When my parents walk my dogs, the neighbors say something like
"You have the grandkids over for the weekend?"
Pet shops also call dog owners "pet parents".
Our little furry ones are our children. Our family, yeah.
Shock Collars to Educate Small Dogs?
I wouldn't hit my kids every time they yell or pee in the wrong place.
I wouldn't say, "it's just soft slaps, they won't remember". Or shocks, right? It's just a few volts, for their own good.
Would you? And don't bring out that medieval 5h!t. Think modern times, modern psychology. We have come a long way since then.
Shock collars can make them become withdrawn, fearful, aggressive or messed up in other ways that I don’t want my dogs to be.
We don't freakin do it with our kids. So why do our dogs have to take it?
Distress
You know the Milgram experiment?
In the 60s Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram got volunteers to apply shocks to a "learner" sitting in a separate room.
The volunteers were ordered by an "experimenter" (researcher) to give shocks when the "learner" (an actor helping the researcher) gave wrong answers.
Supposedly it was about testing how the shocks helped a person learn. But it was really about testing obedience to authority when it came to hurting people.
The voltage got higher and higher and the volunteer would hear the "learner" through the door crying and asking for them to stop.
The volunteers would get really tense hearing the pain they were causing. The summary for the study lists these for example: "Profuse sweating, trembling, and stuttering were typical expressions of this emotional disturbance".
As I said. It was a social psychology experiment and not about dogs or shock collars at all.
But here's my point. It's clear the volunteers were messed up when giving stronger shocks and hearing the pain they caused.
How is it with our pet kids?
What if the owner gets a shock every time they give one. One for the pet, one for you, same intensity. Makes you think twice.
Nah. Big, medium or small dog. Don't get a shock collar for your pet.
Animal Rights
Human rights are pretty awesome. Make us think about how we treat each other. At least it should.
We should be all about animal rights too.
More and more countries banned shock collars. In the future, we'll think it was barbaric that we even had such a device. Why not start now?
What if you have a shock collar and your dog is really getting on your nerves? Or you're in a bad mood? How can you be 100% sure you're not abusing the damn collar?
Why not just make sure this never happens?
There are other ways to go about it. Maybe spend more time training the dogs. Hire a more qualified trainer. Or think twice about which dogs you’re getting. Use a real fence. There are enough positive reinforcement methods that won’t trouble the dogs emotionally and psychologically.
Research!
If I'm the one bringing the dog into society, I'm responsible.
Family
My dogs are family. Not a status symbol. Not a cute ornament that we should breed the hell out of until they look like dolls. Not a robot.
If I'm being honest, they're not children. They won't go to college and steal my car. But they can steal my pillow anytime.
And it's my business that my dogs are happy in this crazy human world I brought them to.