“If Used Properly…..”

“If used properly…..” 🙄

There’s something about those three little words that really gets me.

Especially when they’re being used to justify equipment designed to make dogs uncomfortable in order to stop unwanted behaviour.

And unfortunately, I see them ALL the time!

The dog training industry is largely unregulated. Pretty much anyone can decide they’re a dog trainer tomorrow. They can even describe themselves as a behaviourist!

Neither title, by itself, means that person has undergone any checks, assessments or professional training.

And yet, we’re seeing endless videos of “trainers” using “tools” to “fix” dogs. (Yes, I know, that’s an awful lot of quotation marks already! 😏)

E-collars, prong collars, slip leads and grots… all being used to stop dogs barking, lunging, pulling or doing whatever behaviour somebody has decided needs “fixing”.

But hang on a minute. Aren’t harnesses tools? What about flat collars, head collars and ordinary leads? Of course they are! 🤷‍♀️

So what makes one piece of equipment different from another?

Let’s look at how they work.

An e-collar delivers electrical stimulation through contact points resting against the dog’s neck.

A prong collar has metal prongs facing inwards. When pressure is applied, that force becomes concentrated on particular areas of the dog’s neck.

A slip lead or grot tightens around the neck as tension increases. (A slip lead was never designed as a tool to teach - it’s a tool to move a dog to the field, so they didn’t need to wear equipment. Dogs should only wear a slip lead if they can walk well on a lead.)

Now compare those with some of the equipment we use every day.

A harness fits around the body. A flat collar rests around the neck. A head collar fits over the muzzle and around the head, while a lead connects us to whichever piece of equipment we’re using.

But does that mean all of this everyday equipment is automatically comfortable?Absolutely not! A dog might dislike their harness because it rubs, restricts their movement or doesn’t fit properly. Sometimes there may be underlying physical discomfort, including pain, which makes wearing it difficult.

A flat collar might cause discomfort too. Perhaps the dog has a sensitive neck, the collar doesn’t fit well, or some skin or an ear has accidentally been caught when fastening it.

And head collars? Well, they’re a bit more complicated. Some designs tighten around the muzzle when the dog pulls, deliberately making that experience unpleasant. Others are much more like a horse’s bridle and don’t have that tightening action. Even then, the fit matters, and the dog needs a careful, positive introduction. Not every dog will be comfortable with something sitting around their face.

And let’s not forget the humble lead! Even a perfectly ordinary lead can be frustrating. It prevents dogs from freely accessing things they want, whether that’s a smell, an interesting patch of grass, another dog or simply somewhere they’d like to explore.

So yes, equipment can cause discomfort. But there’s something quite different about equipment that might accidentally be uncomfortable and equipment being deliberately used to deliver an unpleasant consequence.

And THAT is the distinction I think we need to talk about.

Why do I have such an issue with using prong collars and e-collars to change behaviour? Because we don’t need to deliberately cause pain, fear or discomfort to teach a dog. And because stopping a behaviour doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve helped the dog. Imagine a dog who sees another dog approaching and starts barking.

They’re frightened. They don’t know how to cope with that situation, so they bark.

Now imagine someone uses an aversive tool to stop them.

The barking stops. Fantastic! Problem solved! 🙄

Except… has it? The dog can still see the other dog. They may still feel frightened. Nothing about that situation has necessarily become easier for them. The only thing we’ve potentially changed is whether they feel able to express that worry through barking. And we’ve possibly added another unpleasant experience to an already difficult situation.

So yes, the behaviour might have stopped.

But has the dog actually learnt to feel safer?

Now think about a dog pulling on the lead. Perhaps they’re excited. Perhaps they’re desperate to investigate a smell. Maybe they want to reach another dog, or they’re finding the environment difficult to manage.

We can make pulling uncomfortable and potentially reduce it.

But what have we taught them?

1. Have we shown them another way to get what they need?

2. Have we developed the skills they need to navigate that environment?

3. Have we even stopped to consider what was motivating the pulling?

4. Or have we simply made one behaviour unpleasant enough that they’re less likely to repeat it?

And there’s another important part of this conversation that often gets overlooked.

Suppressing behaviour can sometimes make the situation worse.

Let’s use growling as an example.

A dog growls because they’re uncomfortable with something. That’s communication! They’re telling us that something isn’t okay. Now, if we punish that growl repeatedly, we may eventually find that the dog stops growling. Lovely! No more growling!

But what happened to the feeling that caused it?

Has that dog suddenly become comfortable?

Not necessarily.

What they may have learnt is that growling results in something unpleasant happening to them.

So the next time they find themselves in that same uncomfortable situation, they might be less likely to growl. But they may still be frightened, worried or uncomfortable. And in some circumstances, that dog could escalate to snapping or biting, potentially without showing as many obvious warning signs beforehand.

I’m not suggesting every dog whose behaviour has been suppressed will become aggressive. But the risk is there, and it’s something we really need to understand.

Removing a dog’s way of communicating doesn’t automatically remove the reason they needed to communicate. In fact, introducing discomfort into an already stressful situation can make the underlying emotional response stronger. And this matters enormously when we’re looking at reactivity. Because barking, lunging and growling aren’t always signs of a dog being naughty, stubborn or trying to take charge.

A dog might be frightened, frustrated, overwhelmed or in pain. They might simply not know how to deal with what’s happening around them. If we’re so busy trying to stop the behaviour, we can completely miss the information the dog is giving us.

Which brings me back to…

“If used properly…..”

What does that actually mean? 🤷‍♀️

Let’s look at it another way.

A knife can be used properly. We use knives every single day to prepare food, cut things and carry out perfectly ordinary tasks. But knives can also be used to cause harm. Simply saying something is safe “if used properly” doesn’t automatically make it harmless, does it? And more importantly, it doesn’t tell us whether using it is necessary or appropriate in the first place.

The same argument applies to dog training equipment. Just because somebody knows how to use a prong collar or e-collar as intended doesn’t mean that the dog isn’t experiencing something unpleasant. In fact, when discomfort is being used to discourage behaviour, that unpleasant experience may be precisely what makes the equipment effective.

So perhaps “if used properly” isn’t quite the reassurance people think it is. 😏

And before somebody says it…

“But my dog doesn’t mind it!”

Maybe your dog doesn’t appear bothered. Maybe they aren’t barking, pulling, lunging or showing obvious distress. But that doesn’t automatically tell us how comfortable they’re feeling.

• A dog can become quieter without becoming calmer.

• A dog can stop reacting without feeling any less worried.

• A dog can walk beautifully beside somebody without actually enjoying that experience.

And a dog can learn to comply because they’ve discovered that certain behaviours lead to unpleasant consequences. This is why I find some of those dramatic before-and-after training videos so concerning.

You know the ones! At the beginning, the dog is barking, lunging, pulling and generally looking as though they’re having a really difficult time.

Then, suddenly, they’re walking quietly beside the trainer. Look! Fixed! 😏

But what are we actually looking at?

• Has the dog become more confident?

• Are they genuinely more relaxed?

• Do they feel safer around whatever was causing the original behaviour?

• Or have they simply learnt to stop expressing themselves in that particular way?

A quiet dog isn’t automatically a comfortable dog. Being still doesn’t necessarily mean they’re relaxed. And doing what they’re told doesn’t necessarily mean they’re confident.

Sometimes the behaviour we’re seeing is only a small part of what’s happening for that dog.

Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that putting a harness on a dog guarantees happiness! Or that a flat collar is always the right choice. Of course it isn’t. Every dog is an individual, and we need to consider their physical comfort, sensitivities, experiences and what equipment is appropriate for them.

But I do think there’s a very important distinction between equipment used to manage a dog safely and equipment used to change behaviour through an unpleasant consequence. And I think that’s a distinction worth understanding.

Because we know so much about dogs and how they learn. We understand more about the relationship between emotion and behaviour.

We know that learning can become difficult when dogs are frightened, overwhelmed or uncomfortable. And we have so many ways to support them!

We can adapt environments to help them succeed.

• We can teach alternative behaviours.

• We can build confidence.

• We can help dogs develop the skills they need.

• We can give them opportunities to make choices and learn from those experiences.

• And we can work towards changing how they feel about the situations they’re struggling with.

All without deliberately using pain, fear or discomfort as our training strategy. Does that mean everything will be easy? Nope! 😂 Will every dog make progress overnight? Absolutely not!

Sometimes progress is slow. Sometimes we need to rethink what we’re doing. Sometimes we need to change our expectations or look more closely at what’s happening for that individual dog.

But isn’t that part of our responsibility as trainers?

To understand the dog in front of us, rather than simply trying to make their behaviour disappear?

Because a dog who no longer barks might still be frightened.

A dog who stops pulling might still be frustrated.

And a dog who appears obedient might still be struggling.

So perhaps the question shouldn’t be whether these tools can be “used properly”. Perhaps we should be asking why we feel the need to use discomfort to change behaviour when we have other ways to teach, support and understand our dogs. Because stopping a behaviour and actually helping a dog are not necessarily the same thing.

Connection, not Correction. ❤️

If you need some support, please email me doghouseftf@gmail.com