Believe it or not, I got bitten by a dog and it wasn’t at all related to work. For any of you out there who think it’s OK to use a shock collar, think again. Turns out that I was bitten while I was meeting a random dog.
When shock collars are being used for basic obedience, this is how they are used… The person continually shocks the dog until the dog does the desired behavior. For example, if being trained to sit, the person continuously shocks the dog and as soon as the dog sits, the shock stops. This technique has become more popular in the past few years.
The woman told me it was OK for me to meet her dog and since her dog was excited to meet me, she decided she would put the dog in a sit. Unbeknownst to me, she was using a shock collar to do this. So basically, I’m right in front of a dog that’s being shocked Which as you know, is painful for the dog. And he just bit the shit out of me.
It is a very bad bite. He bit me in the bicep. Four puncture wounds. The dog had never done anything aggressive, according to the owner. The scary part is that the dog didn’t just bite me, he bit me really badly.
Dogs actually know how to control their bite. He could have just nipped me and caused a bruise or he could have lightly Bitton me and maybe punctured with one tooth but he gave me a serious bite. The only things that would have made it worse is if he did multiple bites or had shaking his head while latching onto my arm.
I feel really bad for the owner and talked with her for a while and one of the things I told her was to throw away the shock collar. frankly, I blame the shock collar not her, not me, not the dog. I believe if she wasn’t shocking while I was standing there, the dog wouldn’t have bitten me. I wish I could sue the dog trainer. I blame the dog trainer bc she made the choice to put this dog in a shock collar.
So don’t let any dog trainer tell you that the shock collar is just a vibration, doesn’t hurt, all the bullshit things they are going to tell you. They do damage to the dog. Psychologically. Shocking your dog only makes your dog distrust you and fear you. And the likelihood of him turning aggressive towards the owner or other humans, can happen as a result.
source: Fb post by Karen Levy