Hey Tracey,
I would have to agree with Betty, share her experience as openly as possible when asked and just don’t go over the top. And if I was prepared to bring up my use of these collars, I would also be prepared (should they ask) with a positive, success story that demonstrated the need and my experience using it.
And Dawna, absolutely nothing personal, I so fully commend you for what you are doing and think you're doing a fantastic job - these statements just kind of caught my attention though:
We quit fostering when they wanted to make me sign an agreement that only approved training collars could be used on fosters
When a Rescue/Shelter states “only approved training collars”, this does not mean that prong and e-collars (head halters, walkie dogs, chokes, slips) are never approved. IME, when talking to the Rescues about the abuse of these tools going on out there it was often their own fosters that they were referring to. I would have absolutely no problem signing a contract that stated that.
When a foster came to me they’d usually been run through the mill – vets, assessments, cold hard cages, and god knows what else, let alone their circumstances prior to getting there. I was always very careful how I handled these pups with a flat collar let alone slapping a prong or e-collar on them right away, regardless of what kind of issues they came with.
If they’ve come through a shelter/rescue system, assessments have been done and the really hard cases don’t make it into the general population. You’re getting the best of potentially bad behaviors. Where the issues often come in is in their new environment.
Folks that foster often have other dogs in their house. When concrete plans aren’t made to manage the new addition’s potential issues (resource guarding, dog/human aggression, anxiety based hang-ups), you’re going to run into problems. An easy answer is to control the dog with a more powerful tool. I’ve seen it and heard about it more often than I care to remember.
If I was told I could only use “approved collars”, should an issue pop up that I felt would be best corrected with the use of one of the more powerful collars, I would be contacting the Shelter with what I’d observed, what I’d done to this point and what I felt the best course of action would be.
If I wasn’t able to advocate for my training plan to the point that I could gain “approval” for the collar I planned on using, then perhaps the plan either wasn’t thought through enough or the animal might be more suited in a different home where this particular issue might be handled differently.
In working with Rescues in the past, although the blanket rules are there to keep these tools off the dogs in homes of people who have no idea how to use them, Rescues are made up of reasonable people who want the best course of action for the pups under their umbrella. I never had a tool challenged once I explained the reason and manner in which I was using it.
and usually do a switcheroo on training collars when I take a foster to the shelter to be viewed out of respect for shelter policy.
As well, to me, full disclosure to the potential adoptive family is a must. To be actively training the dog at home with a prong and then switching collars simply because of a “feel good” policy for the public can be quite deceptive. It seems to me the dog and the new family are just being set up for failure.
And Tracey, should your daughter get this position (fingers crossed for her), from what you’ve said and experienced with your breeders attitude towards these tools, the vets in your area, and not forgetting about the guy fined for simply trying to train his own dog, I think she may be surprised to find out some of things that do go on behind closed doors.
It may even be more of an accepted practice than people are willing to admit to. While the appearance to the public needs to be all soft and fluffy and her interviewers may not openly express it at the time; the fact that she is open to the use of these collars may actually work in her favor.
Just a thought. I’ve always found honesty to be the best policy and got into people’s “good books” with some of the oddest things that left lasting impressions.
Re: Rescue centre question
Top
Previous Topic
Index
Next Topic.jpg)
