Electric shock collars deliver an electric current, through contact points on the dog’s neck, which can cause pain and distress to the dog. These are used as an aversive training tool that enforces punishment in an attempt to make the dog perform desired behaviours and can have a significant, negative long-term impact on the welfare and behaviour of a dog. Electric collars can be voice (e.g. bark) activated, boundary activated, or human operated using handheld devices.

Dogs trained using shock collars show stress behaviours in response to the shock, including yelping and vocalisations, stress-related behaviours (e.g. yawning, panting, low body posture) and higher cortisol in comparison to those trained with reward-based methods.

While electric collar manufacturers typically provide instructions on use, owners typically do not read the manufacturers’ instructions prior to use and advice on correct usage is not consistently followed which may aggravate welfare harms associated with these devices.

There are more humane and effective alternatives to use of shock collars for containment and training, for example, physical fencing and reward-based training.

SPCA is concerned about the use of shock collars in Kiwi Aversion Training

New Zealand studies exploring the efficacy of kiwi aversion training found that most dogs avoided the kiwi training stimuli. However, these studies relied on prey substitutes and dogs were kept on long lines or under voice control of the handler. To date, ecological translation of this training stimuli has not been investigated and it remains unclear if this training is generalised to avoidance of live kiwi that dogs may encounter while out of sight of handlers. Owners of dogs who have undergone this training get a kiwi aversion training permit which permits them to hunt or walk on Department of Conservation land and some private forestry blocks known to be inhabited by kiwi. Thus, there is a risk that this training may put the welfare of dogs and kiwi at risk.

SPCA recommends kiwi aversion training schemes consider moving to higher welfare positive reinforcement methods for training dogs and that people walking their dogs recreationally in sensitive wildlife areas keep their dog leashed, and muzzled where appropriate.

SPCA is also concerned that the use of electric shock collars is sometimes promoted for other animals, such as cats and horses.