Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that the Minister has extended the public consultation on the use of shock collars on dogs. I encourage all genuine dog lovers to participate in the consultation and make it known to the Government that they support a ban on the collars. Following the horrific attack on Alejandro Mizsan, there were calls across the board, and rightly so, to address the issue of aggressive behaviour in dogs. It beggars belief that anyone in this day and age would advocate for the continued use of shock collars, which use pain and fear to train a dog. This is opposed to the positive reinforcement training recommended by reputable trainers, vets and animal welfare organisations. The use of shock collars can, in fact, lead to much higher aggression rates in dogs. The animals come to associate sheep, children and strangers with pain as they are shocked by remote control to prevent them making an approach. The association with a child or sheep is one of pain, which can lead to more aggressive attacks by dogs.

Apart from the real risks of increasing aggressive behaviour in dogs, studies have shown that the e-collars are less effective than positive reinforcement training. Their use may be a case of laziness on the part of some dog owners who want a train a dog faster rather than putting in the work through the positive reinforcement training model. Controlled studies have found that dogs subjected to positive reinforcement respond more quickly than those in other groups. The dogs in the control groups in which either negative reinforcement or shock collars were used were found to exhibit high levels of exhaustion and stress. More worrying was that the dogs in the shock collar control group had very high levels of cortisol in their saliva, which shows they were extremely stressed. This continued even three months after the tests concluded. When the dog was shown the collar, it exhibited the same cortisol in its saliva, an increased respiratory rate and gastrointestinal disorders.

The use of shock collars amounts to abusing dogs in a bid to train them. I strongly support the public consultation. Anybody who says this is a necessary means of training should look at what Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind does. Blind people across the country, in both rural and urban locations, take their dogs out and go about their business. Those dogs are trained using positive reinforcement techniques. It absolutely is not necessary to inflict pain on a dog in order to train it. In fact, it only makes the dog a higher risk to society. I encourage everybody to let the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, know their views before 16 February.