The Scottish Government has announced that it will consult on banning the use of electric shock collars (e collars) for dogs and other animals.

We have campaigned for such a ban for decades, so any progress is welcome. However, there have been many consultations and reviews, the time has come for action. Here is a brief timeline of past events and OneKind’s contribution.

2007 consultation

The use of shock collars was debated during the passage of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, our main piece of animal welfare legislation. While not included then, the Scottish Government consulted the following year. In our response, we said:

“Electronic training devices have the potential to cause both physical and psychological suffering to an animal. This suffering is unnecessary because there are alternative ways in which training can be achieved, mainly through the understanding of dog behaviour and the use of reward-based training.”

2012 Companion Animal Welfare Council report

This report noted that there was a lack of conclusive scientific evidence, but that widespread free use of manual electronic training aids does not appear to be compatible with the moral climate underpinning the spirit of animal welfare legislation.

2013 DEFRA funded research

The main report concluded that: “it seems reasonable to conclude that the previous use of e-collars in training is associated with behavioural and physiological responses that are consistent with negative emotional states, suggesting that the use of e-collars in training pet dogs leads to a negative impact on welfare, at least in a proportion of animals trained using this technique.”

There was also a field study of dogs in training. This found that the use of e collars “negatively impacted on the welfare of some dogs during training even when training was conducted by professional trainers using relatively benign training programmes advised by e-collar advocates.”

2015 consultation

In 2015 the Scottish Government consulted again, on the possibility of a ban or regulation of e collar use. We once again advocated for a ban. We shared the results of a survey we had carried out of professional dog trainers – 91% supported a ban on shock collars.

A retired police dog trainer offered comments drawn from his days working with police dogs and then through his training business:

“In over thirty years of working with and training dogs I have never had to resort to the use of an electric shock collar to rectify or remedy a behavioural trait, I have however had to deal with dogs with severe anxiety issues that were not present before electric shock tactics had been used […] I have also seen aggression put into otherwise balanced dogs by use of aggressive training techniques including electric shock collars.”

He also went on to say, “As regards the use of electric shock collars as an aid to training, my view is that aggression begets aggression and the use of any coercive or compulsion methods of training show lack of relevant knowledge in respect of the animal being trained.”

2018 guidance

In 2018 the Scottish Government issued guidance that says that it does not condone aversive devices/training aids, including electronic shock collars (e-collars). This guidance makes it clear that causing suffering using an e collar could be considered an offence.

A review of the guidance found that almost all stakeholders thought the guidance was of little use.

2023 SAWC recommend a ban

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) report on e collars concluded that “there is insufficient ethical justification to permit their use” and that “the use of e-collars for the training of animals in Scotland should be prohibited in Scotland.”