How do you feel about shock collars

I know there was a posting on this awhile ago but things might have changed and im sure new members have something to say..

Used one: yes
Reason: was not responding to command. I did try many other ways also..
Use on yourself: Yes, didnt hurt just was a suprise feeling
Did it work: Yes
How long did it take: A few days
Still use: No
Use again: Yes, if need be but no reason too
Over all opinion: Good for the hard headed dog that wont listen. IMO it just kinda like 'hey, you listen up, now'.

What about yall?

I don't use them... I prefer not to... I don't like them personally

Used one: yes

Reason: dog had problems with off lead recalls and crittering

Use on yourself: yes, didn't hurt, just got my attention

Did it work: yes

How long did it take: a few minutes for the recall, about a week for the crittering

Still use: no

Use again: only after exhausting all other possible solutions

Over all opinion: they can be helpful for some extreme cases, but for the most part i don't like them, i think they're overused as a shortcut instead of really training the dog.

they can be useful on a dog who associates corrections too much towards the handler, as the shock doesn't appear to be coming from the handler, they can also be useful in so far as not requiring any discernable body language, but even with my ultra-aware dogs, i haven't had issues with either of those.

there have been some reports of the possibility of the shock causing damage to the central nervous system, but i haven't studied those enough to determine the validity.

I don't like the idea of them, so haven't used one before.
Clickers are such a better method anyways i think, they reward good behaviour, instead of punishing bad behaviour.
They work a dandy on my lil un'!

I've never used one. My mother and my aunt, both of whom use R+ methods (my aunt uses a clicker) have use them, and for the same reason. They live in the country, so the dogs are often off leash. The dogs take off after deer or other critters and become deaf to the world. Its basically a safety thing . . .its not used unless they've taken off and ignored recall. In both cases, too, its a specific dog who has a problem, not all the dogs, who wear a shock collar.

That would basically be the only situation in which I'd use one.

In the right hands, they can be a useful training tool but I've never used one, however, in the wrong hands, they can be awful, horrible weapons.
I don't have any issues with either of my dogs that, warrant the use of an ecollar.

Used one: yes
Reason: Invisible fencing
Use on yourself: Hell no.
Did it work: Yes
How long did it take: We did the full recommended training - couple weeks, I think?
Still use: No
Use again: No.
Over all opinion: I think I got really, really lucky with my old dog that he never developed any issues from it. Absolutely nothing would make me put one on Meg, who is incredibly soft and doesn't handle corrections well. I can't imagine a situation where I would put one on any dog.

I really don't like them, and can't see a situation currently where I would choose to use one. I've never been shocked by one, but Matt has, and it hurt bad enough that he put his foot down then and there and said he would NEVER inflict that on a dog.

I don't know if it was turned up too high or what, but two of his fingers where numb for like half an hour after his hand was shocked.

On the other hand, we DO use a citronella spray bark collar on Sierra, which I'm not sure if I really like. It works REALLY well, but dogs have uber sensitive noses, no? So we can't understand ourselves what that strong citronella odour puts them through. Sure it's not physical pain (that we know of) but it's more than just a smell of bug-spray I'm sure...

Never heard of a sent collar

I've been thinking about getting an e-collar for a long time for my chihuahua mix. Her barking is so out of control. She will bark for 30 minutes straight at a time if I let her. I have a 4 month old in the house, so her barking really irritates me, because the baby cant sleep at times. I dont see anything wrong with shock collars IF used correctly.

Used one: yes
Reason: Person I was taking lessons from lent it to me.
Use on yourself: Yes. Settings went to 8. Couldn't feel 1, 2 was unpleasant 3 Hurt like H@LL, couldn't make myself try it any higher.
Did it work: No just made my dog shut down (on 1)
How long did it take: Only tried it 2
Still use: No
Use again: NOT EVER for a training reason. Yes to management. IMO if you need to use pain to train a dog, its the humans failing and the dog shouldn't pay. For example, Snip kills cats. He found out by accident the neighbour's barn is full of cats. I took a lot of time working on our recall. BUT the first time he went out off leash I borrowed an e collar. As a MANAGEMENT tool just in case.

Over all opinion: Horrible things. Seen them used on many dogs in the obed rings, and seen many dogs showing all sorts of stress behaviours the owner's rationalize as 'normal' (cause all the dogs in the class do the same things) and totally unnecessary for pet people to use. If your timing and understanding of training is flawed using P+, you can ROYALLY mess up a dog using a shock collar.

I've never used one on my dogs but my sister & brother have both used them on theirs. I can't really comment on how effective they've been since I'm not around the dogs too often, although I do know one of them was definitely better behaved when the collar was on her.

That being said I also don't know if they had problems just because of flawed training methods. If my sister trained her dog the way she raises her children, then yeah, she probably just wasn't trained very well and a shock collar could have been avoided. I do think my brother works hard with his dogs though, one of them just seems a little bit psychotic.

Overall... they are not something I would recommend but if people don't abuse them I'm not against them either. I would never use them on my own dogs, but that's me.

I have used a remote one for barking and it worked great. 3 days and the problem was solved and remains solved even tho they no longer wear the collar. Best investment I ever made!

just a clarification, I make a big diff between bark collars (and invisible fences) and the collars that are used for training. The dog has a lot more control in those circumstances, and the timing is much better than with 99.99% of humans.

Not a bark collar in my case...a remote trainer with handheld buttonpusher...*I* administered corrections for barking. Worked wonderfully...and lastingly.

I think they are a good training tool when used in the right hands.
I used a bark collar for Pepperoni, and I don't think it really worked, so I took it off. I think they definitely can work, but every dog is different.

-Ali

I much prefer the use of a remote collar for barking than an automatic bark collar. With the remote, you can decide if the barking is warranted at the time (alerting to strangers, asking to go potty). You also can issue a quiet command along with the correction.

I'm not a fan of them, never had to use them and never will. I'm a clicker girl myself

To me it's no different than smacking the dog except the dog won't associate the shock with you. It's still training a dog with fear and pain so I will not ever use one. Vibration collars used to get attention (such as in the case of a deaf dog where the dog is trained the vibration means look at me) are different to me, the collar is not used to correct but to get the dog to look at you so you can then redirect his attention to something appropriate or administer a command. Many people seem to use it, say it does not hurt, but somehow the dog will pay attention to the vibration but not the owner yelling commands or his name. I'd say either it DOES hurt or that the dog has be taught to block out your constant yelling. If the latter is the case than a vibration collar, not shock would work fine but so would something like a whistle or in some cases a new command. But I don't agree with inducing pain in an animal in the name of training.

Used one: Yes
Reason: Excessive barking
Use on yourself: Yes, of course. Not painful, but definitely a surprise.
Did it work: No.
How long did it take: Tried it for a couple weeks before coming to the conclusion that Dakota is immune to being zapped or sprayed with citronella.
Still use: No
Use again: A bark collar? No way. I would consider a remote collar for Zaphod as he gets older and his temperament gets sharper.
Over all opinion: Worthless for my hard-headed beastie.