Dogsey

About time !!!

Certainly is. Diabolical things.The article doesn't say when?

At last but they are easy to buy on line so i hope th e ban works.

An e-collar correctly fitted and used in the hands of someone who understands their dog, what makes him tick and what you are trying to achieve is a tool like any other tool. I liken an e-collar to a Cheltenham gag bit for a horse with a tendency to bolt with his rider for no other reason than he can - he has learned that he can grab the bit in his teeth and go whenever he feels like it. Many people would put a severe bit on that horse, a pelham for instance ... a pelham is to a horse what a choke chain is to a dog. A pelham is a severe bit and can give the horse a hard mouth - a choke chain is a severe check and can damage a dog's neck. The Cheltenham Gag works by applying pressure to the top of the horse's head, which will do no damage but will cause the horse to bring his head down and stop him grabbing his bit and thus stop him charging off. It is operated by a double rein - the gag is linked to one rein and the bit is a normal gentle snaffle attached to the other rein. You only pull on the gag rein when you absolutely need to.

The e-collar is like the Cheltenham Gag - it applies pressure in the form of a vibration or an electrical static charge (it is NOT an electric shock) akin to the painful belts you can get when you touch a car door or a lift button. As with the gag it causes no injury, but discomfort - severe discomfort if the dog chooses to ignore the threat of a receiving a belt of static - or as in the case of the horse severe discomfort if he chooses to ignore the threat of pressure on his head and tanks off.

We put a Cheltenham Gag on my daughter's pony when she was 12 and the pony used to tank off with her. Once the Gag was on for the first time and Pansy went to do her usual trick, my daughter applied the pressure via the gag rein and Pansy instantly slowed down - never, ever, ever, ever again to tank off - she never tried it again. We used an e-collar on our old Utonagan, Tai, to stop him killing our neighbour's chickens when they escaped into the field and one nick of the e-collar was enough to stop him ever, ever doing it again but in fact to give all chickens a very wide berth! Same with our other dog Ben, just one belt of the e-collar was enough to stop him running off. He had to have a couple of buzzes with the vibrate setting, but ever since he remained obedient off the lead.

I do not regret using the e-collar on Tai and Ben - they suffered not a jot from it. Ben wore his e-collar for ever more until he started to get old and doddery but my husband did not need to carry the remote controller. Just the fact that he was wearing the collar told Ben that he needed to be obedient. He and Tai bore no grudges, they were both as loving and devoted to us as ever and both died knowing they were loved and treasured ... I think it is a great shame that e-collars are to be banned in England. In the right hands they are life-changing.

Fantastic news no dog lover would have invented such a horrible piece of torture equipment in the first place.

It has certainly been a long time coming. I do hope they enforce it better than the fox-hunting ban, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. Ecollars were designed for one purpose, to dispense pain and discomfort. I wouldn't want to do that to any animal, let alone one living in my home as part of my family

Actually the jolt that you get from an electric fence is not painful! It is a jolt that sort of hits you and makes you jump or startles you. I have been "Bitten" by many electric fences in my time without any harm done, I very much doubt if the "shock" from such a small battery in a collar would be painful, but it would make you jump or startle you.

You are absolutely right ... the zap received from an e-collar is far less painful than from an electric fence. Nonetheless, it does make a dog jump and react. What impressed me so much about them though was the speed with which the dog learned to connect the e-collar to the behaviour he was presenting at the time. We only ever had to zap Ben once for him to learn that he must come when call. And Tai learned after just one zap not to kill escapee chickens in the field. I cannot see a problem with this. for intelligent dogs e collars are extremely effective training tools, after all other methods have failed.

As the debate is now over, there's no point in setting out the wrongs of this despicable tool. Suffice to say, the Government have finally, it seems, seen sense along with all the other Governments who reached the finishing post before us