spiritdogs
Posted : 3/18/2012 1:01:01 PM
Liesje
I don't use e-collars but I've tried a few on my palms/wrists at various stim levels, some of them don't even register. It's hard to describe the feeling. It is not at all like a carpet shock but more like a current. The only thing I can compare it to is a few times when I unplug computer tables from my power strips at work I am not paying attention and my palm brushes the pin as it's still coming out of the socket so that's the full alternating current coming out of the wall. It's like that but not as powerful.
I have a trainer friend who is currently conducting studies on this. He mentioned that putting one on your arm is not the same as putting one on your neck or the inside of your thigh. Placement means the shock is experienced differently. However mild you think the stimulus is, the fact is that you were expecting it, and for dogs, that is often not the case. Studies show that it is the unexpected nature of an aversive stimulus that may cause more harm. In any case, I DON'T love shock collars (to me, e-collars are those Elizabethan things that vets use to dogs from bothering their stitches). I will never understand how anyone can justify shocking a dog and calling it a reminder, a tap, a stim, etc. Even at low intensity, it's a shock and the only way those collars work is either to cause pain. They are either +P or -R but no matter how you slice it, they are never +R.