Ogmore illegal shock collar dog owner gets £2,000 fine (Wales)

BBC ^ | July 18, 2011 | BBC Staff

[KyGeezer]

A dog owner has been fined £2,000 after becoming the first to be prosecuted in Britain for using an illegal electric shock collar.

Wales banned the devices last year. Phillip Pook, 48, from Ogmore-by-Sea, Vale of Glamorgan, admitted using the collar, to stop his border collie jumping over a wall.

But he had denied he had been warned the collar was illegal.

It was discovered on his dog, found roaming on a beach in December 2010.

Pook was also ordered to pay £1,000 in costs, when he was sentenced.

He used the collar to try to stop the collie jumping over a high wall surrounding his property, Bridgend magistrates heard.

The court was told the collar emitted its electric shock when the dog wearing it went near a specific fence.

They also heard that the dog, which kept escaping, was known at a local kennels as "the dog with the shock collar".

[Darnright]

>I have used a “buzz” collar while training dogs. No shock; just a loud “baaa.” noise. It’s just as effective.<

It’s just as effective on some dogs. There is no one-size-fits-all in dog training.

Electronic collars can be used to break a dog from harassing/killing livestock. Is it worse to cause a dog temporary pain that stops the focus on livestock, or to have it shot and killed by a farmer?

Electronic collars can be abusive if misused or, they can be very effective tools that help a dog learn while keeping his love of work at the highest level. If a dog is in pain, he isn’t going to love his work.

[dervish]

Humaniac alert.

Yes, it is much more humane to lock the dog up, have them on a chain, or allow it to get run over.

[6ppc]

Thanks. I’ll give them a call and ask some questions. The main concern I have is that our dog is 11 lbs which is right at the lower limit for that collar.

[AnAmericanMother]

I don't think the Tri-Tronics has a lower limit. It only weighs 4 oz., and one of the commenting customers has used it on a 4 pound Maltese.

By all means call them and check though. I've found them extremely helpful. They even let me trade in an extra transmitter on a third collar when I won a 3-dog transmitter at a hunt club raffle!

[Cronos]

Question for folks who’ve had female dogs — is it more difficult to have a female dog? I mean — the male dogs will be hounding her when she’s in heat and I don’t know if spaying is “humane” (don’t snap at me — I have no idea, so inform me if you think otherwise).

[kaylar]

I have had two spayed females now : A rescue dog that I had spayed at 5 years old (her first "family" apparently kept her isolated when she was in heat and used pads when she had discharge) and a puppy I had spayed at 4 1/2 months old. Neither animal seemed much different before or after the surgery personality- or behaviorwise, and I had read that early spaying gives a bitch a masculine personality, so I was a bit worried about the puppy. I will say dogs seem to recover from being spayed when young better than they do when spayed as adults, if what I saw with my two females is typical. The puppy was back to her normal bouncy, jubilant self in a day or two, while the older dog took 3-4 days before she was completely back to normal, and she went so long without eating that I was becoming worried. BTW, the older spayed bitch is now 15 going on 16 years old, and she is still a pretty active, happy canine . (Sadly, the 'puppy' was put down at age 11 1/2 years old , for reasons totally unrelated to the spaying.)

[Cronos]

Thanks for that information!