimulation must by definition be painful to the dog. There have been several studies and arguments that deal with issues of long-term distress in the use of shock collars as punishment and the ethics of training via the use of pain. The response from shock collar trainers is that the adjustability of the collar allows a handler to use the stimulation on the lowest level that will get a dog’s attention, and this is not necessarily painful. Many shock collar trainers ask clients to feel the collar on the lowest level that they can perceive the stimulation before they put it on a dog in order to make this point. However, the shock collar must be adjusted to the level that interrupts a dog’s behavior, and in some cases this level can be perceived by the dog as painful. An electronic collar that vibrates is not painful, but the dog may perceive it as uncomfortable or disturbing. He may also not feel it as anything worth taking note of. Each dog has individual sensitivity to touch.