Hooray for the Principality!

Wales has banned electric shock collars and the harbingers of doom are predicting mad dogs roaming the streets and frothing at the mouth chasing sheep up Snowdon.

I saw a trainer on the BBC website who said that "in the right hands, these are a very effective means of control", there followed shots of a GSD heading out towards a flock until ZAP! he decided against it. Impressive stuff eh?

Well my first question would be: What the F-Ffestiniog was the GSD doing off the lead near sheep in the first place? It's bad enough using these without thinking about the bleedin' obvious, there's also the really, really big problem that generally these weren't "in the right hands", they would be in the hands of the inexperienced, the lazy, the downright cruel and all shades in between.

But what's vitally important is that they just don't work. Give a dog a job to do and often they will pursue their task to the nth degree, without regards to personal safety or pain. How many dogs have you seen virtually strangling themselves on a lead? The fact is that they can often exhibit extreme motivation and nothing physical is going to stop them doing something so important, whatever they think it is. So in the right circumstances - and that is going to be in most circumstances where a dog feels he has the safety of his group (OK- pack) to preserve. Nothing - sprays, shocks or poor folks hanging on to a lead, correction harness, or prong collar, is going to stop them.

Far better to change the dogs mind, give him calm leadership, ensure he's happy to be by your side and, for goodness sake, put him on a lead near sheep!