Opinion Essay: Why I Make the Choice Not to Use Shock Collars

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The use of aversive equipment and methods are unnecessary and often detrimental to the welfare of animals including our pet companions. There really is no need to use force or pain when teaching a non verbal individual. This overlaps my personal and professional opinion following years of working with companion animals and, is predicated on and supported by peer reviewed modern scientific literature, American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), as well as medical and psychiatric community. We know from a litany of evidence (human and animal literature) when applying a fear and force free training/teaching protocol with dogs and humans there is improved compliance, less distress, improved learning and reduction in long term conflicts between human and non human animals. Understanding another's internal emotional state is difficult however over and over we see evidence of rewarding (R+ ) engagements lowering stress hormones where as the opposite use of pain and punishment or the threat of such use increase stress hormones (Blackwell et al,, 2008, Hiby et al., 2004).

When rehabilitating dogs who have suffered fear, anxiety or stress (FAS)  due to either missing the young socialization /critical period or due to poor training methods, my preferred method is to use only use training that is free of fear, pain and intimidation. When rehabilitating dogs with moderate to severe cases of stress and anxiety, medication is often necessary as a temporarily adjunct along with behavior modification training because of the need to quiet the underlying distress allowing the individual to learn. We know reward based training is not only humane but longer lasting. Studies have been conducted to evaluate the use of collars that illicit pain including shock collars (electronic or e collars) by trained professionals and untrained owners. Such studies are designed so that scientists may collect saliva and urine samples from the dogs to determine their subjective emotions from the experience. Both dogs trained using e-collars and a matched sample of those not using e collars are tested. Comparing both allow scientists to check for physiological signs of stress at various points in data collection. In a study evaluating cortisol leaves of e-collar-trained dogs, salivary cortisol increased significantly when they were wearing an e- collar, compared to dogs trained only using reward based methods R+ “suggesting a negative association with anticipation of stimulus application.” (Companion Animal Welfare Council, 2012 The use of electronic pulse training aids (EPTAs) in companion animals. See the study at www.cawc.org.uk. In this particular study it showed e-collar-trained dogs also had a significant increase in tense behavior, compared to other dogs. There are many more studies showing the same conclusions.

The issue with using pain and punishment as a method of teaching an individual is that we end up instilling more distress and confusion. Psychologically the learner makes a negative association with a host of environmental stimulus and more often then not either generalizes the negative association or develops phobias. Phobia is different than fear in that it is the anticipation of a threat toward the stimulus (Overall, 2013).   The non human animals (dogs) trained using pain or averse methods (e collar, shock) even when thought to be trained correctly using low pain threshold by a professional not only learn that being trained is a stressful experience and receiving shocks is painful, they also learn the presence of their owner or the cues their owner/guardian commands predicts the reception of a shock even outside of training context. This means the learner is constantly feeling distressed, the anticipation that something painful will happen (Schilder and Van Dee Borg, 2004). I'm certain we can all agree no individual should be in a chronic state of uncertainty and distress as this is not a way to live life. 

We lag behind in the U.S. when it comes to animal welfare and shock collars as their use are banned in many countries including Canada, the U.K., and Australia.  Certainly world wide we are free to acquire pet companions and live with them and, in this country we are also free to choose whatever teaching method we think is in our, and our pets best interest regardless of what science currently says. And while it is not my place to judge anyone who decides one way or another, it is my place to tug at public conscious. To help us consider the animals perspective and interest and consider current peer reviewed literature so that we may make a choice. And isn't this the rub? What is in the animals best interest? Are we capable of separating our own interests?  Considering our pet companion dogs (cats, rabbits, horses) are a different species then we, with unique sensory perceptions used to experience the world does not negate their ability to experience similar emotions. We know from the pioneering work being done by Dr.Gregory Berns and colleagues at Emory University on mapping dogs and other animals brains using fMRI, they do experience similar emotions.  While non human animals may experience life very differently, we cannot argue their ability to cognitively learn and feel the same emotions including love, joy, fear, pain, jealousy and anger. And we cannot deny the science proving positive reinforcement and kindness is improved welfare for our animals.  I choose to use teaching methods free of fear, force and intimidation because it works, maintains mutual trust and helps me feel like a better human being. 

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Vivian Zottola, CBCC, CPDT, MSc
Human-Canine Relationship Specialist

References 

Arhant, C.,Bubna-Littitz, H., Bartels, A., Futschik, A., & Troxler, J. (2010). Behaviour of smaller and larger dogs: Effects of training methods, inconsistency of owner behaviour and level of engagement in activities with the dog Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 123 (3-4), 131-142

Blackwell, E., Twells, C., Seawright, A., & Casey, R. (2008). The relationship between training methods and the occurrence of behavior problems, as reported by owners, in a population of domestic dogs Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 3 (5), 207-217

Cooper, J., Cracknell, N., Hardiman, J., Wright, H., & Mills, D. (2014). The Welfare Consequences and Efficacy of Training Pet Dogs with Remote Electronic Training Collars in Comparison to Reward Based Training PLoS ONE, 9 (9)
Gaunet, F. (2009). How do guide dogs and pet dogs (Canis familiaris) ask their owners for their toy and for playing? Animal Cognition, 13 (2), 311-323

Herron, M., Shofer, F., & Reisner, I. (2009). Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 117 (1-2), 47-54

Hiby, E.F., Rooney, N.J., & Bradshaw, J.W.S. (2004). Dog training methods: Their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare Animal Welfare, 13, 63-69

McGowan, R., Rehn, T., Norling, Y., & Keeling, L. (2013). Positive affect and learning: exploring the “Eureka Effect” in dogs Animal Cognition, 17 (3), 577-587

Overall, K. L. (1997). Clinical behavioral medicine for small animals. Mosby-Year Book, Inc..
Chicago

Rooney, N., & Cowan, S. (2011). Training methods and owner–dog interactions: Links with dog behaviour and learning ability Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 132 (3-4), 169-177

Blackwell, E., Bolster, C., Richards, G., Loftus, B., & Casey, R. (2012). The use of electronic collars for training domestic dogs: estimated prevalence, reasons and risk factors for use, and owner perceived success as compared to other training methods BMC Veterinary Research, 8 (1)

Defra AW1402 (2013) Studies to assess the effect of pet training aids, specifically remote static pulse systems, on the welfare of domestic dogs. University of Lincoln / University of Bristol / Food and Environment Research Agency.  Final report prepared by Prof. Jonathan Cooper, Dr. Hannah Wright, Prof. Daniel Mills (University of Lincoln); Dr. Rachel Casey, Dr. Emily Blackwell (University of Bristol); Katja van Driel (Food and Environment Research Agency); Dr. Jeff Lines (Silsoe Livestock System). 

Defra AW1402a (2013) Studies to assess the effect of pet training aids, specifically remote static pulse systems, on the welfare of domestic dogs; field study of dogs in training. Final report prepared by Prof. Jonathan Cooper, Dr. Nina Cracknell, Jessica Hardiman and Prof. Daniel Mills (University of Lincoln).

Herron, M., Shofer, F., & Reisner, I. (2009). Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 117 (1-2), 47-54 

Schalke, E., Stichnoth, J., Ott, S., & Jones-Baade, R. (2007). Clinical signs caused by the use of electric training collars on dogs in everyday life situations Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 105 (4), 369-380 

Schilder, M., & van der Borg, J. (2004). Training dogs with help of the shock collar: short and long term behavioural effects Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 85 (3-4), 319-334