If you’re a dog walker, dog trainer or dog owner you’re likely wondering about the e-collar vs shock collar controversy, especially if you’re facing issues with a pet suffering from “small dog syndrome”.
What’s the difference between an e-collar and a shock collar? Are they safe to use on your dog? How do you use them properly?
These are questions dog owner have asked themselves at one time or another when facing severe problems with their pet. We will address these questions here. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the topic of e-collars vs shock collars.
E-Collar vs Shock Collar: Is There a Difference?
When discussing a variety of dog collars, you’ve probably heard people use the terms electronic collars (e-collars for short) and shock collars. Technically, there is a difference between the two. However, nowadays the terms are used interchangeably as synonyms, which causes confusion in describing two different products.
So, the e-collar vs shock collar controversy is a bit of a contrivance. It’s a made-up conflict that attempts to differentiate between products that are trying to achieve the same objective through different uses of electricity.
Electronic collars were introduced in the 1970’s. These early dog training collars were an application of the philosophy of shock treatment for behavior modification. These tools were designed to shock dogs with an electric current, which led people to start calling them “shock collars.” Nevertheless, this name is no longer applicable to modern electronic collars.
Today’s collars use electronic stimulation, in contrast to electronic shock.
Instead of shocking the dog, this method simply stimulates nerves and sensory receptors through vibrations. As a result, there is no pain caused to the dog. That’s not to say the dog is comfortable. The dog feels discomfort, annoyance. After all, the logic of the design is for the dog to be made to experience what it doesn’t like in order to give it cause to end the negative stimulus with a change in the dog’s behavior.
The truth is there isn’t really an e-collar vs shock collar debate. Shock collar is simply an outdated term used to describe today’s application of electricity in a collar.
Are E-Collars Safe to Use on Dogs?
Now that we’ve covered the topic of e-collars vs shock collars, you’re probably wondering whether today’s e-collars are an improvement over shock collars. Are they, for instance, safer to use on your dog?
As mentioned earlier, these new collars use electronic stimulation and will not physically harm your dog whatsoever. They work by activating skin receptors called nociceptors that detect pain.
At lower and medium settings, the dog perceives electronic stimulation as if its skin were being pricked rather than burned, the way, for instance, a flea bite might feel rather than a lit match. There is no doubt, however, that at higher levels, the brain would interpret the sensation of vibration as pain, even though no actual physical damage has occurred to the skin surface. So, it takes a skilled hand to make use of an e-collar.
Is this enough to choose between e-collars vs shock collars?
Well, from a physical standpoint, e-collars are absolutely safe to use on dogs. This may be sufficient for you, if you’re intent on using one on a very difficult animal. Of course, despite this fact, there are still plenty of dog owners who will raise moral objections to their use.
Are E-Collars Cruel?
Even though e-collars don’t physically harm a dog, they can still inflict perceived pain, which raises ethical concerns. What pain is the right kind of pain to inflict, if the dog must receive severe negative reinforcement to modify its behavior? Plus, how much of it is too much?
Using an e-collar to train a dog is a negative reinforcement training technique that requires a moral compass to choose and follow. A considerable number of dog trainers today argue that positive reinforcement training, or reward-based training, is just as effective and doesn’t cause a dog any pain or distress.
Conversely, negative reinforcement training has proven to be very effective for some types of dogs that fail to change through less compelling techniques.
Does this make them immoral tools to use on such animals? It will be up to you to decide what type of training strategy is right for you and your dog. And, admittedly, this decision does not happen inside a moral vacuum. This is the real reason for the e-collar vs shock collar controversy.
E-Collar Training Techniques
When considering e-collar training for dogs, there are two different areas where to apply it. The first is in teaching your dog to obey your commands. The second is in correcting unruly and anti-social behavior, such as unjustified growling, nipping, barking, jumping on people, chewing household items, etc.
We’ve outlined below some useful e-collar training techniques to accomplish both tasks.
Training a Dog to Obey Your Commands
E-collars are quickly effective when teaching your dog commands such as “sit” and “stay.” Now, if you choose to use an e-collar to instill these commands into your dog’s understanding, you’ll want to use it when the dog does not perform your desired action. Else, praise the dog when it does perform the desired action.
Remember: the discomfort goes with the undesired behavior. The collar reinforces NOT doing what is uncomfortable. You and not the dog determine what is undesirable behavior, what commands are non-negotiable. But here is where you need your moral compass to point correctly.
What commands must be non-negotiable? When are “sit” and “stay” so important that disobeying them should translate into physical discomfort? This you decide. You are the responsible party in this scenario.
As to the logic behind the use of negative reinforcement, where discomfort on the dog matches the behavior that you consider undesirable for the dog to practice, here you have a brief example on its application over a relatively minor behavioral issue as compared to what the video below will show you. (Separate the illustration on how to use this aversive training technique from whether or not you’d apply it to this very kind of case, and you will begin to discern under what conditions it may be best for you to make use of an e-collar for a certain kind of dog.)
To train a dog to sit using an e-collar, give the command “Sit!” then place your hand on the dog just above its tail and gently force the dog into a sitting position. While you’re forcing the dog into a sitting position, activate the collar.
Once the dog is in the sitting position stop using the collar and praise the dog. Through repetition, the dog will come to know that it is uncomfortable to resist your hand and not sit immediately after hearing you utter the cue word “Sit!” and that it is pleasant to end the discomfort and receive the praise.
Therefore, repeat the process as many times as necessary until the dog begins to understand and instantly obey your command to sit.
This sort of training can work for pretty much any command you wish to teach, so long as you perform it with the right amount of repetition and stimuli. The key is to make sure that the dog understand that there are negative consequences for doing what does not relieve the discomfort.
If sitting relieves discomfort on its neck, then the dog will promptly sit. If discomfort starts the moment it hears the word “Sit!”, then the dog will lower its bottom and hit the floor to avoid the imminent discomfort that follows that command whenever it remains on all four.
Knowing that it will receive love and affection once it sits will positively reinforce sitting after hearing the cue word. So, practice both techniques as one!
Correcting Uncontrollable Behavior
There are ways to socialize an aggressive dog without use of an e-collar. Still, the key to correcting destructive even potentially deadly and urgent behavior with an e-collar, e.g. a dog habitually chewing on an electric cable that will kill him, is to get the dog to associate the negative sensation from the collar with the undesired action that you don’t want the dog to continue doing, using varying degree of discomfort to match the level of destruction that you want the dog to stop causing.
Let’s say your dog has a habit of urinating or digging holes in specific no-trespass areas of your backyard. It is destroying your flower bed. There is no stopping it. E-collar vs shock collar? At this point you don’t really care. You think you’ve tried everything except getting rid of your dog!
Well, if you choose the e-collar, leave it on your dog and monitor its outing. The second it starts sniffing and begins to dig a hole, activate the collar for roughly three seconds. Remember, the goal is to train your dog. It is not to hurt the animal. Don’t abuse the power of the e-collar. The discomfort will teach the dog not to start digging after sniffing your flower bed.
Just like any sort of training, repetition is crucial. This is how the lesson sticks and you can minimize the distress to you and your dog. So, continue monitoring the dog. If it returns to the flower bed, sniffs and readies to dig, turn the collar on until the dog desists.
Consequently, in the case of digging holes in the backyard, you will want to make sure to be outside every time your dog is outside, so you’re always able to catch it in the act. It’s important you’re there to use the collar every time its performs the undesired action, so that you continuously reinforce the negative sensation of the collar to the unacceptable act.
Three E-Collar Tips For Rapid Behavior Modification
As effective as e-collars can be at modifying a dog’s behavior for the better, you can also misuse them and produce the very opposite effect on a dog. You can turn your dog into a distrusting, scared and aggressive animal. This is at the root of the e-collar vs shock collar controversy, because misuse blurs the difference between training and cruelty.
To avoid mishandling your electronic collars, follow these 3 tips below for rapid behavior modification without abuse:
1. Get The Dog Accustomed To Wearing The Collar For A Day Or Two Before Using It
Correction collars are not meant to be worn indefinitely. When this fact is not observed, it adds to the e-collar vs shock collar controversy. E-collars are meant for temporary wear while training dogs to behave.
Nonetheless, you don’t want your dog to associate the unpleasant sensations from the collar with the collar itself. Otherwise, the dog will begin to understand that it can only experience discomfort when wearing that particular collar. It will then associate it with punitive treatment and resist having it put on. That can be trouble for any trainer.
Instead, let your dog wear the collar free of any discomfort for several days. Let it get used to a piece of equipment that it cannot associate with the irritation it can produce. This way, when the time comes to prick its neck for performing undesirable behaviors, it will associate all unpleasant sensations not with the collar but with failing to follow commands or with indulging in what, formerly, was a pleasant behavior.
2. Use the Lower Settings Whenever Possible
Most of the time you’ll find the lower settings on your e-collar to work just fine for training most dogs. To find the right setting for your dog, begin on the lowest setting and observe your dog’s reaction. You must be attentive to the sort of reaction that the collar will produce on each dog that wears it. Small behaviors matter..
Did the dog twitch its ears? Did it jerk its head? Did you see a spam somewhere, in the legs, in the tummy, the tail? Did the dog yelp or start moaning? If you don’t see any reaction, keep increasing the strength until your dog reacts ever so slightly. Obviously, bigger dogs require larger doses of stimulation. But this may not always be the case. Some dogs can be hypersensitive.
In extreme cases, if your dog is not obeying and this endangers the dog or someone else’s safety, then you might consider increasing the strength of your e-collar but try to avoid this as the higher settings can be painful.
3. Don’t Let Your Dog See You Using the Remote
Just like you don’t want your dog to associate the negative sensations with the collar, you also don’t want it to associate the negative sensations with your hand.
It may seem deceptive to have to hide your hand. But you’re not trying to reason with your dog. You can’t explain what you’re doing and why you must sting. And yet dogs are not stupid. If they see your hand pointing in their direction as you tell them to do the very opposite of what they’re doing before feeling the prickling, they’re going to connect the dots doggy-style.
You want your dog to see you as a safe place to approach in times of trouble and pain. It won’t think you’re casting love and affection its way if the dog realizes you are the one causing the aggravation to begin with and that the pain goes away when you do.
When you’re using the remote for your e-collar, try to keep it in your pocket or behind your back and use it discreetly so that the dog doesn’t see it and associates it with you.
E-Collar vs Shock Collar Bottom Line
As you’ve learned, the controversy over e-collar vs shock collar is not truly significant, since grief is grief for a dog. The moral argument is over should there be use of discomfort in training a dog, what kind of discomfort and how much of it.
On the one hand, e-collars vibrate at different rates and smart the dog, making it think it’s getting stung. That’s grief! On the other hand, electric discharges from shock collars are not energetic enough to cause burns. Instead they consist of pointed electrodes that penetrate the hair while remaining in touch with the dog’s skin. Yet they’re designed to feel like a burn and shock! That’s grief.
Only if you leave these collars on the animal for extended periods will they cause irritation on the skin surface. So, have the animal wear the collar, whether an e-collar that the dog will perceive as prickles or shock collar that the dog will perceive as burns, for short times and to instill specific behavior modifications.
These sophisticated collars are safe for dogs and can be an excellent training tool, even for teaching a dog to heel.
These e collars are especially helpful with very difficult or stubborn dogs. And though, indeed, some dog trainers hold to a moral standard that keeps them distant from any type of electronically-induced grief on an animal, there is no doubt that discomfort is effective in able hands at modifying a dog’s behavior.
There is a variety of tools in use in the dog training community, such as those that constitute the prong collar vs choke chain controversy. But just because some trainers wish not to use any discomfort whatsoever on dogs, this does not mean that the only morally correct option is limited exclusively to positive reinforcement methodologies, which is an absolutist stance much more controversial than the apparent e-collar vs shock collar controversy, and a topic for another article.
If you’re ready to test out an e-collar and you own a small dog, you may want to read this review on the Royal Pet USA Dog Training Collar.