Punishment Collars, Dangerous For The Dog’s Health
Today, there are still people who use punishment collars to correct their dog’s behavior problems. However, these tools have been banned in various countries due to the damage they cause to the animal. In this article we will explain what are the problems related to punishment collars and how they affect the health of your dog.
What are punishment collars?
Punishment collars, also called training collars, consist of a series of devices that are placed around the animal’s neck. When the dog does something unwanted, such as pulling on the leash, barking or instigating another dog, the collar causes slight discomfort with the aim of stopping the negative conduct.
These behaviors, however, are not eliminated with the use of these collars: they can inhibit the symptom, but in no way can they solve the problem at the root. Dogs can bark or pull on the leash for a variety of reasons, justifiable or not. Punishing your dog when he does something we don’t like does not mean teaching him. For this, we should show him the behavior we want.
The neck of dogs
The collars are positioned around the dog’s throat which, as for all mammals, consists of a delicate and very important area of the body for its neuronal and hormonal development. The throat is not only a boneless structure, it also contains a large number of hormone-secreting glands, such as the thyroid. In addition, some of the main nerves of the spinal column also branch out in the neck.
It has been shown that the use of training or punishment collars generates stress continuously: this state of non-relaxation increases the levels of cortisol, which generates moodiness, reduces the hormones that facilitate rest, calm and happiness . In short, the dog will find it much more difficult to rest, will be irritable and will live in an emotional state of exaltation that will lead him to have less self-control and, in our eyes, worse behavior.
Problems with punishment collars with spikes
Spiked collars, as the name indicates, feature a series of pointed studs that are planted in the animal’s neck. One of the problems with these objects is that even if some have a plastic band to protect the studs, this does not prevent the animal from getting hurt.
These collars can cause damage to the skin and even wounds: the tips can penetrate the skin, in addition to causing annoying rubbing. The pressure against the trachea can also generate chronic cough or tracheal collapse, which impairs the ability of dogs to breathe and, in extreme cases, prevents them from inhaling all the necessary oxygen.
The spikes that press continuously on the glands that secrete hormones alter their normal functioning, also causing thyroid problems and thus affecting the metabolism. Furthermore, the consequences can also affect the lymphatic and circulatory systems or generate autoimmune diseases.
Choke collars can be the cause of back injuries, which are worse when they also have spikes. The pain will not only affect the animal’s life, but also its behavior, giving rise to constant fear and possible aggressive implications.
Health problems caused by electric collars
Electric collars are meant to send an electric shock to the dog’s neck. Some have multiple voltage levels or even have the option of sending just one vibration; in any case, it is a painful, annoying and not understandable remedy for the animal, which makes them ineffective tools.
In addition to these problems, it must be emphasized that the electric current that hits the neck actually branches out to the entire body of the animal: in the throat there are nerves directly connected to the spine, therefore to the rest of the body and brain. An electrical discharge on the neck will therefore have repercussions on the whole body.
Health problems caused by lemongrass collars
Thankfully uncommon, there are devices made to deliver an aerosol-like substance, normally composed of lemongrass, directly to the dog’s nasal passages. In this way they affect the delicate organ of the nose and the sense of smell, the most important sense of dogs.
Applying an aggressive product such as an aerosol to this area of the body can irritate the mucous membranes or alter their normal functioning, drying them out or producing excess moisture, causing pain or loss of sensation. This method could even damage the scent glands, which would prevent the animal from exploring the world in its own way and limit its ability to communicate with other dogs.
Smell is a fundamental sense for dogs and their well-being: through it they discover the world and communicate with other four-legged beings. A dog without smell will not be happy and will have a reduced quality of life.
Psychological problems arising from the use of punishment collars
The collars listed above involve not only a series of physical, but also psychological consequences. Punishment training is not an effective remedy for dogs, on the contrary, it usually leads to an aggravation of their misconduct.
The continued use of punishments causes insecurity, stress and fear, feelings even more accentuated if they are associated with a feeling of pain. Fear and stress are the most common causes of aggression in dogs, and often trigger attacks and aggression.
The psychological damage generated by the use of these tools can be irreversible , and the dog will find it difficult to erase the negative associations he will feel during training with such collars.
Finally, it should be emphasized that punishments cannot solve the behavior problems of dogs at the root. Furthermore, very often, the dog does not understand why he is being punished: through the use of these collars, in fact, the animal does not receive information on what should be the desired behavior.
Such tools should be discarded right away when it comes to raising or training a dog. They are dangerous in the short, medium and long term and generate problems that are not always reversible. Education theories have come a long way in recent decades, and luckily, faster, safer and more reliable techniques for dog training are found today.
