![]() If that hulking animal could learn with treats and praise, she thought, why were dog trainers using prong and shock collars? “That was the catalyst into my advocacy,” said Fraser-Celin, who studied African wild dogs for her Ph.D. And I don’t know what to do with a dog (besides negative reinforcement) that is not treat motivated at all and has a propensity to be aggressive/defensive.įraser-Celin rethought her approach after hearing about an animal trainer who taught a grizzly bear to cooperate with medical treatment using only positive reinforcement. I have worked with hundreds of dogs and do not consider myself a trainer so I still take dogs to a trainer because it is best for the dog and me to work with a stranger in a strange environment (positive or negative). Already the % of owners that take their dog to a trainer is way too low (every dog should go). Requiring licensing is going to increase costs and mean even fewer dog owners have their dogs worked with by a trainer. ![]() Also, many dogs are adopted to people who physically can not control the dog when it sees a rabbit, squirrel, etc… and a prong collar correctly used is an easy fix. a shelter dog) due to lack of available resources (a shelter can not have a trainer work with one dog daily when there are 200+ at the shelter). There are times however when a dog is potentially dangerous and has to be trained fast (i.e. My best guess is that 90%+ of the time positive training is as effective or more than negative. It made life more pleasant for me, and saved theirs–roads were a good distance, but not for a racing dog. One quick shock was all it took to change their mind and believe it or not, that was enough for the entire hunting season almost never did I have to use the collar again–till the next season. The freedom of the fields looked much better so they would turn away and start. When they were a fair distance away, I would whistle they would look back, and you could see them considering the options. Try catching a setter on foot! And what positive inducement equals the joy of racing through the field, flushing birds right and left!? But we had an annual ritual when the hunting season drew near, I would take them out, wearing said collar, and unleash them. My dogs knew they were supposed to come to my whistle but they preferred not to–and they were fifty yards away. It’s been many years since I was a quail hunter but back then I found the so-called shock collar to be vital. Hence, it’s almost ’23 & people still train animals in many of the same ways that Bedlam “helped” the mentally ill. Unfortunately, a shock collar is convenient. A more cognitive skill, not a frenzied & unpredictable fear response. It’s already been proven that training dogs to avoid these species with R+ is fast, highly effective & more reliable for a safe alert & go to owner. & hope for no spontaneous recovery from fear. ![]() You’re taking a big gamble that the dog only reacts in flight every single time, instead of fight, fidget or faun. ![]() Relying on shock aversion for dangerous or endangered species is a poor argument. You can train a dog many ways, it doesn’t mean that they’re all best practice just bc you can still get to the end point & claim them a “happy” dog. Yet it’s used to “cure” fear & anxiety in animal training. Electric shock is universally used as the US in most research on fear. Research isn’t limited to the animal training field, we have a lot of animal subjects for research in many behavioral science fields to testify to best practice. I don’t think that we’ll ever see regulation in this field, since it doesn’t suit those who would rather not have their knowledge & ethics tested. It’s not their own neck the collar is going on. Even (occasional) academics argue for proven harmful modalities. In order to avoid aversives, you need both knowledge as well as a working moral compass.
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