Controversial - or sense, you decide.

This may cause a few of you to wince. Please be patient and let me explain.

In 1980 I was living in Shetland, I had two labradors which were trained to the gun and did what I told them to without question, I trusted them, they trusted me. An ancient shepherd showed me how he trained his working collies. He carried lumps of soil in his pockets, if the dog was beyond his reach and disobeyed him he hurled mud at it, usually scoring a direct hit. The dog then understood that the shepherd had a long reach, so would obey his master.

This is an electric collar for dogs. (Big gasps and screams from most of the readership - subscriptions cancelled - demands for "those" images to be returned) As I was saying, it's an electric collar. Now, try hard and just think of it as a collar, forget the "E" word.

Flossie is seven months old, very stubborn, very powerful and a natural killer of rabbits and small furry things eg rats. That's OK if she was a working dog in a working environment. Unfortunately she is not, she is a pet, companion and consequently has to be obedient, respectful of two legged creatures and basically well behaved.

Privately I call her Vicky Pollard. She has "issues" - "special needs" and is a barsteward to train - it's a trait of her breed, Parson Russell. I'm not unused to working dogs, but this little darling is a real handful. Two weeks ago Mrs Booty took Flossie out for her walk; while out Flossie knocked over a child then jumped at another little girl, the father was very upset and rightly so. Mrs Booty apologised and came home very worried about the lack of control she has over Floss. Hence this collar.

It has three modes - Buzz, rather like a mobile phone on "silent" mode; Sound - obvious and finally the end of the world - The Tingle Factor. The latter has settings from 1 - 99, I have used it on 1 twice and had immediate control of Floss even when she has been chasing other dogs. The buzz setting is brilliant. When I want her to obey me I simply call her or use a dog whistle, at the same time I press the transmitter button and her phone buzzes around her neck. The buzz or sound breaks her concentration, makes her listen to the command or whistle and come back to be rewarded.

Basically the thought of such a device is abhorrent, however the practical use and application for training a strong willed dog is amazing. In the past two weeks I have enjoyed our walks, as has Floss. She now understands that there is a pecking order, she must obey commands and instructions; she has even stopped pulling on her lead, suddenly it appears she has settled and understands she is not the one running the show. Now think back to the shepherd; this is simply a modern equivalent of his method.