What is it to bring up a dog?
According to Larousse, it is:
« to train someone by developing and developing their personality » ;
« to teach someone the uses of society » ;
« to develop a skill through appropriate exercises ».
The anti-barking collar does not meet 1) ; it may possibly meets 2) if the side effets are ruled out and 3) if using an aversive tool is deemed as appropriate.
So I dare to bear it out that this is not an educational tool, because the most important part for me is to be integrated into the home and/or the society while feeling fulfilled. To raise a dog in the best conditions, knowing how he/she perceives the world, how he/she communicates (that is to say how he/she sends and receives messages), how he/she learns and remembers, seems to me to be a minimum of efforts to provide on our part while we ask so much from them to integrate into a human society.
Why do dogs bark?
Because it is part of their communication, just as how they wags their tails or place their ears or lick their own lips or a whole panoply of other elements. If you wish dogs that never bark, let me introduce Bluie and Doudou. Otherwise, even though some breeds vocalize less than others, every dogs can express themselves with their vocal cords. They then express joy, anger, fear, disgust, surprise, sadness… In fact, emotions. Just like in humans, the dogs’ emotions are not controllable. They feel them spontaneously for a short time. They cannot regulate them ; it is their expression that they can learn to modify. Their intentions can be just as varied : for example, pushing away an unpleasant being or object or attracting attention to an empty water bowl or inviting to play.
How does the shown anti-barking collar work ?
Attached to the dog's neck, the points against the dog's throat, the collar whistles then vibrates at each vocalization and vocal vibration of whoever is wearing it. The dog barks, growls, grumbles, squeals, he/she receives as a result a shrill sound and a vibration. The goal is that this unpleasant consequence for him/her prompts him/her to stop the behavior he/she just did. Regardless of the context, that tool does not discriminate according to what is felt, according to what is expressed, according to the context, all vocal manifestations are put at the same level and treated in the same way.
The effectiveness of this tool is controversial for several reasons. To mention some of them :
not all dogs are receptive to learning with an aversive tool : some associate the behavior and the consequence as soon as the first time, others understand after several repetitions, some others develop resistance leading to increasing the volume ;
as that collar does not discriminate, it removes the expression of the positive emotions as well ;
the dog figures out that a behavior is not to do again by avoiding something unpleasant as a consequence (this does not mean that he/she knows what behavior to perform instead if it has not been taught to him/her). Negative emotions being more effective for memorization than positive ones, whatever he/she has to express vocally (joy or anger), he/she abstains.
The emotion that has prompted the vocalizing behavior is not suppressed, only the behavior. Faced with the need to express it, the dog will change his/her strategy. Only the tip of the iceberg is treated with that type of tool.
As the dog learns through associations amongst other things, if he/she is watching or hearing something or someone who usually does not inspire him/her in anything aversive, or even inspires him/her in something positive, he/she eventually associates that thing or that person with the collar. For example, if while playing with a child he/she is used to barking lightly, playing and watching the child ends up announcing the unpleasant effects of the collar. To avoid them, he/she also avoids what is associated with them (if on top of that he/she does not develop an aversion to them).
Some dogs become pessimists, that is to say that they no longer expect much daily, no longer take decisions.
The relationship with the humans may deteriorate.
Why does that kind of collar is advised ?
My opinion - which is my own and personal one - is how easily it seems to solve the annoyance of barking. I will not mention the professionals who know dogs feel and learn, who are therefore supposed to be aware of the consequences of that tool and make the deliberate choice to use it (whatever their reasons). About the other people, I hope they are humans who are well-meaning towards the owner, but ignorant of the ins and outs of using an aversive to teach a rule (in the occurrence, with that collar attached to the dog’s neck, never use vocalizations, under any circumstances). Those people may witness the master’s discomfort, even his/her dismay or distress in solving a situation. Their intention would be to come up with a solution that quickly relieves the human being. For the human being to whom it is suggested, it can sometimes be difficult not to give way to it. The negative emotions filled with by barking can urge to opt for that solution without meaning any harm, in order to sometimes avoid other negative consequences (isolation, eviction, abandonment...). Resisting social pressure, family pressure, the call to the law, is far from easy. That causes negative stress which sometimes leads to "least worse" decisions. It can also be complicated to stand up intellectually, without knowledge, with just your good feelings for your doggy, against people to whom you care morally, emotionally, or who have an ascendancy. Furthermore, the price of the collar shown as an example is also quite attractive. On the other hand, is the cost of its use worth it and not more expensive to correct its consequences on the emotional state of doggy ?
I tested it
First of all I would like to point out that I take no pleasure in inflicting something potentially unpleasant on myself. First, by blowing on its back : it whistles. If my ears did not like it, I cannot imagine those of a dog (knowing dogs can hear frequencies up to 50,000 hertz while the human beings perceives them between 16,000 and 30,000) . Then, I put it against my throat and said a few words. It whistled then vibrated. My first impression : I was surprised (emotion that prepares the body for what follows). My second sensation was a feeling of rejection. No matter how strong the collar was, I felt disgust and anger. And yet, I find this test on myself irrelevant ! Beyond the auditory aspect and sensitive to touch (I am thinking for example of a dog who could not stand the touching and would have feel that collar vibrating), a dog has no other choice but to undergo it, he/she can't escape his/her collar. Unlike me at that time, he/she has no control other than being silent. At no time can he/she take it off or stop it as it becomes emotionally tiring. As soon as that it is placed around his/her neck, his/her only solution not to undergo this, to avoid something unpleasant, is to control him/herself by constant negative stress so as not to perform a natural behavior for him/her, to express him/herself by vocalizations.
A few cases as examples…
D. is a rottweiler I knew when I was a teenager. When he was being petted, he slightly growled. That sounded like purring. That was a way for him to express joy in addition to waddling and asking for more when we stopped. No aversive collar was used for him.
S. panicked, barking louder and more hysterically, running frenetically everywhere, the only time he was wearing that kind of collar. He did not learn the consequences of his behavior for his emotional state was intense and negative. After that, he found comfort and support with his owner.
H. who was submitted to an e-collar that reacted everytime his throat vibrated no longer emitted any vocalize. When he had to warn he was feeling uncomfortable when a person was likely to walk over him by walking backwards without seeing him, he bit. When he had joy to express, he snapped in the air nervously. I do not know what happened to him in the end
O. charged me when we met. He barked and growled, showing himself impressive. I could have entered into confrontation with him, used that kind of collar. One of the risks is that, if it is not used under control and very accurately (but here, it is only the vibrations and sounds of the dog that trigger it), O. would begin to consider that seeing me staring at him and then barking at me triggers that tool. Therefore, would he have understood that looking at me is risky ? How do I improve the relationship then ? Would he have understood that it's better if I did not see him see me looking at him to charge me ? What strategic choice would he have made to indicate his unease to me ? I opted to send him the message that I am not a threat in a language he could understand (especially as assessing his profile disclosed him to be full of fears). Over time, our relationship grew to the point that when he sees me, he greets me for ten minutes with joy !
What solutions do you get once you have thrown away and/or relinquished that kind of collar ?
Among others :
learn the dog's language in order to understand him/her better ;
assess your expectations in relation to the situation and accept that you have a being endowed with sensitivity with you ;
give you breaks by placing the dog in boarding for example (some are real summer camps for doggies) ;
teach him to deal with his/her emotions that cause the disturbing behavior and help him/her to redirect his/her expressive needs towards something that will satisfy both of you ;
be supported by a professional who explain to you with kindness towards you how to educate your canine partner differently.
Some approaches take longer, but the relationship as well as the evolution of the dog is just a treat.
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