Singaporeans Claim Prong & Shock Collars Inflict More Than Just Physical Pain
Training pets that don’t understand instructions as well as people do may sometimes require a bit of help, in the form of toys or treats. However, some owners may have other tricks in mind, like prong and shock collars that may give quicker results.
On Saturday (17 Oct), 2 Singaporeans set out to prove that this is not a desirable practice, and is in fact, cruel.
Image for illustration purposes only
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To prove their point, they tried the collars on themselves and shared their experience in a Facebook post.
After trying it, they concluded that prong and shock collars inflict pain on dogs both physically and psychologically and thus, should never be used.
Shock collars are extremely uncomfortable & painful
On Saturday (17 Oct), 2 Singaporeans decided to try out prong and shock collars, used to train dogs, for themselves, to see how it feels.
To simulate a realistic scenario, one of them would trigger the shock without warning.
They were hence unable to capture their reactions on camera, but the man explained that he had “no idea how painful it would really be” despite anticipating the discomfort.
He immediately took the collar off for fear of being shocked again.
The Singaporeans said that the cruelty of the shock collar goes beyond just the physical pain administered.
Constantly anticipating the next shock and not knowing when it might come, they claim, is worse than the pain itself.
Prong collar left marks even with minimal force
After the shock collar, the man tried on the prong collar next, which he admitted was less painful.
However, when he tugged on it to ‘check’ himself like how dog owners would, the discomfort was clear.
He then appealed to the public to consider a dog’s feelings if someone did that to them several times without warning.
Upon removing the prong collar, the man noticed distinct, red marks on his neck.
The marks appeared although he applied “low controlled forces”, which certainly leaves a lot for dog owners to think over.
Prong & shock collars cause physical & psychological pain
At the end of the ‘experiment’, the results were clear to the pair — that aversive tools like prong and shock collars were intended to inflict both physical and psychological pain on dogs, and thus, should never be used.
Image for illustration purposes only
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They added that there should be no justification for using it, even if dog trainers recommend it.
In a Facebook post on 2 Oct, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) also renewed their call for authorities to ban electric shock collars.
This is part of their new initiative, “Teach with Kindness #ChooseForceFree” that aims to raise standards in the animal training industry by getting rid of abusive practices during training.
Raise awareness of inappropriate practices
Kudos to the Singaporeans for spreading word of these cruel and inappropriate dog training practices.
Indeed, there are better methods to change pet behaviour than resorting to such aversive and punitive methods.
To learn more and show your support for SPCA’s initiative, you can sign their Animal Training Pledge here.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
