Singapore — Videos of dogs being shocked with electric collars, being kicked, dragged, and choked as part of their obedience training have once again been circulating on social media, with many netizens condemning these practices.
On the Facebook page of Mr Alfie Pan, where he shared two such videos this week, commenters showed just how unhappy they were.
Other commenters tagged SPCA Singapore (Singapore Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and said they notified Nparks (the National Parks Board) and AVS (Animal Veterinary Service).
Coconuts Singapore reported that one such animal training service, K-9 Obedience Services, whose trainers were allegedly among those in the video, took down their social media pages.
However, when netizens commented on the Instagram page of another puppy training service, Canine Solutions, the company defended its methods and said clients were fully aware of how their pets are trained.
One commenter on their latest post from Sept 21 said they were “Done reporting this account.”
Another called the company “Murderers.”
However, the company answered its detractors, writing, “We are transparent in our training and our techniques/methods are adapted to each individual dog. Our clients are fully aware of how we train their dogs.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but as it’s come to a point that we and our clients are being accused and harassed, we will block such misinformed individuals from putting out baseless comments.”
In a Facebook post, however, SPCA Singapore wrote, “There is a video circulating of aversive training methods being used on dogs. The methods are completely unacceptable from an animal welfare standpoint and unfortunately all too common in the dog training industry. It’s time for such practices to end. We have referred this case to the authorities.