by R.A. Scott

Created on: August 27, 2008   Last Updated: June 19, 2009

There have, over the years, been many methods of training mans' best friend. Many have involved pain and cruelty yet others have involved more gentle manners of training. There has always been a choice of training types depending on what you felt was the best method for you. Many methods have been discarded over the years because they were cruel to the dog.

One of the methods that are available today for training your dog is a shock collar. The fact is that I have never used a shock collar and there is no way I would even think about using one. Why? Because even the idea of using a shock collar is repulsive to me.

There would be no way I would ever wear a shock collar so why would I ask my best friend to wear one? The very nature of shock collars is appalling to me. Aversion therapy is something that, for the most part, is something psychologists have given up using on humans because it is not as effective as other methods of therapy.

Aversion therapy began in 1932 and today is, sometimes, used in addiction therapy. Aversion therapy involves associating events with negative stimuli as opposed to positive stimuli. In the human world there are concerns about the morality and the legality of such therapy. Many people don't have the concern for animals and especially dogs so they use the shock collar as a training method.

If you are going to use shock collars on your dog why then would you not use it on your child? Your children are often in need of basic training for any number of things. So why not clasp an electric collar around little Johnny's neck and shock him when and if he gets out of line. Why not?Because it's cruel, that's why!

Shock collars are cruel and unusual punishment at a time when you're not supposed to punishing little Fido. When your dog does something wrong he gets a shock and this continues until Fido comes around to your way of thinking. Nice, huh?

Yep, just zap old Rover, your beloved family pet, until Rover sits on command. Why not just stick a cattle prod up his butt! Sure, and if that doesn't work just smack him around a wee bit with a baseball bat. Yeah, that's all you need to do to train your dog.

Training your dog should be a pleasant experience for both you and you little pal. Pain should never be a part of your dogs' life experience and why would you want it to be? No, your pet should have a great and wonderful life with as little pain as possible and that means no shock collars for training your dog. Find a method that doesn't involve cruelty there are plenty of them.

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