Conclusion
It’s crucial to avoid falling for misleading marketing terminology for shock collars, such as vibrating, e-touch, stimulation, tingle, and static. It is time for pet experts to cease inflicting pain under the guise of training and permanently ban the usage of shock collars. Shock collars are most efficient at halting behavior because they are uncomfortable. Instead, by focusing on education and lobbying to ensure that pet owners are better informed and actively seek out humane alternatives, consumer demand would naturally be reduced and actual advancement toward the end objective might be realized.
According to Ziv (2017), there is “no evidence to imply that unpleasant training methods are more effective than reward-based training approaches, and research indicate that the contrary may be true in both pets and working dogs. Ziv (2017) proposes a fresh line of inquiry to “Examine how humane, reward-based techniques might be enhanced to promote improved human-dog communication. As a result, dogs will be able to manage their tension more effectively while also being better able to comprehend and react to the behavior directed at them.
In fact, there is enough evidence currently to draw the conclusion that utilizing physical restraint or fear to train or care for our pets is inefficient and possibly dangerous (in some cases, lethal). We also know that a large number of professional associations and business authorities oppose physical punishment and advise pet owners to look for specialists who support and instead employ positive behavior modification.
There is a third justification for opposing the use of physical punishment, though, and that is a moral one. If asked, the majority of pet owners would likely respond that they do not punish their animals or purposely put them in threatening circumstances in an effort to promote new, better habits. However, these same owners would unknowingly heed instructions from practicing training specialists “using a leash to physically reprimand a pet, striking, shocking, or utilizing a variety of unpleasant instruments. By employing different language, a professional could feel justified in physically punishing a pet while giving pet owners the matching advise, without realizing that they are actually endangering the pet’s physical and mental wellbeing.
It is commonly accepted that adults in civilized society should not settle their conflicts by the use of physical force. Given this, it shouldn’t be a surprise that physically correcting pets, like beating kids or adults, leads to more issues than it resolves, including the numerous ones mentioned above. It is time to cease physically hurting our animals for training purposes. The ultimate goal, which must be to do no harm to the animals in our care and enhance the welfare of pets worldwide, can be successfully attained by professional animal training and behavior associations by cooperating.
*Electronic stimulation devices are defined in this document to include, but not be limited to, items commonly known as e-collars, training collars, shock collars, e-touch, stimulation, tingle, TENS unit collar, remote trainers, and e-prods.
