Reflections After Trying a Shock Collar on Myself
Recently, I did something I had been curious about for quite a while: I tried a shock collar on myself.
As a positive reinforcement trainer, I’m already familiar with the scientific literature surrounding aversive training methods and the potential harm associated with them. I understand why these devices can be problematic, but there is a difference between understanding something intellectually and experiencing it firsthand. I had never actually felt what a shock collar feels like, so when I had the opportunity to try one, I decided it was time to find out for myself.
Important note before I go further: This post is not intended to shame anyone who has used, or currently uses, a shock collar. Most dog guardians who use these tools genuinely love their dogs and are trying to solve a problem to the best of their ability. My goal is simply to share my experience and reflections and encourage all of us to continue to ask questions and educate ourselves about animal behavior, learning, and science.
The opportunity came during a nice afternoon meetup exploring the Book Barn and Rocky Neck State Park in Niantic, CT with a fellow positive reinforcement trainer. She told me that she had acquired a shock collar after a shelter was getting rid of it. Her intention was to keep it for educational purposes, not to use it on any of the dogs in her care.
So, I volunteered to be the student.
I figured that if I was going to advise people against using these devices, it was only fair that I understand them from more than just a scientific perspective. I wanted to know what they actually felt like.
Before I describe the experience, though, it’s important to acknowledge that my experience was not the same as a dog’s. Humans and dogs have different anatomy, and the circumstances were completely different. Most importantly, I was the one shocking myself. That element of control fundamentally changes the experience. I could decide when to start, when to stop, and whether I wanted to continue. At any point, I could simply change my mind. A dog does not have those same options. I also didn’t put the collar around my neck. Instead, I held it against my finger, a much less sensitive area of the body.
The collar I used was a Pet Educator, a very popular e-collar on the market. with shock levels ranging from 1 to 100. I started at level 1 and felt absolutely nothing. I tried 3, and still felt nothing. Then 5. Nothing. At that point, I actually questioned whether the collar was working.
It wasn’t until level 6 that I began to feel the tiniest, barely discernible sensation. Level 7 wasn’t much different. At level 8, I could definitely feel something, but it still wasn’t particularly significant. Then I skipped level 9 and went straight to 10, which is where things changed.
Level 10 was extremely unpleasant. I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as painful, but it was aversive enough that I immediately knew I did not want to continue. The sensation was bizarre. It felt almost like an electric current running up my wrist, and the discomfort was significant enough that my immediate reaction was, “Whoa. I don’t like that at all. I’m done.” So I stopped.
At the time, I didn’t realize that the collar went all the way up to level 100. Based on how uncomfortable a level 10 was, I had assumed I must be somewhere near the upper end of the range. When I found out I was only at 10 out of 100, I was completely taken aback. I hadn’t expected the sensation to be nearly as intense as it felt, knowing there were still 90 levels left to go. I remember thinking that I really couldn’t imagine voluntarily experiencing what the higher levels felt like. I don’t think you could pay me enough money to do it. Well, maybe you could, but it would have to be a lot of money.
The experience was worse than I expected, and I consider myself to have a fairly high pain tolerance. Then, as I was driving home, my reaction shifted from shock to sadness because the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how different my experience had been from the experience of a dog wearing one of these collars. For one, I had complete control. When I reached a level that was uncomfortable enough that I didn’t want to continue, I simply stopped. I had free will to put the device back in the box. I also knew exactly what was happening, I knew why it was happening, and I made the decision to opt in (and ultimately opt out) of the experience.
A dog does not have those same choices. A dog cannot decide to take the collar off. They can’t remove it when the sensation becomes too much. They can’t tell us, “I don’t understand what you want me to do, and I don’t understand why this is happening.”
Someone might argue, “But the dog can control whether they get shocked through their behavior. They know the correct behavior, they’re simply choosing not to do it, so it’s reasonable to follow up the incorrect response with a punishment.”
Let’s Break that argument down:
One of the most common justifications for using punishment is the belief that a dog already knows the behavior and is simply choosing not to do it. Behavior science suggests it’s more complicated than that, though.
Before we can say a dog “knows” a behavior, we have to ask: Does the dog understand the cue in this environment, around these distractions, with this handler, in this emotional state, and under these particular circumstances? Dogs don’t automatically generalize behaviors to every situation. Their behavior is influenced by many factors that are outside their control. As is ours.
Imagine you’re an excellent swimmer in your local pool. You swim 20 laps every morning without much difficulty. The water is calm, the temperature is comfortable, the conditions are predictable, and you know exactly what to expect. Now imagine swimming the same distance in the ocean. Your performance is likely going to look very different. Suddenly, you have waves, currents, unfamiliar surroundings, perhaps colder temperatures, and a completely different set of sensory experiences to contend with. Heck, even putting you in a different pool could change your swimming abilities. Maybe the water is colder, the pool is crowded, you’re tired, or you’re anxious because you’re somewhere unfamiliar.
None of those things mean you forgot how to swim. it means the conditions under which you were expected to perform were different and therefore affected your behavior.
Dogs are no different. A dog may perform a behavior beautifully in one environment, under one set of circumstances, and with one particular person. That doesn’t necessarily mean they understand or can reliably perform that same behavior under every possible set of circumstances.
Competing Motivators
Secondly, there are almost always competing motivators at play. In behavior science, these are called motivating operations. They’re events or conditions that temporarily change how valuable a consequence is and, as a result, influence behavior.
Consider an example that most of us have experienced. You’ve just come home after an eight-hour workday. Your dog has been inside all day, and you take them outside. They immediately become excited, pulling toward interesting smells, eager to explore, and ready to relieve themselves. Maybe they pull a little too hard on the leash or rush toward a bush because they’ve been holding their bladder for eight hours. Maybe they’re so excited to finally be outside that they struggle to focus on you. Does that mean they’ve forgotten how to walk nicely on a leash? Does it mean they’re choosing to be defiant?
No. It means that, in that moment, other needs and reinforcers (like emptying their bladder or releasing pent up energy) have become more valuable than whatever reinforcement is available from you for walking nicely on a loose leash.
None of us perform at our best 100% of the time. We can know exactly what we’re supposed to do and still struggle to follow through when other needs or circumstances are competing for our attention. Have you ever forgotten something important because you were running on little sleep? Made a careless mistake because you were distracted? Found yourself rereading the same sentence over and over because you couldn’t focus? Or become more impatient than usual simply because you were hungry, stressed, or overwhelmed?
Needs and circumstances influence the behavior of all living beings. When we understand that, we can make adjustments to help our dogs learn successfully without the use of punishment.
What Behavior Science Tells Us
Behavior that is reinforced is more likely to occur again. That’s one of the fundamental principles of learning. When we teach behaviors using reinforcement, we build a history of success and help the dog learn which behaviors produce consequences they value. So when a dog does not behave as expected, we can analyze the situation and ask ourselves, “What made success difficult this time?”
The answer might be distractions, incomplete training, competing motivations, stress, fear, frustration, physical discomfort, or simply a need for more practice in that particular context.
For example, imagine I tell you that I’ll pay you $10 every time you sit in a chair. Under ideal circumstances, you might happily sit down and stand back up over and over again racking up hundreds of dollars.
But now, suppose you have arthritis that makes sitting uncomfortable. Or there’s a spider on the chair and you have arachnophobia. Or maybe you haven’t eaten in 12 hours and your favorite meal is across the room. Or you desperately need to use the bathroom. Suddenly, sitting in that chair may not be the most valuable option available to you. Understandable, right? I think we could all agree that none of those circumstances would warrant punishment.
We can offer dogs that same understanding. Instead of assuming that a dog who doesn’t respond to a cue is deliberately choosing to disobey, we can ask what is making the behavior difficult and what can we change to make success more likely.
Shifting from asking “How do I stop this behavior?” to asking “What is getting in the way of success?” can fundamentally change the way we approach training.
If You Use a Shock Collar…
If you’ve used a shock collar in the past, or you’re using one now, this blog isn’t meant to shame you. Most people who use these tools genuinely care about their dogs. They’re trying to solve a problem with the information they’ve been given, and I understand that.
My goal with sharing my reflections on my experience isn’t to make anyone feel guilty. It’s simply to encourage us to keep asking questions, to look at what behavior science tells us, and to consider how dogs learn before deciding that punishment is necessary.
Trying the collar myself didn’t change my philosophy on dog training. It strengthened it. My biggest takeaway wasn’t just how uncomfortable the stimulation felt. It was realizing how much easier the experience was for me than it could ever be for a dog. I had understanding, predictability, and control.
We can train effectively and get great results without sacrificing a dog’s sense of safety, choice, or control. To me, that is the kind of training worth striving for: training that teaches, builds understanding, and gives dogs the skills they need to succeed.
With wags and aloha,
Cori Tufano- CPDT-KA, FDM, CSAT
