may temporarily stop the barking, they don’t address the
cause behind barking, and they don’t work in a way that
a dog can understand. An electric jolt to the neck can
hardly be considered humane, particularly when the
receptor of the shock doesn’t understand that it’s a
punishment for a behavior that cannot seem connected to
the collar. Aside from the fact that they cause the dog
pain and confusion, shock collars may well increase
aggressive behavior as the frustrated and frightened
animal lashes out. If he does manage to stop barking, he
will likely take up other destructive behaviors such as
tearing up the house, because now you have a dog who is
angry and scared, plus whatever feeling started the
barking in the first place.
Any animal, no matter how gentle, can reach a state of
aggression under conditions of unexpected and
unavoidable pain. I once saw the most loving, indeed, a
downright wuss of a Doberman transformed into a
snapping, growling and dangerous animal when he was
stung by a bee just as his human was trying to shoo the
bee away. The dog was too upset to understand that his
friend was making an attempt of banishing his
small,sharp-ended enemy. He associated the brush of the
man’s hand against his fur with the pain of the bee
sting. He thus responded by making a solid attempt to
bite the helpful man. (Fortunately, they had a good
relationship based on years of trust, so once the bee
was dispatched and the stinging stopped, everyone
forgave each other and went back to being friends.)
Another drawback to the shock collar is that if it
doesn’t work right away (and it’s as likely as not that
it won’t), the procedure is to continue raising the
shock level. Companies like PetPlanet.com won’t even
sell shock collars, saying they are cruel, and the
Denver Dumb Friends League reports that shock collars
have a success rate of only around 50%.
A tiny proportion of dogs, especially dogs who have been
abused, bark because of neurological problems or
irreparable psychological damage. In this case, the
reason for the barking is as unfathomable as the reason
for a psychotic person’s shouting. A psychotic dog may
very well be un-trainable, and one might be tempted to
use the shock collar. It would take a philosopher to
discuss the moral implications of using a shock collar
on an insane animal versus using a shock collar on your
average animal, but if reasonable use is the only thing
between the dog and the pound, maybe it’s worth
considering. However, if the animal has any tendency to
be aggressive, the shock could drive it into violence.
(When a gun-dog website cautions against the use of
shock collars, you’ve got to think twice about their
helpfulness.)
For more articles on shock and choke collars, follow
these URLs.
www.apbc.org.uk/article2.htm (Association of Pet
Behaviour Counsellors)
www.sfspca.org/behavior/dog_library/choke.pdf (San
Francisco SPCA)
www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May96/bark.hrs.html
www.cambridge.news.co.uk/archives/2000/02/29/lead9.html
www.petplanet.co.uk/petplanet/news/news_archive/choke_chains.htm
|
