Few things cause as much controversy in the world of dog training as dog shock collars. For some reason, people have a tremendous aversion to using these collars to train dogs, but feel perfectly fine with whacking a dog with a newspaper or hitting them if they soil the house.
Any competent trainer who uses an e-collar will explain that the shock administered is similar to that of a static discharge you get during the winter. Furthermore, the trainer will take the time to let you see what your dog feels when they get shocked by having you experience it as well.
For people who object to the e-collar training, a dog in any manner that doesn’t involve direct human-to-dog contact seems cruel. Because of this, people have now begun using all sorts of euphemisms to refer to these highly useful devices. "Negative reinforcement collars" or "behavioral collars" are running side-by-side with the popular e-collar, but it doesn’t change the essential nature of the training aide. Dogs are trained to avoid the uncomfortable stimulation by successfully obeying their owner’s commands. Owners are still praising their pets and actively involved in the training process.
Regardless of which side of the debate you support, the fact remains that these collars are highly effective training aides. You can’t put a collar on a dog, send them out into the yard constantly pressing the button on the remote, and expect a dog to learn what you want. You must take time to train yourself and your pets for dog shock collars to be successful, otherwise, why have a pet at all.