Friends of mine use sometimes an e-collar on their dog, who has absconded many times since they rescued her, about 8 years ago. They fully believe that it is the only way to stop her running off. I don't want to get into an argument with them about it, and they don't really use it anymore, since their dog is old and stiff and very rarely disappears these days. I have, however, told the guy that I wholeheartedly disapprove of them, and there are far better ways of getting your dog to stay with you than giving it a shock. However, I don't want to get into an argument about it, so having told him my view, I let it go. Like I said, she very rarely wears the collar anymore. Interestingly, she did run off twice this past season, which just goes to show it's not an effective training device because the behaviour of sticking around doesn't translate to when she's not wearing the collar. Shift forwards a few months to this week. There's a guy in the village who has a dachshund. This guy isn't a friend of mine, but I see him pretty regularly. Lots of my friends are friends of his. The dachshund is completely untrained; I've never seen him try to do anything with him. He is normally just let out the door and left to his own business. Unsurprisingly, he wanders off away from the corner he's expected to stay on. The guy obviously spoke to my friends about it when they visited last week (they live in France in the summer), and when I went out to walk my two one morning, there was the dachshund, wearing this massive beast of an e-collar, designed for a much larger dog. My friends had lent it to him to try out and he was really impressed with the results. I am so cross with my friends that they would think this is appropriate. I am cross that none of these people can see that training your dog to WANT to be with you should be the way forwards. The guy with the dachshund now leans out of his apartment window, watching his dog and zaps him when he reckons he's gone too far. There's not even any visible demarkation that the dog could understand the zap was related to; it's just on a whim. It appalls me, but I know that saying anything would simply end up in an argument and be completely ineffective. All of these people see me training my two every day and comment on how well-trained they are. Of course, they are also the first to sneer when something hasn't been proofed enough for them to respond to a cue. They say how nice it is that I have their attention so much of the time. And then they go and use a *@#*!!# e-collar rather than even attempting to use real training. I'm not even saying that I expect them to use completely force-free training, but surely some attempt at training wouldn't be too much to ask?! Would you say something? I can't see it would have any positive outcome, but I am seething inside.
I bet you are,how awful,blummin heck ,surely in the worse case scenario of a proper abscond ,a daschund can't outrun an adult human anyway? As I see it,in this situation the e collar is the lazy man's daschund training tool.Someone like that who can't even be bothered to walk to the end of the road with his dog is NEVER going to put the time in training ..sadly.So whilst I would say if you get into conversation with him totally express your thoughts and opinion on his chosen method to control his dog ....I don't think seeking him out to try and enlighten him would have any effect.Poor little dog x
The ridiculous thing is they don't normally see him running off because it's when he's being ignored. A friend of theirs took him to a local tea shop a couple of weeks back and he wandered off. Well, he wasn't on a lead and wasn't being given any attention, so it's not surprising! People here just seem to expect their dogs to know and to do exactly what they want. Grrrrrrrrr.
Unfortunately it seems to be the general mentality to not train puppies/dogs here in France as well and the use of the collars are apparently very common. Most dogs here are left in gardens all day and night with the only interaction when they are fed ☹ . I have had vets saying how much they prefer "English" dogs because they are trained. Think you would be wasting your breath to say anything as they think we're the weird ones worrying about and training our dogs like we do.
What a dilemma, poor little dogs. In an ideal world I would say something, but I think in this case it's best to keep quiet. If the topic arises in general conversation I think I'd have to say I don't approve and leave it at that. X
I do wonder why some people have dogs in the first place. In my world I have dogs to give them affection and as companions. I do train them, but only using positive methods. I think some people regard a dog as a possession and that demonstrating that they have power over the animal is a way of massaging their ego. I don't envy you your dilemma, Fiona.
I agree with Angela......I think seeking them out would have no effect apart from stressing you even more . I would let it come up in conversation if you ever speak though. Some people really don't deserve dogs
I might try and take the collar off when they're not looking and pretend it fell off because it was too big.....but that's probably quite naughty
Say something; they have a right to hear the opposite view and might be grateful. Maybe offer to show them some basic training if you have time.
So, I got a bit tipsy and then saw him in the pub with his dog. So I told him my views. It was all very calm and rational. He listened and seemed to respect what I said, but I know nothing will change. He holds different views to mine. Hey ho, at least I got it off my chest. It's a shame it's not going to make a jot of difference to that little dog.
A little update. He saw me the other day and was eager to tell me he's got rid of the shock collar. Instead, he has one that "just" vibrates. It's obviously still a cop-out in my opinion, but it's got to be a bit better than giving his poor little dog a shock every time he deigns to wander an arbitrary distance away.
Sounds like success to me Fiona! Well done. Can I say, only part jokingly, that you should start up some dog training classes. You can only change behaviours through sharing information, and educating. Sometimes sounds like there is a heck of a lot of educating needing done in Andorra.
Proud of you, Fiona. I'd have said something too, in a non-confrontational way. Otherwise, if we don't stand up for things that we believe, how can things ever change? I was at a workshop over the weekend, run by a facilitator that I was not very impressed with. However, she did tell one (possibly apocryphal) story about a workshop that she attended, back in the 1980's, on empowerment. Apparently the famous and charismatic keynote speaker brought a bowl with a goldfish and put it on the lectern. About halfway through his talk, he took the goldfish out of the bowl and put it on the lectern and went on talking. Apparently everyone in the room kind of collectively held their breath, watching in horrified amazement as the fish flapped around, fell to the floor, flapped some more and eventually stopped moving. Then the speaker looked at them all and said that they had all just failed a major test of personal empowerment, and that they had better think about whether they had learned anything at all from his speech. I don't know if that's a true story or not, but it gripped me and i am sure as eggs is eggs that I would have got up and picked up the goldfish and put it back into the bowl. But maybe not; maybe the power of the group is too strong at times. But I do think it was your civic duty at least to try to explain to that man about the electric collar; spread the word a little. Well done.
I'm not normally the sort of person to rock the boat, or poke my nose into other people's business, but in this case, my conscience would have weighed on me too heavily had I not said anything. Haha, John is often telling people I'm going to be a dog trainer. I tell him I might need something more than a year's experience with only two dogs to qualify! Sadly, there would be no call for it here, anyway. At least, not in our valley. The native locals' dogs are farm dogs - I can't imagine them taking kindly to me suggesting they try different methods. Their dogs are tools to them. Then the people with pet dogs (all foreigners, mainly either Brits or French) aren't interested in spending any time training. As long as their dog doesn't run off too frequently, they're happy
