Why Not to Use Shock Collars for Dog Training

Shock collars are one of the worst dog training tools ever invented. There are a number of different reasons why shock collars not only do not help in dog training but, in many instances, can actually be detrimental to your overall training goals. If you are considering purchasing and using a shock collar for training your dog then you need to read this and find out why not to use shock collars for dog training.

The first reason that you should not use shock collars for dog training is that they simply do not work. Dogs learn through association. This means when you a reward a dog for displaying a desired behavior multiple times your dog will being to learn that that behavior is desired and leads to a reward. Therefore your dog will continue to display this behavior and you now have a trained dog. This same theory works with negative punishment as well. The only problem is that it does not work with shock collars! A great example of this is people that strap a shock collar on their dog to get them to stop barking. To people it appears that the dog feels guilty every time it is shocked, which would be an indicator that it knows what it is doing is wrong. However, this is not what the dog is feeling. Your dog will be submissive to you, what it displays is an appeasement gesture, not guilt! Most of the time dogs do not even realize why they are being shocked and, because of this, do not learn through association. One of the biggest problems with shock collars for dog barking is that they will go off when the neighbor's dog barks, when the TV makes the right noise, when someone in the house gets loud, etc. Basically your dog is getting shocked all the time and does not even know why!

The next biggest reason why not to use shock collars for dog training is because of the potential behavior issues that could arise in the future. Since your dog doesn't understand why it is being punished it may grow fearful. Prolonged states of fear in dogs alter their behavior and may be carried with them forever. The majority of all dog bites and attacks come not because a dog is simply mean but because the dog is fearful and afraid of the person or situation. This has devastating consequences; don't let it be your dog!