I don't like shock collars...

[maygunn]

Because I believe they are wrong. My dad told me that I needed to get one for my Bandit because he barks when someone comes in the house, only when I am home though. But I do NOT want to put one on him at all. They are inhuman to me, and just wrong. It's like putting one on a person because they cuss all the time. They would think it was wrong if they had one on.
My dog will not wear one. If he buys one I am throwing it away or he can take it back to the store.

[Baxnfursmom]

I agree. I would not use a shock collar on any dog especially on a Sheltie.

Shelties are a very sensitive breed and nothing good would come of using this kind of discipline with one. Positive training methods get much better results with Shelties or any dog for that matter.

I live alone and have a dog because they warn me when something out of the ordinary is going on, a person approaching the house, unusual noises outside etc. I do not mind their barking at all as long as it's not excessive.

[LisaM77]

I agree, I don't like them either. I have a friend who used one successfully with her Jack Russell but she was in a situation where she needed a quick fix and fortunately it worked almost immediately.

As owners we take on the role of trainers and we do have a responsibility to raise and train 'good citizen canines' and part of that is making sure the barking is at an acceptable level. However, everyone in a sheltie household has to accept there will be a certain amount of barking.

There are other devices for reducing/eliminating barking but I believe good training is the best option - it just means a heap more time investment (and patience) in doing the training. But all training helps the bond to grow. The only reason I'd try anything else is if the problem barking only occurred when the dogs are left alone and the neighbours complained (like happened with my friend and her Jack Russell) - but even that could probably be worked on if you got creative enough and the neighbours weren't too wound up.

[SheltiePlanet]

Good for you Maygunn. It would kill me to see a shock collar on a Sheltie, they are just so sensitive and it is totally unnecessary and inhumane. I think there are VERY few circumstances and VERY few types of dogs where shock collars can be justified. Even then I have my doubts.

[LisaM77]

In the book I'm reading at the moment they talk about those invisible fences a little bit - the ones that 'shock' the dog if they cross over it to deter them from straying too far. I was pleased to read they emit a few beeps before the shock so the dog becomes conditioned to the beeps rather than the shock. I wonder if normal shock collars do that...

I've often wondered if a shock collar would work on a sheltie with a coat like Moose's anyway - I wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't get through it all to actually work!

[UTVOL06]

I think shock collars should only be used on severely misbehaved stubborn dogs.

[BDunn]

I think there's many alternatives to a shock collar. You can buy illusion collars of Cesar Millan's website. I have one of those for when I take Mika for a walk, and it seems to work great.

It's kind of 2 collars in one. One part sits at the neck where a normal collar would, and one sits a bit higher. Where normal collars sit, it's at a strong, conditioned part of their neck, so when you tug it, the dog is already conditioned to the pulling. However, the illusion collar sits a bit higher, so that when you give it a yank, it's easy to snap the dog out of the wrong state of mind.