By Lynn –
It took a member here to see my problem and, without explicitly saying it, goad me to see what I originally couldn’t.
Dogs were trained in the old days without halters, clickers, and no-pull harnesses. Indeed, they were trained with harsh collar corrections that were, more often than not, way above what would be considered the minimum motivational level; any sort of e-collar used in the 50s and 60s were one level of shock, and one level only; and it was far more common to discipline using the no-so-gentle laying on of hands, feet, newspapers, or other solid objects.
They seemed to come out of it all right, with a basic knowledge of behavior. Funny, however, how some back-woods’ types yearn for the return of the ‘hard’ dog, the one blessed with stubborn temperament and personality to grind down even the toughest stone on the block…they lament how dogs have ‘gone soft’ over the years as a result of dithering idiots who dare to humanize their dogs and allow them to live inside with as humans do.
That’s because dogs had to be tough to survive the Yank-n-Crank era.
My pictures below, of the raw muzzles from a supposedly ‘gentle’ training tool, are only part of the debate. What of injuries from collars such as the truly questionable, yet rarely seen Jasa force collar? What of dogs who endure raw necks or tracheal/cervical damage from zipping nooses of chokers? Or even dogs whose owners do not fit the pinch collar correctly, letting them slam into it from a too-loose position, causing it to puncture the dog’s neck?
I am discovering that, in being bound by rules that make no sense, are overly restrictive, and allow no wiggle room despite fair debate and experience, I am doing what is simply natural: forming almost a knee-jerk reaction to something I do not appreciate, and this makes things seem…overboard.
The average reader might find here that I rant and rail against things as if I want to see them all burn. Some days this is the case! However, my intent has gone from informing to alienating; simply put, I am disobeying one of my own tenets set forth in a paragraph of my own writing!
Thanks for a bit of perspective and introspection. You know who you are.