New Online Survey May 2009

Professor Daniel Mills, Chairman of the Companion Animal Welfare Council (CAWC) is aware of the nature of the campaign against collars and has created an online questionnaire to get feedback on the actual experience of people who have used them.

You may well have completed the survey we sent out a few years ago but this is new, and important. Please fill it in as soon as possible by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page

Professor Mills is determined to find out how the products work out in practice. It is not our place to claim responsibility for this new approach but it is the single thing ECMA have asked for repeatedly over the past six years in discussions with Defra, and more recently with the contractors to Defra for the scientific study. We are delighted that CAWC have issued this questionnaire.

In writing your replies to the questionnaire, please bear in mind the claims made by the opposition to the collars, that they cause pain and distress to companion animals; that if they didn’t hurt they wouldn’t work; that they leave dogs cowed and apathetic, or alternatively that they make dogs aggressive; that dogs experiencing the correction exhibit behavioural signs of distress; that all learning by dogs can come about by positive reward, that ‘ordinary’ pet owners are not capable of following the instructions or cannot be trusted to do so and that lazy and abusive owners will buy collars as a quick fix.

If your experience contradicts these allegations you might like to emphasise the contrary points you have experienced, but do not enter into a debate about collars in your answers because Professor Mills is interested in experience not opinions.

Please click here to fill in the questionnaire.