Worldwide Debate on Shock and Prong Collars, Where Are They Banned and Why?

Did you know that using shock and prong collars on dogs is banned and illegal in many parts of the world? There's a reason that localities and entire countries have taken this action. This episode will tell you where they are currently banned worldwide and some of the reasons why.

Ever wonder if the tools you're using to train your dog could be doing more harm than good - especially in the area of behavioral issues like aggression? Prepare to have your views on canine discipline challenged as I, Scott Sheaffer, take you through a thought-provoking journey examining the contentious use of shock and prong collars in dog training.

This episode ventures beyond the surface of traditional methods and digs into the psychological repercussions that such devices may impose on our dogs. You'll gain insights into the global perspective on these tools and discover where they've been outright banned—a testament to the shifting tides in animal welfare and behavior understanding.

The conversation doesn't stop at the theoretical; it inludes actionable advice for handling dog aggression. I address a common dilemma many dog owners face: the dreaded 'brakes on' moment when your dog locks eyes with another canine. You'll learn why the conventional approach might not be effective and uncover alternative strategies to maintain peace without instilling fear or pain.

This is more than just a discussion—it's essential information for any dog owner looking to foster a harmonious relationship with their pet through compassionate, science-based training techniques. So, leash up and prepare to take a walk on the enlightened side of dog training with me as your guide.

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About Scott Sheaffer
Scott Sheaffer, CCBC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA, is a certified dog behavior consultant who has worked with thousands of dog owners and their aggressive dogs. Scott specializes in the assessment and treatment of fear, anxiety, aggression, and phobias in dogs six months and older.

Disclaimer
If your dog is aggressive toward humans, consult an experienced, certified canine behavior consultant immediately and ensure your dog cannot harm anyone. This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace professional guidance. Scott Sheaffer and USA Dog Behavior, LLC, are not liable for outcomes resulting from the advice provided.

Transcript

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 0:00

Hi everyone. Let's pretend it's the 1950s and a kid can't solve a math problem on the board. He's in school. Teachers ask him to go up to the board and work out a problem like every kid's nightmare. The school teacher gets impatient with his slowness and hits the kid with a ruler to make him learn faster and get faster. You know, the reality is that's really what used to happen and of course we know now that is that's silly. That's not how people learn and that's not how dogs learn.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 0:35

Today's episode is titled the Title Shift in Attitudes about Shock Collars and Prong Collars. There are, believe it or not, still dog trainers around who use and teach the use of these tools shock and prong collars. We've covered why I don't like them and why they're not beneficial, even harmful to dogs, and we've talked about those in other episodes. Some people call shock collars. Just a little note here Some people call shock collars ecollars for electronic collars. But guess what? They're shock collars and they hurt the dog with electricity. And the term ecollars is a euphemism, a way of making it sound better. There's a reason why they say ecollars now instead of shock collars, because they don't really want to talk about them too much. And then, of course, we always hear with shock collars the following but the trainer said he has it on the lowest level. Well, guess what? It's still hurting the dog. Studies have shown that even the lowest levels of stimulation, even vibration, after being connected with the shock, can have negative consequences for dogs, leading to increased aggression, not less depression, stress. There's just really not a good way to use these, in my opinion. I have a current client right now she's just great and she asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. She said what country, city, states, whatever have outlawed shot collars and prom collars, baby? And I thought I've never really thought about that before. I know there were some places around the world that do that, but how pervasive is that? That would be a great way for us to know global attitudes about these tools by researching this question. Well, good news for you. I did the research and let me tell you it took a long time, but that's what I'm here for is to take this good information and get it to you. In today's episode, we're gonna answer this question how do people around the world feel about using shock and prom collars on dogs? And, specifically, I'm gonna share my research on where they are outlawed, and I think this is a great indicator. Stay tuned.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 3:02

Welcome to the Dog Aggression Answers podcast. I'm Scott Sheaffer, your host and a certified expert in dog behavior. With the background of helping thousands of aggressive dogs and their owners, I'm here to share humane, science-based solutions for your dog's aggression. Stay tuned, before we start our discussion on shock and prom collars, I wanna just answer, if you don't mind, just for a second here, a quick listener question, and the reason I bring this up now is this is a question I get all the time, all the time, and let me just throw it in here real quickly. It's kind of related to today's topic, but not really. Let me just pose it right now and answer it.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 3:45

The listener's name is Danielle O and this is her message what do I do if my dog puts on the brakes when she sees another dog and there is no way to avoid the dog? She usually gets very aggressive when this happens. What do I do to keep her more calm? Well, let me answer this for you. Many people, if not most dog owners, think the right thing to do is just to stop, make the dog sit, try to keep them somewhat under control until the threat goes by. That is exactly the opposite of the thing you should be doing, and I'm gonna make a quick analogy here so you'll know what I mean.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 4:25

Let's say I was walking with you and we're walking by a big pile of snakes, rattles, snakes we have plenty of those here in Texas and we're gonna walk about three or four feet away from these snakes and you said to me Scott, you know, don't we kind of need to move away or get the heck out of here? No, we're gonna walk right up to these snakes and we're gonna sit down and you need to be calm while they hopefully slither away. But, Scott, we're only a few feet away. I'm kind of nervous. Just sit down and be calm. You see, that point I'm making. This is what happens when we make a dog sit and force them to endure that dog walking by, or if they're human, reactive, same thing that human walking by. Here's what you wanna do instead Keep Moving, always keep moving, but keep moving by walking calmly, with no behavioral cueing, which means no micro management of the leash, and you're changing your speed, you're slowing down, you're speeding up. Just stay relaxed on the leash, keep moving at the same speed.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 5:36

And I have an episode on handling skills, leash skills, in one of my earlier episodes. You see that and I even have a free video. I'll send you on that if you watch that episode and always, of course and you know this from prior episodes provide whatever distance is needed from that trigger, whether it's human or dog. The threshold distance Again, I cover that in prior episodes you need enough distance. You're going to keep moving, but you need enough distance so the dog doesn't feel too stressed, just like you would like to have a distance from those rattlesnakes. All of this is much less stressful to your dog. It's not going to really fix the situation, but it's not going to add to the problem.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 6:16

And now back onto prong and shock collars. Let's talk about how people around the world feel about these things. From a worldwide perspective, where prong and shock collars are outlawed is how we're going to measure this. I give you some comments after I give you this information. All right, let's just start talking about countries, these, where these things are banned. England, not currently banned, but soon will be Plans to ban shock collars starting in February of 2024. So that's just a few months. The following countries I'm going to mention have already banned the use of shock collars in dog training and in dog behavior work on dogs period.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 6:59

I was surprised, I'll be honest with you, when I did all this research how many countries are included in this list. Unfortunately and sadly, the United States, where I live, is not on this list. There are some pending exceptions in the United States, some laws that are coming, and I'll note those in a second. Okay, here are some countries that currently outlaw the use of shock collars. Some specify prong collars, but I'm really focusing in on shock collars. I have some comments about prong collars on some of these. Here they are the Netherlands, scotland, denmark, norway, sweden, austria, switzerland, germany, slovenia, the Netherlands, finland and New Zealand. Isn't that incredible those countries? Those countries have outlawed at least shock collars nationwide. I just think that's so great.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 7:56

Now let's talk about a couple of partials here. The first one is Australia. The following states in Australia have banned their use. Not all of Australia, but these states New South Wales, south Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. The next country is Canada. The following provinces have banned their use British Columbia and Quebec.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 8:21

Now let's talk about my home country, the United States. Well, sadly, there are no federal laws or nationwide laws about prong collars or shock collars. There are a few things pending City of San Francisco, california, who tends for those of you who don't live in the United States, they tend to lead the nation on these kinds of laws, which is kind of cool. There's pending legislation for this, but as of now they are still allowed. New York State same thing as the state New York Frequently and California, but New York tends to lead the nation on these kinds of things. In New York, a legislative proposal has been introduced to ban the sale of shock collars for dogs. So nothing yet, but it's pending, it's been proposed and we're just behind. I have to tell you we're just behind in the United States. That's really all that's going on, and I sure would like us to catch up with those 14 other countries, and 14 large countries, I might add, that are way ahead of us on that.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 9:23

Okay, some closing comments here. This geographic breakdown demonstrates to me the global trend against these kinds of punishing collars, especially shock collars, a trend I really like, and I think it's really empirical. When you sit down and look at 14 major countries 12, the entire country has their outlawed. That tells you something. There must not be a great thing with these collars. These collars must not be so wonderful.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 9:52

The challenge I'm going to give to e-commerce and retail pet supply stores is to stop selling these. Many have already stopped selling these, and I guess it's really a lot to ask the people that make these things to stop selling them. Make something else Now. For those of you who are hunters out there, I know that they use these in hunting dog training. This is a real common tool to use, and they'll say, well, they're so far away, we need the distance thing and all this. But you know what, believe it or not, that is a trend that's also changing. Active hunting dog training is now on the move, and I am so excited to see it. Here's the thing it's just like with pet dog training using shot collars Short term gain, long term pain. It maybe takes a little bit longer to train without shot collars and prawn collars, but the benefits in the long run are so great, and they also apply to hunting dogs too.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 11:00

And I have a challenge for everyone else who's using or thinking about using shot collars or prawn collars on your dog Please do your research, don't you know? Just don't listen to me. I mean listen to my other podcast episodes where I go into detail about a lot of these things. But do your other research with legitimate science based ethologists and ethology is animal psychology and learn from multiple sources again, not just me why these things can be so bad in the long haul and why so many countries are banning them. Please do this. Listen and you all, if you've been listening to this podcast, you know this I'm an advocate for the most effective dog behavior tools available.

Scott Sheaffer, CBCC-KA, CDBC, CPDT-KA: 11:45

I'm also an advocate for your dog. I am. I love dogs. You know this. I'm an advocate for your dog. I hope to be a voice for your dog. And finally and most importantly, please know this, I'm an advocate for you because you wouldn't be listening to this episode if you didn't love dogs and specifically love your dog or dogs. I'm on your side. I know how frustrating having a reactive or aggressive dog can be, but we want to use the right tools and we can affect change. Thanks for listening. Thanks for tuning in today. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and leave a review if this information is helpful. I always appreciate your insights, so visit dogaggressionanswerscom if you'd like to leave me a message Before we wrap up. This podcast offers educational insights, but for serious dog aggression issues, always consult directly with a certified dog behavior consultant. See you next time and stay tuned.