Angelica Steinker, M.Ed., P.D.B.C., C.D.B.C., CAP2, and NADOI endorsed     

My position on shock collars

Summary: I am opposed to the widespread use of shock collars in dog training, particularly in the hands of novice trainers.  I support legislation to regulate their use, including a total ban on shock collars.  At most, shock collars should be used only by highly trained professionals who are certified and licensed for their use.  Shock collars should not be used for ordinary pet dog training and for solving behavioral problems in dogs.  In technical terms, shock collars allow trainers to apply a combination of positive punishment and negative reinforcement to modify a dog's behavior. Shock collars work by causing pain, which the dog seeks to avoid.   Shock collars use an electrical current to cause pain.  At lower levels the pain is sharp and resembles being poked with a hot needle.  At higher levels, the tingling sensation of an electrical shock can be perceived radiating between the "live" electrode point and the ground point.  The potential for misuse and abuse of the shock collar is enormous, potentially greater than that of other methods of positive punishment in dog training.

What are shock collars? Shock collars are sold under a variety of other names, including electronic collars, e-collars (not to be confused with the cones known as Elizabethan collars), and remote trainers. As "remote trainers," shock collars come in paired components:  1.  a collar that goes around the dog's neck, that is a receiver of a radio-transmitted signal; and 2. a transmitter unit that sends the signal, that is held by the trainer.  

How do shock collars work, technically?  When the trainer pushes a button on the transmitter, a signal is sent to the receiver in the collar.  The collar has two "points" on the side against the dog's skin.  The transmitter sets off an electrical current in the collar that travels between the live electrode and the ground.  The sensation of the electrical current sets off pain receptors in the subject's skin, that are normally there for detecting heat. 

How do shock collars work to modify a dog's behavior?  Shock collars are designed to be a precise, emotionally neutral, and remote or distance tool for applying a combination of positive punishment and negative reinforcement in modifying the behavior of dogs.  They work by making a dog experience pain until the dog performs the behavior that the trainer wants.  Training a dog with a shock collar is difficult to do correctly, because their use requires precise timing, solid understanding of principles of animal training, and an unemotional approach to training on the trainer's part.

How effective is the use of positive punishment in animal training?  The shock collar is only one tool of positive punishment in dog training.  Until about 10 years ago, the use of positive punishment ("corrections") and negative reinforcement was considered the norm in dog training.  However, studies on animal training and long experience by trainers of species of animals other than dogs support the use of positive reinforcement as the most effective training tool.  I go into more detail on another page (see "Punishment").

If punishment and use of pain or fear are not the best means of training dogs, are these methods still in use?  Today there is something of a resurgence of the use of pain and fear in dog training and the rekindling of superstitious methods not based in science. A combination of factors may be involved (see Punishment page).  Today shock collars are sold over the counter in "big box" and other pet stores and over the internet, to anyone regardless of their knowledge of dog training or proper use of the shock collar.  Shock collars are also advocated by a number of professional dog trainers for use by the general public.

Why do users of shock collars advocate their use?   Shock collars can have rapid and dramatic effects on the behavior of a dog.  In most cases, the dog quickly exhibits behaviors that the owner desires. These behaviors include coming when called, staying where told, and walking right next to the owner's side.  Shock collars have particular application in hunting and herding, when dogs are engaged in highly instinctive activities at a distance from the dog's handler. 

Why not use shock collars then?  Although punishment-based training can be rapid and effective, use of pain and fear to modify a dog's behavior causes dogs stress to varying and often extreme degrees. Use of pain and fear to change the behavior of dogs can also have potentially serious side effects, such as increasing aggression.  Other methods not requiring pain and fear are just as effective and no more difficult to use correctly than methods causing pain and fear.  Conversely, when the two class of methods (pain-based versus reward-based) are not done correctly, pain-based methods have permanent and undesirable effects on dogs' behavior whereas reward-based methods simply result in an untrained dog when incorrectly applied.  Many trainers consider the use of fear and pain to be unethical as well as unnecessary.

Why would anyone persist in using a method that can cause considerable pain or harm to their dog?  Most of this generation of shock collar users say that shock collars do not cause pain or fear.  The following are common statements by shock collar advocates:

• The shock collar is a "force free" method
• The shock collar is only a neutral cue
• The modern shock collar no longer causes a dog to be shocked, unlike the original shock collars
• The modern shock collar can be set to such low levels that the dog does not feel pain
• The modern shock collar feels like a tickle
• The modern shock collar feels like a tap

How can one evaluate these statements? Anyone can evaluate the above statements, in either of two ways:  First, a person can test the collar on him or herself to see how it feels at different levels, and can watch dogs subjected to the collar at levels of "stimulation" that are proper for modifying that dog's behavior. Second, a person can evaluate a trainer who is using a shock collar with a dog and compare the results with behavioral learning theory.  The trainer's actions and the dog's resulting behavior will reveal what method of training that trainer is applying to the dog. 

To take these two steps, I began by testing myself with a "modern" generation shock collar, as follows:

A report of my shock collar self-test: 

I used a Dogtra 200 NCP Gold.  It has a rheostat dial.  I used the back of my arm so that the skin wouldn't be too sensitive, such as a dog's skin might not be.  I could feel nothing when the dial was at zero, which makes sense as one way to turn it "off".  I had to work my courage up for a long time to do this test.  I considered the statement that the shock collar at low levels feels like a tickle or a tap, so I first tried about a 5 out of 100 (max).  I felt nothing.  I then set the dial higher in small increments. 

I could feel nothing until the setting of 20.  Then I felt a sharp pain, like being stuck with a hot needle.  There was a definite feeling of heat.  The pain was sharp, a point sensation.  It did not feel pleasant, and it did not feel neutral.   It felt absolutely nothing like a "tap" as in a tap on the shoulder, which would be a blunt, non-painful sensation.  Importantly, at the lowest level that I could detect the stimulus, I perceived the feeling as pain and not as another kind of physical sensation. 

I went higher on the rheostat and got up to 40 before I couldn't make myself go any higher.  At that point, the sharpness of the feeling was greater and the sense of heat was greater.  But by 40 there was also a feeling of electrical current.  I got the familiar buzzing feeling that you might remember if you've ever touched a live wire.    In other words, I definitely perceived the feeling as shock, not tap or a tickle.  My skin started to tingle between the live electrode point and the ground point. Clearly a current was travelling between the two points on the shock collar, and it seemed to be travelling not only on the skin but in the muscle. I suspect it radiates out in an electromagnetic field pattern between the two points. Interestingly, I did not know which point was which on the Dogtra, as the two points appear the same, until I applied the shock to myself. In the Tritronics model, the ground point is black and the live point is colored according to the level of intensity of the shock each point type (5 in all) delivers..

Comments about the results of this self-test:
The shock collar users state that the feeling is not one of a shock in the "new generation" collars, but when asked, no one could explain the physics behind how the collars actually work if that were the case.  They also state that the feeling is neutral and not painful, again, without explaining how the shock collars work to convince the dog to change its behavior.  Although one can argue that I do not know how the shock collar feels to a dog, I still ask shock collar users to explain how a shock collar works to change a dog's behavior, if it does not work by positive punishment and negative reinforcement.

If you are a dog trainer who instructs others on how to train, or if you are considering using or are using a shock collar to train your dog, it is important for you to test yourself with a shock collar, using the same procedures that should be used to test a dog for its sensitivity level. That is, you start with the lowest setting and note at which setting you can first detect any sensation and then continue to increase the intensity of the shock stimulus until you reach a level that you would take actions to avoid. 

If you are an all-positive reinforcement trainer, you should still take the self-test in order to be fully informed about shock collars so that you can better understand how they are used and the effects that they have on dogs.  You need this information to be credible when you discuss the use of shock collars with others.

If you want to train a dog with a shock collar, in my opinion you must take this self-test for the same reasons:   To use such a powerful tool correctly, you must be fully informed about shock collars so that you can better understand how they should be used and the effects that they have on your dog.  If you are using a shock collar at the advice of a professional trainer, you should verify first hand, for yourself, what the sensation of a shock collar feels like and whether its effects are equivalent to a tickle or a tap or whether the shock collar causes pain.

My reasons for opposing the use of shock collars:

In general, I oppose the use of punishment in dog training, particularly as the foundation method of training.  I explain more of my rational on another page "Punishment."

All training devices designed to apply positive punishment through discomfort, pain, or fear can be misused and abused, even to extreme levels, such hanging dogs by a choke collar.  However, the shock collar has in my opinion the greatest potential to be misused during regular and routine use.

Correct use of the shock collar requires an experienced trainer, a person not only educated in the technical features of a shock collar, not only educated and experienced in the use of positive punishment and negative reinforcement in training, but also fully educated in principles of animal training, dog behavior and how to read dogs' behavior correctly.  This level of education and experience, that would be the minimum required for correct use of the shock collar, cannot be achieved without years of study and experience and is highly unlikely to be achieved by average members of the public.

The shock collar clearly works by causing pain, and when a dog is first introduced to a shock collar, its use also causes the dog fear and stress.  The shock function of remote collars is entirely designed for use as a tool of positive punishment and negative reinforcement.  Trainers desiring a long-distance cue for training their dogs may elect to use shockless, vibration or auditory paging remote collars.

• Shock collars even used correctly arguably meet the broad criteria that define torture, specifically:
• infliction of pain or fear by one being upon another
• inflictor of pain and fear is an authority figure
• receiver of pain and fear perceives him or herself as helpless

motivation for infliction of pain and fear may be to modify the behavior of the recipient and the only relief from pain or fear is for the recipient to choose the specific behavior intended by the inflictor of pain or fear, such as in political torture for gaining information or confessions.

Note:  Although you might think it is extreme to compare a dog training tool to torture, medical ethicists and professionals have precisely this debate all the time. In practicing medicine and helping patients, caregivers may subject the patient to painful and frightening procedures.  The doctor or other caregiver is an authority figure and the patient feels helpless.  In self-evaluation, medical professionals routinely keep this definition of torture in mind as they practice medicine and evaluate their treatment of patients. In one study (Schimmel et al. 1994), the investigators asked whether empowering patients improved the medical outcomes of these patients and discovered that it did.  I believe that dog trainers should rise to the same professional standards and subject their methodology to the same scrutiny. 

Therefore, because use of a shock collar to train dogs is unnecessary and potentially can cause great harm and suffering, I am now opposed to the use of shock collars, certainly by novice trainers, and support regulation of their use including strict licensing for trained professionals only.