How Can Shock Collars Make Your Dog Insecure?

Pet dogs are a source of great joy and can help those who are disabled mentally or physically as well. People need to train their dogs to behave at their best, and have many approaches to accomplish this. What doesn’t work, however, are shock collars. Shock collar side effects will only make it worse. The shock collars rely on the principle of inducing pain to correct unwanted behavior.

There is, however, no evidence that this will be the case. Instead, your dog will likely develop adverse reactions to that pain. Shock collars make your dog insecure. Over time, your dog will only be worse off than before the collar’s installation. You’ll only be adding a torture mechanism to your beloved pet’s neck while believing that you’re adding a communication device.

The Shocking Consequences of Shock Collars

Evidence, both research and anecdotal, shows that shock collar side effects are detrimental and negatively impact a dog’s psyche. The pain only exacerbates present issues or introduces new ones. Matters only get worse with continued/prolonged use; your dog will be affected in more ways than you can imagine.

Avoidance

You don’t go near the fire because you know from experience that it’ll harm you. Well, using a shock collar on your pet will have the same effect. It will start associating you with the pain the collar gives instead of the affection you desire to give. This association is due to adverse effects having a significantly worse impact on the dog than positive ones. Use rewards for good behavior instead of punitive actions for bad ones to nudge your dog in the right direction. It’ll only improve the bond it shares with you.

Shock Collars – Physical Harm

A dog’s skin is quite sensitive to extreme stimuli like the excessive electric shocks of the collar. Its electric pulses are strong enough to cause burns. Extended use could leave permanent scars on it. Their fur, too, will suffer the brunt. The skin might also react with the collar’s material and the electricity and produce rashes or infections.

Besides suffering from the rash or infection’s itch and pain, the dog can’t do anything about its reach to the region, which will be cut off due to the collar blocking the infected area. It may be even worse if the infection gets through any open wound. It could lead to serious health complications, especially if it goes undetected. The sudden and intense nature of the shocks also causes spikes in its heart rate. Such instantaneous, random heart rate jumps are very detrimental to the dog’s cardiac health in the long run.

Shock Collars – Psychological Harm

You, as a dog owner, should be its source of love and support. Traumatizing it with a shock collar for things it’s unable to comprehend makes your dog suffer mentally instead. The shocks can result in psychological distress, inducing anxiety, phobias, and unbearable stress. You could find your dog losing its charm and liveliness. It will instead get aggressive towards you and others. It will have a hard time socializing with other dogs, preferring to hide in a corner somewhere due to insecurity.

More, Intense Unruliness

Your dog will show its insecurities and fears via many unwanted behaviors. And, they will be noticeably intense too. Some common types of such fear-assuaging behavior include excessive digging, peeing everywhere, chewing anything it finds, etc. Excessive barking or silence, whimpering, lack of energy and responsiveness, growling at random things, howling, etc., all are signs of the dog’s mental disturbance. Chasing vehicles, animals, or people without rime or reason is a dangerous effect.

Doing so could get the dog sent to a shelter. If it happens to harm the animal or person, there could be severe consequences. The authorities could take it away from you to the pound, or worse, put down. If there are strays around, chasing and being aggressive towards them will draw their wrath towards your dog. They could gang up and attack it, seriously injuring or even killing it. You will then be looking at property loss to go with the loss of love from your pet.

These behaviors might force you to use the collar more without awareness or have it chained up somewhere, making things worse. There are many reasons to love your dog, and there could very well be a few of them that desire some tough love from your end. Shock collar side effects don’t justify its usage as one of the instruments to course-correct your dog. There are more positive ways to go about it, leaving both you and your dog in a happier place.