A reader recently emailed me about a hot topic of debate in his town of Carl Junction, Missouri. The town is considering revising their leash law to allow owners to walk their dogs on electronic collars including when they are running their dogs next to them in the street while driving golf carts. His specific question was, “Does this provide good control?”

There are several factors involved in answering these questions. First, you have to understand how such collars work and how dogs need to be trained in order to learn the goal behavior of heeling next to their owners even in the face of high distractions.  Secondly you have to understand what can potentially go wrong even in the hands of the most skilled dog training professional. And lastly you have to be aware of  how the average owner will use the collar and how dogs tend to behave with their owners in charge of the electronic tool. To see the specifics read the Huffington post blog article titled, “Electronic Collars Vs. Traditional Leashes for Exercising Dogs on Town Streets—A Cause of Debate in One Small Town in Missouri“.