I learned something and changed

With this blog post I officially admit my change in attitude towards a training tool that I previously considered cruel and unthinkable to use - the e-collar, or electronic collar, or shock collar, which the opposers often choose to call it (including me previously). In Sweden this type of collar is banned, as well as prong collars, but here it is allowed and available. That does not mean that it should be taken lightly. Many are the people who try to use this tool without any previous knowledge and then they can absolutely do more harm than good.

With a remote control you give the dog a slight electric impulse to deter it from an unwanted behaviour. There are 10 levels of intensity on our collar and of course I tried the highest impulse on myself before I even put it on the dog and it felt much less than touching an electric fence that surrounds horses at home in Sweden (which is legal). The lowest level that we found effective on Barak is 3 and that is also what we have used. I can hardly sense level 3 myself, so we are not dealing with painful shocks here.

Some people use this collar to teach tricks and discipline. That is not the use I would apply it for. To teach a dog new things I promote positive reinforcement at any time. In the case of Barak we have used it to correct bad behaviours and fixations that he acquired under his previous owners, and which could put both him and his surroundings in danger if he is not rehabilitated. His fixation with cats have turned out to be quite severe and if he senses a cat he shuts off completely and just takes off. There are a lot of cats around here and to be able to give the dog a chance to a life off of the leash we had to find a solution.

We read a lot and counselled trustworthy professionals before we started using it and both Barak's and our doggy-walk quality has improved tremendously in a very short time. We consciously sought after tempting situations (i.e. cat-frequent areas) and we did not need to zap him many times before a simple "no" was enough to stop him from charging after a cat. Now we can have him unleashed all the time, also in the evenings when it is dark, and we almost never need to zap him. When I grab the collar to put it on before a walk he comes happily jumping so I cannot see that he should have a troubled relation to the tool either. Since he is very obedient when there are no cats, we do not need to use it in cat-free surroundings. At some point his cat fixation will have disappeared completely and we can remove the collar for good. The few zaps he has received is a small price for freedom from both the leash and annoying fixations for the rest of his life.

I still stress that this is a last-resort tool that only should be used with uttermost care and moderation. Properly used it can save lives.