Both of these instances do not actual pertain to a collar being worn by the dog but the delivery of an electrical shock to the dog does happen. A quick side note, dogs who wear a shock collar do distinguish between when they are wearing it and when they are not. Therefore if the dog does not perform the behavior in the absence of a shock collar they have not adequately been trained of the expectations of them.
Instance one:
Scout, my yellow lab, was very intrigued by some cows at a farm we were visiting. He was being slightly obnoxious but harmless. Scout was engaging with the cattle from a safe distance but would duck under the electric fencing to dance about in the pasture. He would go back and forth under the fence without so much as touching it, until he got spooked. Scout was in the pasture with the cows and as he ran by them they turned in pursuit and followed him. When he heard the sound of hooves, although a distance away, he panicked and went to duck quickly out from under the fence. He did not duck low enough and was shocked by the fence right across the middle of his back. Naturally Scout cried out, expressed his anal glands, and then made a huge arc around the perimeter of the fence. Scout then proceeded to come stand behind me, looking out past my legs and growled at the cows, believing them to be the source of his pain. He stopped interacting with them and watched them wearily.
Instance two:
This was told to me by a client that comes to the vet clinic I work at. She was telling me how they have a huge fenced in area that attaches to a horse stall so that their lab can go in and out of the sun, rain, wind etc. Having put her out there a number of times, they were aware that somehow she kept escaping. Interested to find out how, they made like they were leaving, parked down the road and walked back to observe. Turns out she was ducking out underneath one of the lowest rails. They were surprised she could fit. To solve the problem they ran electric fencing along the bottom of the fence. The client told me it only took the dog 2 times of being shocked on the nose before she stopped trying to escape. Then as the client chuckled in a sheepish sort of way, told me, "Now she won't even go out into the fenced in area. She just stays in the open horse stall."
Both of the instances are examples that with punishment based training or experiences, we don't have control over what the dogs associate it with. We know it has to do with a perimeter fence, but to the lab in Instance 2, she no longer felt safe leaving the confines of the horse stall to explore the open fenced area. She only knows that harm comes to her when she does. To Scout, he believes the cows were evil and responsible for his pain. His interest and curiosity changed to uncertainty and fear.
Think of a dog who wears a shock collar 24/7. Uncertainty and fear. Never knowing when or why you will receive the shock. A dog who wears a shock collar or trained with punishment based methods are often found to be a higher strung, anxious dog.
In both these instances there are humane ways to teach a dog to leave the cows or come when called and to teach the dog boundaries. All can be achieved without causing harm. The unfortunate part of punishment based training is that you tend to get results fast because you are suppressing a behavior instead of taking the time to teach what you want. Kids don't learn the ABC's in one sitting. It takes repetition and consistency and patience. There are a lot of parallels between dog training and raising kids. A lot can be learned by applying some of the same techniques from one to the other.
There have been a number of studies done on the effects of reward based training on dogs verses punishment based training.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201307/do-dogs-learn-faster-food-other-types-rewards
http://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2013/06/the-end-for-shock-collars.html
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