Man Shocks Daughter With Dog Collar For Eating Too Slowly - Arrested

[matcom]

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Jackson - A 34-year-old Jackson man has been charged with attaching an electric shock collar used to control the family dog to his 8-year-old stepdaughter's leg and shocking her because she was eating her breakfast too slowly.

A felony child abuse charge was filed against the man Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court. According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, the stepfather also threatened to shoot the girl's pet rabbit because he said she does not take adequate care of the animal.

The girl told investigators she "cried a lot because it hurt a lot," when the shock was administered, the complaint said.

Also according to the complaint:

A caseworker from the Washington County Department of Social Services and a Jackson police officer were called to Jackson Elementary School on Monday after a staff member at the school noticed a bruise on the girl's thigh.

The girl said her stepfather that morning attached the collar, which is operated by a remote control, to her thigh, set its shock intensity at "4" and told her she was lucky he didn't set it on "6," as he does with the family dog.

The metal electrodes of the collar left two marks on her thigh, according to the complaint.

The device, a SportDOG SD-400, has settings from one to eight and delivers electrical shocks ranging from 760 volts to 6,520 volts, according to the company's technical support department in Knoxville, Tenn.

Higher settings are used to control larger or harder-to-control dogs.

A "4" setting delivers a shock of 2,680 volts, enough to control a medium-size dog, depending on the dog's temperament, according to company specifications.

Joe Nyland, at Action Dog Training in Waukesha, said shock collars "are extremely useful" in training dogs, delivering a brief but painful electric shock, causing most dogs to yelp in pain.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/ozwash/oct05/362466.asp