Shock collars for dogs that chase cats and horses?

Question

What's your opinions? Our German Shephard will chase the barn cats and bark at/chase our horses. We like to keep him off the leash when we take him to our country farm (GREAT EXERCISE!), and I have worked on him healing by my side when I'm out doing chores. But, there are times when he leaves my side to "speak" to the barn cats or our horses (all the animals are our's, so there's no worry of our dog bothering other people's livestock and pets). When the dog finally bit one of our horses on the nose, and when another turned to kick at the dog, we thought that "enough was enough." Leash is out of the question. Tying up to a tree defeats the exercise purpose. So, we purchased a shock collar. I must admit, I hated the idea, but it has been VERY effective. Now, our dog responds to the simple tone- we don't use the shock component anymore!

Opinions???

to elaborate, he's been formally introduced to all of our horses and cats. He's timid around the animals, especially "black kitty" who swats at him all the time (he leaves black kitty alone!) I think he gets guts when he's at a dead run and he does the chasing, barking, and sometimes nipping thing because he's unsure, scared, or insecure with himself. :-)

Answer 1

I don't believe in the shock collar. i think it is cruel. i use a water bottle to train my dogs. they are afraid of the water bottle

Answer 2

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/OlhCJ

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
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Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 3

I saw a horse at a horseshow cave a Boxer dog's ribs in with one well-placed kick. You absolutely, positively have to keep your dog from chasing horses, or even just from getting near enough to scare them.

I used a shock collar to keep my dog from barking. Before I put it on him, I tested it on myself to evaluate how hard the shock was, and I found that even at the maximum level, it was startling and unpleasant, but not excruciatingly painful or torturous.

I then spent some time observing a friend's dog that had been wearing the collar for some time. This dog was a high-strung little Miniature Pinscher. She never manifested any fear of the collar, stood quietly while my friend put it on her, and never showed any signs of stress or anxiety that I could see. I concluded that the collar was humane enough to use and I was not disappointed. It worked very well.

I think if you have any question about how hard the shocks are, you need to test it on yourself to answer that question. It's the only way you're going to know for sure.

That said, if your dog when wearing it does not appear anxious or fearful, and if the collar is used conservatively for the purpose for which it is intended, it is humane. (Any training aid can be used inhumanely if used improperly.)

That said, I really think you want to give some serious thought to letting your dog off the leash, particularly when you aren't close enough to stop him if he gets in danger. Things can happen very, very fast, and the saddest thing in the whole world is regret for a situation that could be preventable. At the very least I would say that you should never let your dog off the leash when he isn't in your sight.

Answer 4

Well we had a dog that chased our horses and the shock collar worked except he learned that if he wasn't wearing the collar he could do whatever so we had to keep it on him all the time. We would yell at him to quit and when he didn't we gave him a zap it stopped right away. We also have had other dogs that we never did get chasing horses out of them its too much fun. Take him on a leash and bring him out to the horses and try a formal introduction. Walk him around them and tell him "no" if he trys to nip or pulls on the leash to get at them sometimes that works.

Answer 5

living on a horse farm myself you can't put up with any misbehavior from any animal especially one that chases the horses (i kinda expect any dog to chase cats) but the fact that he bit one of your horses is unexeceptable and i think you made the right decision if that happened here he would have had to leave or worse we had to do the same thing with an austrailian shephard we had when i was a child she liked to run deer which is illegal where i am from and if any1 see's a dog chasing a deer they can shoot your dog so we got her a shock collar and it worked, the only problem we ever had was she got wet and when we tried to stop her from running it gave her more of a shock so be careful and make sure you reward him when he listens without the collar

Answer 6

i am getting a shock collar for my dog, he chases tires. it is very affective. the shock stops the dog in their tracks and they go no further. the dog whisperer recommends the shock Collar. good luck

Answer 7

Shock collars are great if used properly. Good luck.

Answer 8

you feel as if it is cruel & you want the majority to tell you its not. if it was an effective training tool & you only had to use it a few times to get your point across, then i think you used a training tool properly.

Answer 9

Totally against any electrical devices used for training. Fear and pain is not a good way to gain trust.JMO

Answer 10

I use one for my six year old child. It works well. He is very well behaved now.