The Truth About E-Collars
- 16 minutes ago
- 9 min read
E- collars are probably the most controversial tool in the field of dog training and they are also the most widely misunderstood. Most dog owners will have seen the negative propaganda about these tools and instantly have strong opinions against their use without knowing any actual facts about how they feel and how they work.
This article is therefore designed to give you the facts, both from a scientific basis plus 20 years of working with them first-hand with hundreds of customers and also one of my own previous dogs. I have seen how fantastic they are in helping dogs with various different issues. As with any tool (even treats or a lead), they require professional training but, with this in place, they are an incredible tool and can be used to remove fear, resolve recall & prey-drive issues, and put an end to reactivity and aggression. I have personally witnessed hundreds of dogs get a new lease of life by integrating these collars properly into training & behaviour work. I have seen many owners literally cry with happiness at seeing their dog’s behaviour transformed when they learn to run free off the lead with safety, or socialise with other dogs after previously being aggressive.
To my great distress, I personally know of far too many dogs who are put to sleep when E-collar training could have resolved their issues. Unfortunately, because owners have been misled about the use of these collars they can refuse to work with them. This is incredibly sad and another reason why I will always advocate passionately for responsible E-collar training. If you have the time and want to learn more, please read on.
NB: Be aware that this is an extremely detailed article as I wanted to provide as much accurate information as possible in order to dispel the myths, lies and propaganda which you have probably seen and heard about.
How they work
If you have heard the term “shock collar” rather than E-collar then you may be under the mistaken impression that the collars give dogs an electric shock. This is incorrect. Good quality E-collars (there are two excellent brands that we recommend) do not provide an electric shock at all. They actually use the same muscle-twitch technology found in Tens Machines and Ab Stimulators, which means they simply send electronic pulses to cause muscle contractions. Opinions vary from person to person but the main descriptions we receive from owners are that they feel “tingly” or like a “tapping” sensation, similar to someone tapping you on the shoulder to get your attention. This is what the collars are designed to do. They are simply a way of communicating with your dog at a distance, through touch.
Myths & Lies
● “E-collars have been banned.”
This is not true. There have been attempts to ban them but they have never been successful, largely due to the great work done by The Association of Responsible Dog Owners, farmers, balanced trainers and hundreds of thousands of owners who use them and report no negative effects on their dogs. Unfortunately though, E-collars have been banned in Wales (which has literally doubled the number of sheep attacks since the ban was put in place).
● “E-collars are harmful to dogs. They are an animal welfare issue.”
There is literally no evidence to support this. The only study ever conducted concluded that the collars did not cause any harm to the dogs. Certain individuals have theorised that the dogs may have experienced some stress during the exercises, but these theories have been formally debunked by various eminent scientists due to various, very serious flaws in the methodology of the study. Also, stress is not a generically “bad” emotion. For example, everyone feels stress when learning a new skill or when concentrating. If you would like to read accurate details of this please scroll to the bottom of this article.
The other important factor when looking at this statement is the idea that the collars are an “animal welfare issue”. This is frankly absurd and makes no logical sense whatsoever. If this were actually true then we would have to agree that electric fences for livestock are also an animal welfare issue. In addition to this, it is important to note that all previous proposed bans have stated that police and military dogs would be exempt from the ban, and also that electric fences for dogs would be exempt. In other words, it would be fine to use an electric fence to stop your dog from digging up your flower beds, but you would be banned from using the same technology (in a milder form) to stop livestock chasing or aggression to children/people/other dogs. Clearly, if the collars actually were an “animal welfare issue” then there would be no exemptions whatsoever. In reality, any attempts to ban the collars are purely for financial and political gains with cleverly constructed misinformation & propaganda designed to play on our emotions.
● “E-collars cause pain, suffering and trauma.”
The simple argument to disprove this is that DOGS DON”T LIE. If this was true it would be blatantly obvious and there would not be such a huge volume of video evidence proving that the opposite is true. You can view videos of countless dogs being trained with E-collars showing no signs of “suffering” whatsoever. The real truth is that you can literally watch these dogs living their best lives - they gain only positivity: freedom to run and play off the lead with no danger to livestock or wildlife, and learning to safely socialise with other dogs, people and children. If this was a true statement then no owner or trainer would ever use an E-collar.
● “E-collars make behaviour problems worse.”
This can be true if the collars are used incorrectly. However, this is also true if treats are used incorrectly in training, or if a lead (or any tool whatsoever) is used incorrectly. With professional guidance, proper conditioning, and for appropriate issues, E-collars absolutely do not make any behaviour problems worse. Instead we see positive long-term effects, frequently with behaviour issues resolved for life.
● “You can resolve any behavioural issues without an E-collar.”
This is an outright lie to the point of being ridiculous. Many behavioural problems can certainly be resolved without using an E-collar, but some absolutely cannot. Livestock chasing, high prey drive and certain reactivity and aggression issues simply cannot be resolved without using an E-collar - and there is no evidence whatsoever to disprove this. In fact, there is ample evidence to prove this is indeed the case. If you are happy to “manage” an issue for the rest of the dog’s life then yes, you probably don’t need to use one. However, resolving an issue provides a far better quality of life for the dog than management. Managing an issue means the dog is forever stressed by remaining in a fearful/stressed/aggressive/high-intensity state of mind, or they will have to be consigned to a lead forever - instead of having off-lead freedom to enjoy natural canine behaviours and breed-fulfilment. Keeping a dog on the lead forever is also completely unrealistic as there are countless situations where people accidentally drop the lead, or the dog escapes from an area which had appeared secure. A large percentage of sheep worrying incidents have been reported where the dog still has a lead attached but has got loose anyway.
● “People can use E-collars to deliberatly abuse dogs.”
Of course they can. But there have been no actual reports of this happening. Obviously there could be instances of this which haven’t been reported, but if an abusive person wants to deliberately hurt a dog they certainly don’t need to buy an E-collar to do this. Having worked in rescue centres myself, I could give you many examples of horrific abuse cases that I have personally seen, none of which involved remote training collars of any kind. I won’t list these cases as it would be too upsetting, but literally anything can be use to abuse a dog - from severe neglect and starvation, to aggressive physical harm. The potential for abuse from E-collars is extremely small, and infinitely smaller that the potential abuse from other means.
What they can be used for
Recall:
On low levels E-collars can be used in a purely-positive manner for basic recall or any other simple obedience commands. If a gentle sensation from the collar is paired with a reward, the dog will learn to associate this sensation with something positive. This obviously has enormous benefits for recall both in deaf dogs and in dogs who (for whatever reason) do not respond to verbal recall commands or whistle training. In fact, E-collar recall training is really no different to whistle training. With a whistle the dog learns to come back for a reward when he hears the sound. With an E-collar the dog learns to come back for a reward when he feels a touch - both are conditioned to mean something great will happen when they perform the desired behaviour. This is obviously an example of positive reinforcement which everyone agrees is an safe method for training dogs. Also, the fact that the collar is silent means that dogs with noise-phobias can be helped without making them fearful.
Livestock worrying / Prey Drive / Chase Drive:
Dogs with a high prey drive will not find anything more rewarding than the chase, and dogs who chase to kill (rather than just the thrill of the chase itself) will be even more motivated to repeat this behaviour. This means that trying to stop a dog from chasing something by offering a favourite treat or toy simply does not work with these type of dogs. They may usually love their ball or their treats, but when they see a live animal to chase they suddenly have zero interest in any reward you may be offering. Often this is just hard-wired into their DNA, sometimes it’s something they learn once they have experienced the intrinsic reward that the chase gives them. Regardless of the reason, if a dog cannot be controlled off-lead around prey animals this is extremely dangerous. A dog that is fully committed to the chase can get lost, run over, hurt by barbed-wire fences etc. I have been involved in cases where all of these things have happened causing extreme distress to both dog and owner. At this point the training options become very limited. Of course, the dog can be kept on a lead at all times, or enclosed fields can be used as a space to let them run. However, leads can break, collars can come off, owners can slip over and let go of the lead, and enclosed fields have to be booked and paid for. This will therefore limit the quality of the dog’s life and, if the dog does accidentally end up off the lead in the wrong place, the worst-case-scenario is that the dog is severely injured or dies.
Now, for this type of E-collar training there will clearly need to be an element of negativity involved, in addition to the initial positive conditioning of the collar. As we have already established that reward-based training will not be effective in calling the dog away from the chase, the only solution is to provide a negative association with this behaviour so they learn not to do it. This can be paired with a command to gradually remove the negative touch, or, in the case of livestock aversion training, we would simply create a negative association with these animals (without a command) to ensure that the dog does not want to chase them even if the owner is not present.
NB: Negativity/Correction is not abuse. If your dog was on a lead and tried to lunge into traffic, you would surely pull your dog back to prevent them from being hit by a car. This pull on the lead would be a negative sensation to your dog, but you would obviously still do it in order to protect them. There is no difference whatsoever between this scenario and using an E-collar for remote training to stop your dog from chasing something. In fact, I would argue that the lead pull in this situation would actually be more negative that the sensation they receive from the collar.
Reactivity & Aggression: Mild reactive behaviour can often be resolved with the correct walking tools and behavioural techniques. Some mild reactivity can even be resolved with purely-positive training. However, more intense reactivity cases (whether with other dogs, people, cars etc.) will not be resolved without some form of correction. Severe reactivity and aggression will certainly not be resolved without some form of correction. This is where a good behaviourist will be able to recognise and recommend the best type of correction for each individual dog. Some dogs will not respond to any type of lead corrections, some dogs will redirect with a lead correction or some will actually find a lead correction too severe. E-collars are wonderful because they can be used on many different levels and can actually be much gentler than a lead, which is essential for certain dogs. In other cases the reactivity or aggression is simply so intense that no other sensation will be felt in a meaningful way. An aggressive dog is full of stress and adrenaline which is not a healthy way to live, plus it is clearly dangerous. These dogs must learn that their fearful / aggressive behaviour and state of mind is unnecessary and unacceptable, otherwise they will never have a truly happy life. Dogs with a high level of aggression, without proper training, will often be put to sleep or end up causing serious injury to other dogs, people, children or indeed themselves.
If you have any queries about E-collar training or anything stated in this article please do feel free to contact me on 07769 705807 and I will be more than happy to talk to you and answer any questions.
If you wish to explore further research about E-collar training do also have a look at the following articles:
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