STUDY 1
Efficacy of Dog Training With and Without Remote Electronic Collars vs. a Focus on Positive Reinforcement
Front. Vet. Sci., 22 July 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00508
These findings refute the suggestion that training with an E-collar is either more efficient or results in less disobedience, even in the hands of experienced trainers. In many ways, training with positive reinforcement was found to be more effective at addressing the target behavior as well as general obedience training. This method of training also poses fewer risks to dog welfare and quality of the human-dog relationship. Given these results we suggest that there is no evidence to indicate that E-collar training is necessary, even for its most widely cited indication.
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STUDY 2
Evaluation of plasma cortisol levels and behavior in dogs wearing bark control collars
Electronic and lemon spray bark collars significantly reduced barking, with no significant difference between collar types. Dogs with either type of bark collar had an increase in plasma cortisol the 1st day wearing the activated collar, but this was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in plasma cortisol levels between dogs wearing control, lemon spray or electronic collars.
STUDY 3
Clinical signs caused by the use of electric training collars on dogs in everyday life situations
This led to the conclusion that animals, which were able to clearly associate the electric stimulus with their action, i.e. touching the prey, and consequently were able to predict and control the stressor, did not show considerable or persistent stress indicators.