Here is a great question from J.R.
“I know that your are against choke collars, prong collars, shock collars, etc. What are your opinions on using an invisible fence that first warns with a tone, then a mild shock if necessary with increasing strength if needed? Thanks for your time and all of your wonderful training advice.”
Well J.R. compliments always move you to the front of the line so let’s clear up some confusion.
First: Let me point out yesterday’s quote from our old friend Kierkegaard: “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true. The other is to refuse to accept what is ture.”
There are many dog trainers that will argue this point but electronic collars save dog’s lives everyday. Millions of dogs around this country are safely contained in their yards by using electronic collars. You can argue this. It is FACT!
The all positive crowd will refuse to accept what is true proving Kierkegaard’s words.
On the flip side I will say this:
Electronic collars, prong and choke collars can and DO create a lot of problems for dogs. Trainers on the other side of the “all positive” crowd will argue and tell you there are no problems with aversive collars – wrong!
Aversive collars can be abusive and are sometimes used that way. A skilled trainer would tell you that used correctly a prong, choke or electronic collar is not abuse and I would agree with them but there are two important words in this sentence.
“Skilled trainer.”
The reason I am leery of electronic, prong and choke collar is that an unskilled trainer could do some serious damage to their dog. Watch a group dog training class with prong and choke collars and you’ll see some dogs get dozens and dozens of corrections within a sixty minute class.
If you are going to use an aversive you have to ask yourself this question: Do I really understand and know how to use principles of operant conditioning?
So let’s wrap this up. Basically you have two dog training camps: The “all positive” group and the “balanced” group of trainers.
The “all positive” camp thinks “balanced” trainers are mean, cruel trainers and will never even entertain a discussion because they use corrections or +P (positive punishment for you behavior geeks).
The “balanced” trainers think the “all positive” crowd is a bunch of cookie, treat trainers that are not living in the real word.
Which makes Kierkegaard’s words so accurate (re-read them at the beginning of this message.)
Okay enough. I know it was a longer explanation than you were probably expecting J.R. but I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.
And speaking of the same page. The Dog Training Inner Circle is JUST $1.00 to join, Here’s where to go if you want IN:
All the best,
Eric