Shocking Truth About The Shock Collar
Posted on 9th June 2022 at 10:35
The vast majority of people who contact Dogtra UK to purchase an E-Collar do so in order to obtain a reliable recall and stop their dog chasing. Lets face it, the problem is not really that your dog is chasing. The problem is that it will not come back when you call it, during which time it is either sniffing something you would rather it did not, chasing something you rather it did not or running towards something you would rather it did not.
I would like to address this whole misguided idea that a dog training collar is a shock collar. The actual definition of an electric shock is for a current of electricity to pass THROUGH the body. That means into the body and then back out of the body. Examples of this would be when a convicted criminal is executed via an electric chair or more commonly when a heart is shocked back into the correct rhythm via a defibrillator device.
So people just like you and me purchase their Dogtra E-Collar not to be cruel but to obtain a 100% reliable, bombproof recall no matter what the circumstances. I really do mean no matter what!
Defibrillators are something that I know about. I have used one on more than one occasion. There are various checks that you need to do before using a defib. One series of checks is called the 4 P’s. You need to check for pendants, patches, pacemakers and perspiration.
Pendants because the electric current passing between the leads can cause a burn from the metal of the pendant. Patches because certain medication patches can burst into flames, pacemakers for obvious reason and perspiration because if you are using stick on paddles they will not stick. There are three other checks you need to do even earlier, I remember them via WET, TIN, GAS.
WET - Is the patient laid in water, if they are then electric current will pass through the body, into the water and shock me.
TIN - Is the patient laid on metal, the metal will conduct electricity and in turn it will shock me!
GAS - Is the area flooded with combustible gas? Also remembering that if the patient is on oxygen this must be removed as it could explode.
So, that is an explanation of the therapeutic and beneficial use of an electric shock that passes through the body.
So what does this have to do with Shock collars you might ask?
A shock collar does not shock via the definition of an electric shock. A shock collar, any shock collar has two metal contact points, usually about 1.5 inches apart that sit against the skin of the dogs throat. A tiny electrical current is passed between these two contact points and never goes anywhere in the dogs body beyond those contact points. The actual fact is that the so called Shock Collar is shockingly not delivering an electric shock. It is delivering an electrical stimulation between 2 points, neither of which exits the body.
This is why we become so pedantic about e-collars being called e-collars and not shock collars. This is why we say stimulation and the uneducated say electric shock. In fact in psychological terms this is classed as catastrophising, using catastrophic language to invoke greater psychological impact and fear. Nobody who buys an e-collar does so in order to shock their dog and cause it pain. They do so to give their dog more freedom, to stop nagging it, to allow it to run free and under control.
If you would like to take the stress and pressure out of your dog walks and give your dog more freedom to run and play then contact me now.
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