Are Electronic Shock Collars Great Dog Training Devices?

Electronic shock collars for dogs and other fancy dog training devices you find today such as electric fences did not exist when I was growing up. I remember getting my very first puppy as a kid. He was so adorable and I precisely loved him. One day a integrate of years later the dog went out and never came back. We went finding for him in any place and asked our neighbors about him but we never found the dog and no one ever knew what happened to him. My dog could have been run over by a car or stolen. Naturally, I was very sad. Could an electronic dog training collar or a shock fence have saved my dog? Who knows.

Electronic shock collars for dogs are controversial dog training devices. If you have ever studied psychology most likely you would have heard of the Pavlov dog that responded to the sound of a bell by salivating. This happened as the bell sound was repeatedly followed by the serving of food, and after a while the dog would salivate when hearing the bell even when there was no food following it. This type of phenomenon is called conditioning, and in this case it's definite conditioning. They work using the same principle but in a negative way (negative conditioning). The shock (which is a form of punishment) is delivered whenever the dog does something undesirable like barking excessively, wandering to a definite area or too close to traffic, and even performing a wrong move. After a while the dog is supposed to refrain from doing those things in order to avoid punishment.

SHOCK YOU LIKE AN ELECTRIC EEL

Those who advocate using them to train dogs claim that they are totally safe and won't physically harm your dog. On the other hand, those who oppose are implicated that these electronic dog training devices are inhumane, not all the time effective, and could even cause hereafter behavior problems.

Furthermore, others argue that in the hands of inexperienced users electronic shock collars for dogs can be misused and abused, and cause harm to the dogs. Yet an additional one concern is the possible injury to the dog should the equipment malfunction. Some habitancy even recommend banning these electronic dog training devices. I don't currently have a dog but if I did would I use a shock collar to train my dog? I would say no. We can't perhaps know exactly what the dog feels when the shocks are administered. Even if they don't harm the dog, for sure they're not something pleasant.

I am a strong proponent of using definite reinforcement (the carrot) whenever possible in behavior training either in humans or animals, and electronic collars for dogs use negative reinforcement (the stick). I understand that in definite situations both need to be used but in my belief the equilibrium should tip heavily toward the positive. Those who own pets are most likely animal lovers. Many even love their pets as much as they love their children, and I'm sure they wouldn't use electric shocks to punish their children. So why use them to train their dogs or other pets?

Are Electronic Shock Collars Great Dog Training Devices?

SHOCK YOU LIKE AN ELECTRIC EEL