Choke, prong and shocks can cause diseases

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jakesmom
Posts: 459
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 5:35 pm

Choke, prong and shocks can cause diseases

Post by jakesmom »

Hi Everyone

Just wondering if you've seen this article. It's very interesting.

http://www.peterdobias.com/community/20 ... to-cancer/
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Sue
Erica
Posts: 2697
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:35 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Choke, prong and shocks can cause diseases

Post by Erica »

I'm not surprised. Onyx had an in,visible fence for maybe two or three years of his life, before it broke and we gave up on it (it never stopped him and our other dog, Mica, wandering in the first place), but the effects are still there - he has hypothyroidism, wonky back legs, licks his forelegs a lot, and has a paralyzed larynx (another "labrador" problem)...has basically all the signs listed in that article. I wish we could go back and never get the stupid thing installed. :( I think Mica would have had a longer, healthier life if we'd had a real fence instead of a horrible invisible one.
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
jakesmom
Posts: 459
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 5:35 pm

Re: Choke, prong and shocks can cause diseases

Post by jakesmom »

Hi Erica

I'm sorry to hear about your dogs. The invisible fence may not have been responsible - who can say. But you can't help but wander and worry - I feel so guilty about so many things I did wrong with my dogs - or the lack of exercise they had etc..........

I hope they've forgiven me for being human.
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Sue
horseluver65
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:12 am

Re: Choke, prong and shocks can cause diseases

Post by horseluver65 »

Wow I didn't realize using a prong collar on my dog could cause so much damage. Guess ill try and train her without one and see how it goes.
jacksdad
Posts: 4887
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:48 pm

Re: Choke, prong and shocks can cause diseases

Post by jacksdad »

I would encourage that even if the health claims are not 100% connected to choke and prong. we do know that choke, prong and shock use pain to achieve their goals. And for me, that is a good enough reason to stop using one of these tools.

All these collars are tools that used correctly potentially could achieve their goals. Problem is most people don't use them correctly. So, you end up with basically a bribe situation. Most people think of bribes as holding a treat in front to the dog's nose to get them to do what they want. In this specific situation, it would be holding a treat to get your dog to walk nicely. So the bribe is see this treat, you will get it if you walk nice. with one of these callers, the bribe is I am putting this one you, if you walk nice you won't feel pain.

again, if used correctly (which means deliberately inflicting pain, verse just letting the dog hit the end of the lease and "causing their own pain") you should be able to reach a point you can put the prong/choke/shock collar on the shelve and not need it. But this rarely happens. people end up using prong collars as management and mistake that for training. If you take off the collar, if the training was done correctly, your dog should walk "correctly". If not, you haven't trained your dog.

In contrast, if you train your dog to walk heel or loose leash, you can do so very effectively without treat bribes, treat rewards (there is a difference) or pain. training will always trump "gadgets" long term.

So, I strongly encourage you and anyone reading this to trade in your prong collars, or choke or shock and take your first steps into a bigger, better world with your dog.

*note, I do not encourage, nor recommend, nor endorse the use of pain to train a dog. just so that is clear*
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