“Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.”

• Mark Twain

More than a dozen countries have now banned Aversive Training Tool use, (Shock Collars/e Collars, Prong Collars, Choke Chains, etc.) For the training of dogs and other animals. These enlightened and progressive leaders have seen it fit to remove these archaic tools, because of the emotional, psychological and physical damage that they can often cause to the animal. 

There have been decades of studies showing that what some may call "Training Success", actually being the dog or animal in question 'shutting down' or being too fearful of doing the "wrong thing". Even in the best of hands, unintended consequences like redirected reactivity, irrational fears and Aggression are a possibility. For the average '"dog owner", with little to no skills with these tools, the possibility of things going horribly wrong, is massive as the dog will learn to associate the discomfort or pain with what it was they were focusing on at the time it was delivered, again causing either fear of the subject or outright hatred and Aggression. 

When these tools are abused, the relationship of the human and the dog breaks down. When they are overused, the dog learns to habituate or fight through the pain and get used to it. (There are chemicals that the body produces to ignore excessive pain in the moment.) The human inflicting the discomfort and pain learns to enjoy inflicting the pain due to a dopamine rush, when it does work and even while upping the level of discomfort and pain. 

All too often, our dogs pay the ultimate price for our mistakes. Using these tools can push them into a corner, where they can feel that there is no other choice than to hurt what they perceived to have hurt them, be it real or by association. Far too often dogs pay the ultimate price for human laziness, being left to roam on their own, killing livestock, wild animals and even children, because the human depended on a button to control the dog, as if they were a microwave and not a sentient being, as opposed to building a relationship, being a teacher and being a companion. 

It is far past the time that these tools were left in the past, as an embarrassing chapter in our History. Some Trainers will fight to keep these tools, saying they are necessary, when there is evidence to the contrary. Not so long ago, teachers in school could exact corporal punishment to our children, for misbehaving, day dreaming or simply for getting an answer wrong. How would we have felt, when this practice was banned, of the teachers who argued that there was no other way to teach and that if they could not strike your child at will, that they would leave teaching forever? I think most of us would think, "Good riddance." Why is it different for our dogs, who also feel, who are also able to learn complex ideas, who also simply want to be heard, loved and understood?

At the end of the day, if you can achieve the same results with a kinder way of teaching that builds the relationship between man and dog, that taps into the dog's natural biological needs and is more humane, then the other method must be deemed abusive and ended soon, rather than later.