The following articles clearly explain the side-effects, "fall out" and dangers associated with physical punishment and threat based forms of training and the training equipment that uses pain or discomfort to get compliance. While punishment based training works, it takes a toll on the mental state of every learner subjected to it. Sometimes seriously enough that the animal must be killed.
Because there are ways to train ANY behavior and ANY animal without using threat or physical punishment, what would cause a person to choose to use pain (or threat of pain) over a training system that is much more pleasant for the learner and can achieve the same, or better, level of compliance and precision? Mostly it is because the trainer has not learned to use the reward based training methods or has not used them correctly. To find out why you should want to make the effort to learn the more pleasant training methods, read these articles:
About Punishment:
"I’ll Teach You A Thing Or Two! The Unwanted Teachings Of Punishment" by Kellie Snider:
http://www.behaviorlogic.com/id97.html
"Let Me Teach You A Thing Or Two! The Unwanted Teachings Of Negative Reinforcement by Kellie Snider:
http://www.behaviorlogic.com/id105.html
The Animal Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has several "position statements" that make great handouts for clients, including one on "Dominance Training" and another on "Punishment."
AVSAB Position Statements:
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=366
Invisible Fence Systems:
Simply Shocking by Pat Miller (Whole Dog Journal article available online):
http://www.kerryblues.info/WDJ/SHOCKING.HTML
Shock Collar Training:
"An open letter from Dr Karen Overall regarding the use of shock collars:"
http://joelwalton.com/shockcollars.html
"The problem with shock" by Angelica Steinker, M.Ed., PDBC, CDBC, NADOI Endorsed, CAP2:
Excerpts:
http://www.dogsportmagazine.com/?p=436
or .pdf of full article at:
http://www.dogsportmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/The%20Problem%20With%20Shock.pdf
Info on why shock collars and prong collars should not be used:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/174193.php
http://www.dogwelfarecampaign.org/
http://www.apdt.com.au/images/stories/docs/collars.pdf
http://ahimsadogtraining.com/handouts/choke-sfspca.pdf
About Dog Training Classes That Use Punishment:
"Dog training methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behavior and welfare"
Full article:
http://www.antrozoologisenteret.no/artikler/art_training_methods.pdf
Authors: Hiby, E.F.; Rooney, N.J.; Bradshaw, J.W.S.
Source: Animal Welfare, Volume 13, Number 1, February 2004 , pp. 63-69(7)
Publisher: Universities Federation for Animal Welfare
Abstract:
Historically, pet dogs were trained using mainly negative reinforcement or punishment, but positive reinforcement using rewards has recently become more popular. The methods used may have different impacts on the dogs' welfare. We distributed a questionnaire to 364 dog owners in order to examine the relative effectiveness of different training methods and their effects upon a pet dog's behavior. When asked how they trained their dog on seven basic tasks, 66% reported using vocal punishment, 12% used physical punishment, 60% praise (social reward), 51% food rewards and 11% play. The owner's ratings for their dog's obedience during eight tasks correlated positively with the number of tasks which they trained using rewards (P<0.01), but not using punishment (P=0.5). When asked whether their dog exhibited any of 16 common problematic behaviors, the number of problems reported by the owners correlated with the number of tasks for which their dog was trained using punishment (P<0.001), but not using rewards (P=0.17). Exhibition of problematic behaviors may be indicative of compromised welfare, because such behaviors can be caused by—or result in—a state of anxiety and may lead to a dog being relinquished or abandoned. Because punishment was associated with an increased incidence of problematic behaviors, we conclude that it may represent a welfare concern without concurrent benefits in obedience. We suggest that positive training methods may be more useful to the pet-owning community.
A better way to train:
If you want to know why most reward based trainers never go back to threat/punishment based methods of training read "You Can Cross Over, But You Can't Cross Back" by Donna Dufford:
http://www.thepryorfoundation.org/dufford.html
8 Rules for using punishment:
If we haven't convinced you and you STILL feel the need to use punishment, here are the 8 rules to follow to make it as humane as possible:
8 Rules for the use of punishment
