Update! Why not to use shock collars

[dontpugme]

Today my English teacher handed back our persuasive essays. It took her a long time because she also had to grade more than 70 others. Please keep in mind that i'm not a trainer or dog expert. I'm just a kid in school that wrote about a dog related topic. I know there are probably going to be a lot of things that are incorrect, but i don't know too much about dog psycology. My persuasive essay is about why shock collars should be banned in the United States. Teacher said that overall the grades were low because there was a lot of criteria. I got a pretty good grade considering the fact that the average grade was about a mid 80. The things in parentheses are parenthetical citations. They were supposed to help with my works cited page. They were one of the required criteria and was where a lot of people lost credit. I think the hardest part was expressing my personal opinion without the use or 1st or 2nd person. Well...here it is.

Shocking Truths Be Told

Recently, doggy discipline has been particularly harsh. Lazy owners are diverting from the old rolled-up newspaper, and are turning to electricity to gain “obedience.” Now, dog owners are attempting to accomplish this in the practice of using shock collars in training. Most shock collars consist of two parts. The first goes around the dog’s neck like a normal collar. The collar has a small box and two metal probes that lie against the dog’s skin. The owner holds a remote that controls when electricity will be sent through the metal probes to shock the dog. The remote also directs how strong the shock feels. Shock collars are used in negative reinforcement and positive punishment dog training. Negative reinforcement includes punishing the dog in any way until the desired behavior is expressed, while positive punishment involves pairing something unpleasant to the dog with a behavior unwanted by its owner. Shock collars should be banned because they are not fully effective, damaging to the human/dog relationship, and dangerous.

Shock collars are ineffective because their results are never permanent. Victoria Stilwell, a positive reinforcement dog trainer on Animal Planet, has expressed her opinion on methods like the shock collar in an easy-to-remember statement. It is simply, “Quick fixes very quickly come unstuck.” A dog that is shocked for a behavior is likely to repeat the behavior when the shock collar is removed. Because shock collars are commonly used in training dogs with aggressive response, many of these dogs become more aggressive. Repeated shocks can also suppress warning signs of aggression, and can make a dog unpredictable (Shock Collars). Aggression comes from fear, and shock collars worsen that anxiety. Aggressive shock collar victims see its source of terror as a source of pain and react even more than prior to the shock collar. The dog may turn to fierce bites, and may be deemed a dangerous dog. Anything can happen after that.

Dogs should feel confident with their owners. Shock collars damage the relationship between the two. This happens because the dog will see its owner as a source of pain. The dog will stop trusting its owner; therefore, it will stop respecting and listening to its owner. A dog may also attack its owner at random because the dog could feel the need to defend itself. “Be the pack leader.” is a common expression among pack-theory trainers like Cesar Millan (Millan). Millan became popular from his show on the National Geographic Channel. His show has received many criticisms for his use of methods that include shock collars. Millan has been bitten multiple times on his show, which shows how damaging shock collars are. Methods that involve shock collars are very forceful, which is not the norm in dog behavior. In dogs, submission is freely given, and when using forceful methods like the shock collar, the dog sees its owner not as a person to trust, but as a haunting bully. This does not create a stable relationship between a dog and an owner.

A dog’s health is the biggest priority of responsible dog owners. Shock collars can severely impact a dog’s health. Many shock collars are not water proof and can malfunction in rain (McKinnon). When a shock collar malfunctions it repeatedly sends electricity at random levels, sometimes sending twelve volt shocks or higher. A dog named Rufus was left outside by his owner wearing his shock collar. It started to rain, and Rufus was still outside with the shock collar around his neck. “It appeared that Rufus had been tortured for many hours!” said Pat Miller, who had observed the burns inflicted on Rufus. Shock collars can also cause seizures and severe psychological damage. Changes to the dog’s heart and respiration rates can cause heart and lung damage (HowStuffWorks). Shock collars can also provoke cardiac fibrillation, when the heart’s atria quiver instead of contracting properly, and gastrointestinal disorders (Atrial). Because shock collars can make aggression worse, a dog may be judge as a dangerous dog, and may be quarantined or put down (Toft).

Some dog trainers believe shock collars are safe and humane, even though the inflicted pain is anything but. These kinds of trainers say that their bullying with shock collars is a force-free method. They say shock collars are humane because they can be set to levels that only feel like a tap or tickle, but many trainers that use shock collars set the shock level to the highest intensity allowable. These “trainers” say shock collars are only for people with precise timing and a strong comprehension of dog behavior, yet shock collars are easily available to the public. “Trainers” that use shock collars are being criticized by the Association of Pet Behaviour Counselors and the Humane Society of the United States. The alternative to shock collars is clicker training through positive reinforcement. A clicker is a small, plastic box with a metal button. When pushed, the button makes a distinct, unique sound that marks a desired behavior the second it is expressed. This type of positive training creates a stronger bond between a dog and an owner.

The use of shock collars show how weak and lazy humans are when they have to resort to harsh training methods. Because they are ineffective, damaging to a sacred relationship, and dangerous, shock collars should be banned. Dog training styles that involve shock collars are setting training back many years. Science has proven that to train positively makes a dog feel more confident and secure. Victoria Stilwell says, “Education brings security, security brings confidence, and a confident dog has no need to show anxiety-based behaviors.” Shock collars do not give education, they give confusion. When modern society has kinder techniques, why would a shock collar be needed? They should be banned, for they are not required anymore. There are about 77.5 million dogs in the United States (Humane Society). People should throw away these devices and start developing a trusting bond with their dogs. A trainer once said, “To use shock as an effective dog training method you will need: a thorough understanding of canine behavior, a thorough understanding of learning theory, impeccable timing. And if you have those three things, you don’t need a shock collar (Say No).”

[Fundog]

EXCELLENT. Well said. Your teacher must be a tough egg to crack, if this didn't get you an A.

[dontpugme]

I did actually! 94...waddya think...not too shabby.

[Nettle]

That was a first-class piece of work - well done!

[Mattie]

Well done, reward yourself with some chocolate

[dontpugme]

Thanks!

[***Melissa***]

I started to cry when I read the part about Rufus

94 is awesome!! Well done!! I think it's a great piece. Can't you send the essay to your school newspaper or something? That would be so cool - then more people can read it

Anyway, I think it's great!!

[emmabeth]

Brilliant stuff and a well deserved A!

[Fundog]

*Bumping this up!*

[dontpugme]

My class is just starting our next writing assignment: the research essay. I'm doing mine on raw feeding. I already got Raw Dog Food by Carina Beth Macdonald and The BARF Diet by Dr. Ian Billinghurst. Any good website or other book suggestions????

Apparently we're gonna be working on this for a few months because all we have done up untill now are our topic proposal paragraphs and our research folders. We're gonna do the whole source cards and note cards thing. This year, I'm not too worried about my grade. My old teacher was really tough on my essays, but I think I have gotten better, and my new teacher really likes what I've been writing so far. Plus I feel like my grades are higher and my writing is better when I write about dog related topics. (We wrote essays on one of our heroes. I wrote one on Victoria and got a 100. We recently had to take a career test and write a buisness letter to an expert in one of your fields. My test results were really spread out, so I chose to write to a CAAB. We haven't gotten the graded letters back yet, but I know I got a 99)

[nightsrainfall]

What are you going to be researching about for the RAW and BARF diets? These are articles I have collected through the years whenever RAW or BARF diet questions came up, but since I don't have a dog - I haven't come to an opinion on it which is why their topics are kind of all over the place. I'm copying and pasting the information incase you can't follow the links. I'm on a university campus so sometimes I have access to sites because of that.

Raw and rendered animal by-products as ingredients in dog diets.
S. M. Murray, A. R. Patil, G. C. Fahey Jr, N. R. Merchen, and D. M. Hughes
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801, USA.
Journal of Animal Science, Vol 75, Issue 9 2497-2505, Copyright © 1997 by American Society of Animal Science
http://jas.fass.org/cgi/reprint/75/9/2497

Evaluation of the association between feeding raw meat and Salmonella enterica infections at a Greyhound breeding facility
Paul S. Morley, Rachel A. Strohmeyer, Jeanetta D. Tankson, Doreene R. Hyatt, David A. Dargatz, Paula J. Fedorka-Cray,
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association May 15, 2006, Vol. 228, No. 10, Pages 1524-1532
doi: 10.2460/javma.228.10.1524
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10 ... 28.10.1524

The Effect of Diet on the Blood Pressure and Heart Rate of Normal Dogs: Protein and Carbohydrate
C. M. WILHELMJ, V. W. MEYERS, D. P. MILANI, J. R. McDONOUGH, E. M. RACHER, T. F. MCGUIRE, E. B. WALDMANN and H. H. McCARTHY
Circulation Research. 1953;1:419.
© 1953 American Heart Association, Inc.
http://circres.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/1/5/419

Weight Loss in Obese Dogs: Evaluation of a High-Protein, Low-Carbohydrate Diet
Marianne Diez, Patrick Nguyen, Isabelle Jeusette, Claire Devois, Louis Istasse and Vincent Biourge
J. Nutr. 132:1685S-1687S, June 2002
© 2002 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/132/6/1685S.short


Not sure if these are the types of info you are looking for or even the information. I'm sure there are newer studies out there. I don't know of any books, but others probably do!

[dontpugme]

I'm not sure what aspect I'm gonna research yet because I don't know very much yet. Thanks for the links! Definitely checking them out.

[dontpugme]

UPDATE!

I entered this essay in The 2012 Scholastic Writing Competition. I won one of the 113 Gold Keys in my county. The Gold Keys were awarded to top works and will go on to the National Scholastic Writing Competition.


I am so thankful that I discovered this forum because it helped me so much while I was writing my essay. I got a load of great links and tips when l was forming my thesis statement.


Thanks so much guys and Happy Holidays!

[Ari_RR]

Congratulations, this is a great accomplishment.
For those in other countries - this is a big deal, really.

"Submissions are juried by luminaries in the visual and literary arts. Panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.
Gold Key: The highest level of achievement on the regional level."

Both form and substance of your essay are terrific. Good luck at the nationals.

[Erica]

Have some cake as a celebration! That's really great for you!