Recently there was a cartoon on the cover of The New Yorker magazine that made me smile. It was a drawing of a man in a bathing suit sitting in his beach chair a few feet from the water’s edge pointing his remote control at the sun. Similarly the movie “Click” depicts a man who can control the people around him with his hand held remote. At one point when his dog is barking he simply turns down the volume to a less obtrusive level. There’s no question that on some level the idea of easily controlling all aspects of our lives electronically is appealing. In reality, things aren’t so simple.

E-collars for dog training are widely available these days, and people sometimes think that they can avoid the time and expense of training a dog by purchasing one. Not so fast. Unless you know exactly what you are doing with a remote collar, you can make a dog confused, anxious, and mistrustful.

Not long ago, I started working with a client who has a young, exuberant, and somewhat opportunistic German Shepherd. Jumping and mouthing were two of their problems, so they borrowed a remote collar from a friend. At our first meeting the woman remorsefully confessed that they quickly realized that the dog had no clue what he was being zapped for, so they stopped using it. Good for them!

A friend of mine who owns a grooming salon told me of a situation with one of her clients that didn’t turn out as well. For some time she had been advising this client to get some training for their out of control Golden Retriever but to no avail. One day these folks showed up at the salon with an e-collar on the dog. My friend did notice a change in the dog’s behavior but not for the better. This dog, who in spite of his rowdiness, had always been amiable, started growling at her. Not good!

E-collars are not bad in and of themselves, but like any tool you need to know what you’re doing before using one. Dog training is about much more than control. It’s about building trust, responsibility, and a rewarding relationship.