This forum is opposed to the use of painful punishments in dog training. It promotes and encourages the use of modern positive reinforcement dog training techniques. In the last decade modern positive reinforcement training has taken the dog training world by storm. International animal behaviour organizations and veterinary bodies now all recommend positive reinforcement training as the right way to train dogs. It has been adopted by military and service dog organizations worldwide, and with a few exceptions, almost all high profile pet dog trainers have moved over to modern methods. While USA retriever trainers still remain staunchly traditional, positive reinforcement training is even beginning to make inroads into the very traditional world of gundog training in the UK. Positive reinforcement training promotes the effective use of rewards powerful enough to reinforce desirable behaviors in a dog and avoids the use of aversives. From time to time, new members join here that are unfamiliar with positive reinforcement training methods, and that use or have used electric collars to modify their own dog’s behavior, and want to share their experiences with other members. Sometimes new members join here with the express purpose of promoting e-collar or other aversive training methods to other members. This post is to explain how and why the forum moderation team may respond in these situations Shock collars are often used by pet dog owners to punish dogs that are displaying unwanted behavior. Such as running away from the handler. Or ignoring a sit whistle. Retriever trainers sometimes use shock collars to teach basic commands using negative reinforcement. This means applying a continuous shock and only releasing the button when the dog has completed an action. Such as a recall. This concept of teaching a dog to ’switch off pain’ is used widely in retriever training in the USA. While it is true that on the lowest settings, a shock collar is not painful, all shock collars have settings that cause severe pain. Pain that can be instantly accessed at the push of a button. Painful punishment has been used to train dogs for centuries, and was once felt justified by most of the population because people had no alternatives. They did not know how to get a well trained dog without it. Fortunately we now have much more humane training techniques and for many of us, it is no longer acceptable to train dogs using pain. Because we are opposed to the use of painful punishment in dog training, you may not make posts on this forum which encourage or promote others to kick, hit, or electrocute their dogs. We don’t object to general discussion on different training methods and how training methods have changed over the years. But joining a thread about a problem behavior and pointing out that the use of an electric collar, or some other form of painful punishment, worked for you or for a friend is a form of promotion and so we ask you to refrain from doing this. New members who repeatedly raise the issue of e collars or that mention training with electricity or other forms of painful punishment in the majority of threads that they visit may be suspected of trolling and asked to leave. I have also added a section in the forum rules to cover this issue
Thank you so much Pippa, I am so glad this has been made crystal clear and hopefully won't need to be posted or discussed ever again. It's a very, very upsetting subject for caring, positive training dog owners to be subjected to. x
Thank you Pippa, I think we have all found these posts distasteful and upsetting. I know I have gone from anger to tears and back to anger
I must stop reading threads while feeding in the middle of the night. I read the title and assumed you must have be talking about training at night and the use of floodlights or something. Anyway, great post, appreciate the clarification
Great post I know someone who uses one and recommends I do as we are struggling a little with behaviour now we are at the 6 month stage. She has become stubborn and just sits and looks at me when she doesn’t want to do something…. Brat!! I hate seeing the other dog yelp when the collar is activated. Absolutely no way would I ever use one of these I will persevere with positive rewards and time, never ending repetition and screaming into a pillow when she ignores me again
