< Updated 2026-07-04 >
< A short link for this page – https://www.forcefreepets.com/shared-2026-07-04/ >
On June 28, 2026, Veterinary Behaviorist Dr. Lisa Radosta posted the following on Facebook, stating “I will not prescribe medication to reduce your dog’s stress so you can use a shock collar to train him.” Thank you, Dr. Radosta. Her message is so important I felt it needed to be shared on my blog.
Before I could share Dr. Radosta’s post here, I saw another post suggesting that fireworks should be banned due to the health hazards they present to many people and many animals, both domestic and wild. I agree with that post. Someone who disagreed suggested we just drug our dogs so people could enjoy their fireworks. People’s cruelty disappoints me more every day. – Don Hanson, PCBC-A
Dr. Radosta’s Post
Yes, if you can believe it people ask me to prescribe medication to reduce the dog’s stress so that they can shock their dog.
Medication is not a workaround for training methods that increase fear, pain and distress.
In behavioral medicine, the goal of pharmacologic intervention is to reduce pathologic anxiety, improve emotional stability, and allow the brain to learn more adaptive responses.
Shock-based tools function by introducing pain, discomfort, or threat. For a dog already experiencing fear or anxiety, this does not resolve the underlying emotional state—it compounds it.
When fear and pain occur together:
- Physiologic stress responses intensify
- Associations with the environment, people, or other animals can worsen
- Warning signals may be suppressed, increasing bite risk without reducing intent
Medication cannot ethically or effectively be used to facilitate this process.
Treatment plans in veterinary behavior prioritize reducing fear, not layering additional stress onto it. That means selecting interventions that are compatible with how the brain processes safety, learning, and threat.
If a dog requires medication for anxiety or aggression, the approach must also minimize aversive experiences and support predictable, controlled learning environments.
The objective is not compliance at any cost.
It is a stable emotional state that allows for safe, sustainable behavior change.
©2026, Donald J. Hanson, All Rights Reserved
