Shock Collars Compromise Four Out Of Five Freedoms
“The Five Freedoms outline five aspects of animal welfare under human control. They were developed in response to a 1965 UK Government report on livestock husbandry, and were formalized in 1979 press statement by the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council.”- Wikipedia
outdated
Modern dog training using outdated belief systems doesn’t consider this. The use of shock collars only benefits the user, not the dog.
they don’t save lives
Despite the misconception that the use of shock collars reduces killing in shelters, the reality is that a dog may leave the shelter, but their problem behavior is pushed onto the adopter. The behavior change is temporary because it’s been suppressed and will resurface later, or manifest as a new issue. I'm the end game for this, as I see many clients who struggle with their shelter dogs who've had shock collar training.
the big picture
However, with this picture, I wanted to visually represent the ethical problem of the promotion and use of shock collars.
Four out of five freedoms are compromised with the use of them, and this is considered inhumane by industry standards.
studies
"When taking all aforementioned points into account, training with e-collars is associated with numerous well-documented risks concerning dog health, behavior, and welfare. ESVCE members argue that there is no credible scientific evidence to justify e-collar use and the use of spray collars or electronic fences for dogs. On the contrary, there are many reasons to never use these devices. Better training options exist, with proven efficacy and low risk exist (sic)." (Sylvia Masson et al. 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787818300108
Aversive-based methods are correlated with indicators of compromised welfare in dogs.
Fernandes, J. G., Olsson, I. A. S., & de Castro, A. C. V. (2017). Do aversive-based training methods actually compromise dog welfare?: A literature review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.07.001
This study suggests that the main reason people give for using shock collars are due to barking. Boundary fences are typically used because of lack of a physical fence, but an American study found dogs escape from electronic fences at a much higher rate than from a physical fence.
Starinsky, N. S., Lord, L. K., & Herron, M. E. (2017). Escape rates and biting histories of dogs confined to their owner's property through the use of various containment methods. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 250(3), 297-302. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.250.3.297
The most common reason given in this study for using a remote-controlled shock collar was for recall (coming when called). However, it’s worth noting that an experimental study using professional trainers found that positive reinforcement is just as effective as shock collars for teaching recall, but that there are risks with the use of shock collars.
More studies and references for this post can be found at https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/p/resources.html
Learn more about the reason I made this post, my experience with ecollars of any kind, including shock and "stim" collars.
https://www.holisticdogtraining.org/blog/why-Not-using-shock
NO TO SHOCK NO MATTER THE REASONING
Learn how to fulfill your dogs needs
through “Do No Harm: Dog manual” The Hierarchy of Dog Needs by Linda Michaels MA
link here https://bit.ly/3GwfKnK
"When taking all aforementioned points into account, training with e-collars is associated with numerous well-documented risks concerning dog health, behavior, and welfare. ESVCE members argue that there is no credible scientific evidence to justify e-collar use and the use of spray collars or electronic fences for dogs. On the contrary, there are many reasons to never use these devices. Better training options exist, with proven efficacy and low risk exist (sic)." (Sylvia Masson et al. 2018)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787818300108