There is a movement gaining traction in San Francisco, California as well as New York State to ban the use of electronic collars in dog training. We recognize that this is a controversial and emotionally charged subject. As professional dog trainers who promote ethical and humane application of appropriate training tools we strongly oppose this proposition.

We believe that rewards based methods should be the foundation to ALL effective and science based training, including balanced approaches. We strongly support professionals and dog owners in the training community in their choice to not implement any tools they are not comfortable with or they don’t believe in. We are aware that training tools have the potential to be misused and we would support having a system in place to ensure proper education and safe application of these tools to the public.

In recent years there have been countries who implemented bans on training tools. These countries also heavily regulate other aspects of dog ownership. Such as the right to own the breed of your choice: breed specific legislation has lead to blanket euthanasia and restrictions on mastiff, bully breeds and other breeds that are considered potentially dangerous without regard to a dogs individual temperament. Other regulations include strict breeding practices that go as far as banning cavalier King Charles spaniels and English bulldogs, euthanasia and zero tolerance policies towards dogs who have a bite record or aggressive behavior, dog sport bans and even criminalizing the use of crate training.

The negative implications of e collar bans have lead to movements to reverse them. In Netherlands and Wales, there has been an increase in dog attacks which have lead to a 450% increase in annual death of livestock. While this doesn’t directly correlate to the urban environments of San Francisco and New York...it would likely translate to an increase in dog bite incidents, dogs getting hit by cars, dogs attacking wildlife, and dogs being abandoned in shelters. 

Our society has a high expectation for our dogs of all breeds and temperaments to safely coexist in densely populated areas. Realistically, genetics play a major role in our dogs behavior and our expectations and lifestyle often don’t align. We love our hunting, herding, guardian, and terrier breeds but responsible management especially while living in an urban environment can necessitate the use of a variety of training methods, including but not limited to e collar application.

We need to preserve the right to access the humane training methods of our choice without facing fines, criminal animal abuse charges, imprisonment or confiscation of our dogs. We must consider what is best for the safety and quality of life for our family pets and our community. 

An all out ban is not the answer.