Shock collars

[Tralee]

You should never punish bad behavior, by scruffing or what ever. Instead redirect her energy into somthing positive. I would look into clicker training

[Giselle]

What about pure, simple exercise? Labs have energy. Like BCs, they need an outlet to get rid of all that pent up energy. A jog around the block, a quick game of fetch in the park, participation in agility, flyball, dock jumping lessons, a trip to the dog park will all help calm Zoe down. What she needs is some disciplinary training and exercise. A tired dog is a good dog. You need to exercise Zoe both physically and mentally because she's taking out her boredom through annoying puppy behaviors.

Get Zoe into obedience classes. If she knows her basic 5 (come, sit, stay, down, heel), let a trainer evaluate her so that you can participate in Advanced Ob. If you feel like Obedience is too basic or boring, you can enroll Zoe into agility, flyball, tricks for fun, Rally-O, etc. Heck, you can even earn your CGC! I agree that your pup is still just going through some normal Lab puppy/young adolescent behavior, but you should also remember that the nature of a Lab is naturally happy-go-lucky and Zoe will ALWAYS overreact with the arrival of a guest. My neighbor's 8 year old Golden Retriever is walking on arthritic legs, but he *still* attempts to jump up on guests. I definitely would not use a shock collar on her.

[Misty_Pearl]

Shock collars are the lazy way out of training a dog. Not to mention downright cruel because you are shocking a behavior that you don't like not a behavior that is bad. A dog is never bad they just don't know the behavior that you want to see.

[chocolatepuppy]

he'll grab her by the scruff of the neck, until she cries out.

Not in my house he wouldn't....I'm sorry I don't know much about shock collars but from what I do know, I would never use them. Zoe wants to please you, you just have to take the time to train her.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

I think it sounds like a good idea if you put Zoe away when he comes over. Personally I don't like shock collars, I would never want to hurt my dogs, ever. I have never even used "choke" collars before, but that is just my opinion.

If your ex mentions shock collars again maybe you could tell him that they can cause a myriad of other behavioral problems, and using positive reinforcement is probably easier in the long run! Using shocks too liberally can cause learned helplessness, and I know if I used something like that on Adele (who is a very soft, in some ways timid dog) she would probably skulk around the house fearing a shock from somewhere. Also, probably shock collars are expensive, so if your ex is willing to pay for that, maybe he can put the money towards a good class instead!

[IRescue452]

I think if he continues to grab her by the scruff like this he is going to create more problems. She might develope psychological problems if this continues and that will lead to worse behavior. Shock collars probably won't help in this situation. My Autumn has one but we don't use it anymore. My stepdad made me get one but now he's learned that since Autumn only barks when people come inside, the collar isn't going to help. She not a consistant barker so the shock punishment isn't going to train her.