History of the Shock Collar

Aproximately 30 years ago, electronic dog collars made their first appearance on the dog-training scene. These first generation electronic dog collars could only deliver one level of stimulation to the dog and before long they became known as shock collars. These collars were seen as a great aid for owners with a problem dog.  The first shock collar's required the trainer to select the level of correction and this was done by inserting various intensity plugs into the collar (before putting the collar on the dog for training). Each plug had its own intensity level and once the shock collar was on the dog the trainer could not change the intensity level). It was only until the release of the second generation dog shock collars that the trainer could vary the level of intensity from the hand-held transmitter. 

 Dog Trainers could now select from one of three levels of intensity that is high, medium and low for a particular intensity plug. Another disadvantage was that the lowest level of stimulation was unsuitable for simple corrections. The second generation of dog shock collars was a great improvement in shock collar systems. The technology of the last decade introduced collars that gave the trainer the facility to select multiple levels of intensity from the transmitter. It was this singular distinctive advancement together with customer education that has led to the  universal acceptance of the shock collar.

Developers and manufacturers swiftly acknowledged that a brilliant design alone won't give their product the universal acceptance needed for the backing of their newly found industry; it was only through educating new customers to understand how to use these training devices to advance the obedience of their dog in a proper manner. The most compelling form of education came when Tri-Tronics released a book written by Jim and Phyllis Dobbs and Alice Woodward aptly named Tri-Tronics Training Retrievers. This book focused on incorporating shock collars in all phases of training retrievers. Through a series of detailed steps the reader was shown how  to train a dog from beginning to end. It is thanks to technological improvements and educational support given by manufacturers, that the days of the shock collar are gone, giving way to remote training collars. Like cell phones today, its becoming increasingly difficult to find trainers who train without an electronic dog collar.