Electric collar for dog training. Expert opinion

Recently, such aversive (based on the use of violence) accessories, such as an electric collar for dogs, have become quite fashionable. An electric collar is a collar with a box, a sensor, which often has two modes of use: vibration mode and current mode. And most often it is used as a “magic button”, in fact – as a remote control for a dog.

In the photo: Tatyana Romanova and dachshund Monya

Often, with the help of an electric shock collar, the dog is trained in non-picking, so that he refuses to pick up food that he found on the ground, and in the correct recall. That is, if the dog disobeyed the owner, he presses the button. If the dog wants to eat something from the ground, the owner presses the button.

Electronic dog training collar: good or bad?

 I will be objective. I won’t roll my eyes, faint and ask for smelling salts. I believe that in certain cases, if the owner understands very clearly what he is doing, and it is very clear for the dog to use the correction in the form of an electric collar (that is, he tried to eat a dead sprat and received an electric shock), then quite often our pets learn very quickly .

However, there is a rather serious “But”.

The fact is that if we are talking about certain groups of breeds, such as native breeds (basenjis, huskies, malamutes, etc.), about terriers – rather stubborn dogs, about many mestizos – these dogs tend to check from time to time, whether the same behavioral scenario works or whether it has changed.

That is, if we are talking about the fact that we are teaching huskies not to pick up from the ground, then there is a rather big risk that once every three weeks the husky will check: the current is still working if he tries to pick up a sprat or a piece of loaf from the ground. If every time he receives a discharge, he will say: okay, well, this does not work. If once it happened that our electric collar was discharged or our dog left the range of the electronic collar (and usually it is 150 – maximum 300 meters), if the dog decided to eat a piece of bread out of sight of the owner or he did not have time to press the button, then , in fact, we are talking about the fact that our dog has refreshed itself. And variable reinforcement (the one that happens not every time, but every second, third or fifth time) forms the most stable behavior that tends to be repeated regularly.

 Photo: ZooClub.ru

That is, the dog will check every time: “And now it will work? Did not work! And now? Didn’t work… And now? Oh it worked!!! And now? It worked! And now? No, it doesn’t work…” In fact, we become slaves to the use of the electric collar.

Plus, there is such a moment that we are all people, and the remote control with the button is a kind of Ring of Omnipotence – unfortunately, alas and ah. And often I find that people who truly love their pets press the button on the shock collar simply because they are in a bad mood today. And that action, which yesterday or the day before yesterday did not particularly irritate the owner, today, due to the fact that the owner is already irritated, “turns on” him more than before, and suddenly he decides to press the button.

It is not clear to the dog why what he has always been able to do suddenly causes such a strong correction today. That is, we ourselves confuse our pet. And training should always be black and white.

Ethicality and subjectivity aside from the use of an electric collar, there is a huge amount of scientific research that suggests that the use of an electronic collar increases the level of cortisol – a stress hormone – in the blood of animals. If we are talking about the fact that cortisol is excreted on average in 72 hours (and this is an average figure, because usually we are talking about a time frame from 72 hours to 2 weeks), and we used an electric collar today, the day after tomorrow, and our dog always lives under the sword of premocles, not knowing at what point the correction will overtake it and how strong this correction will be, then our dog has a constantly elevated level of cortisol in the blood. And a constant increase in the level of cortisol in the blood adversely affects the genitourinary system of the pet, the gastrointestinal tract, and dermatological problems.

Photo: google.com

If we are talking about the fact that we want to give our dog a full and comfortable life, I believe that it is not fair to try to correct it in aversive ways. It is much more honest to agree with her internal motivations and explain that it is beneficial for her to listen to the owner and it is beneficial to fulfill the call command, it is beneficial not to pick up a half-decomposed sprat from the ground. Not because she will be shocked, but because we can interest our pet. It’s much more honest.

And, of course, the behavior that we agreed on in a compromise way is much more stable, honest and does not cause internal conflict in our dog.

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