A tribute to a gorgeous Husky girl named Daisy

Daisy’s story has ended sadly on one of the main roads in the town of Hollis, New Hampshire where she was hit by a car still wearing her electric shock collar that supposed to confine her to the “fenced” yard. The system tested aftermath was working fine…

Hello dog lovers,

So, as you understand from visiting my website, I am a great fan of Positive Reinforcement. I will never punish a dog by any means, no hitting or kicking, no yelling or screaming, no yanking on the leash and will never use electric shockers of any kind.

The mutual respect, trust based built partnership and understanding the dogs nature and needs is all that matters and my belief is that you can’t really gain a real partner to rely on, performing out of fear.

How long would YOU partner with someone or work for someone out of fear? Eventually you will find the way to escape and if you are lucky you will make a new happy partnership with someone else. DOES YOUR DOG HAVE THE SAME CHOICE?

Yeah, I know, you will tell me that I am trying to humanize the dog. Well, I am not! I know the dog is a dog but I bet you that 99% of dog owners will agree that dogs do have emotions similar to ours and that even if emotions are many times hard to define we can clearly identify some basic ones in dogs.*

If you have spent some real quality time with your dog and observed dogs behavior you could clearly tell when your dog is expressing fear, anger, happiness, love, alertness etc. Your dog is communicating emotions by body language and sound.

Does any of you doubt that his dog can smile or express happiness? I don’t think so. Have you ever seen any smile or happy signals from a dog hit by electric shock, even a “mild” one? I don’t think so either.
I have shocked myself with such a collar and I bet you a million, you will not be smiling when you do try it yourself.

So I hope we all agree by now, that shocking is inhumane. But it is more than that, it is a punishment for innocent behavior. So your dog may keep away from the fence to avoid the shock till a chipmunk, squirrel or a mouse swifts by and crossing the yard. This “fence” will not stop intruders so, then what?

Let me tell you exactly what will happen. Adrenaline is being released to the blood system and the brain is completely shutting off all pain sensors sending the dog the HUNT signal. Unless your dog is very highly trained and you are right there to stop him when this happens neither you or the dog can control it and nothing on earth will stop the dog from chasing the little creature except a passing car on the road…

This is exactly what happened to poor Daisy. The family was devastated and so have been I. She was a wicked smart dog and picked up basic obedience so quickly something every trainer would admire. We miss her so much.

So, please, please, if you care for your dog’s happiness and safety and your own as well, put a real physical fence into your yard. There are some nicer ones out there and you can always plant some nice greens to cover it and make it look nice and decent. Keep the smile on your dog’s face as well as yours.

Have a great week,

Your trainer, / Gil

* See a great article by Patricia McConnell, PhD on dogs emotions in the May/June 2009 APDT Chronicle magazine.

Posted In Dogs Behavior