Good-bye Premier

On September 13, 2011, Jason Hart, Director of Marketing, wrote a letter announcing that the Premier Pet Products brand will be integrated under the PetSafe brand by a target date of October. Premier was bought by Radio Systems Corporation, which also owns the PetSafe brand, in March of 2010. In a letter by the founder of Premier Pet Products,Sharon Madre assured Premier customers that the Premier brand would remain in tact and that her decision to sell the company to Radio Systems Corporation was a difficult one being that she did not support some of the products that Radio Systems Corporation offered at that time.

Many positive trainers were upset about the selling of Premier and began actively boycotting the brand, looking for new alternatives that did not support Radio Systems Corporation but when this announcement came out yesterday, the outrage was even more apparent. Many positive trainers had hoped that the merger would allow Radio Systems Corporation to move away from being a company that earns a large portion of it’s money selling punitive devices for dogs such as shock collars, e-collars, underground fencing, anti-barking shock collars, etc. but realized upon hearing the news of the elimination of the Premier brand that that would not come into fruition.

Shock collars have been associated with burns and injuries at the site of contact and negative behavior fallout. Dog Sport Magazine did an article on the problem with shock in 2009 citing that while shock collar training is effective, the risks outweigh it’s benefits. More and more well educated trainers and behaviorists are coming out against these devices. Many who have used these before so why is Radio Systems Corporation moving backwards?

While those who find shock collars, also called e-collars, static collars and other things that make it sound as though the dog is not getting an electrical pulse on the neck, a useful training tool often say that they dog is not feeling any pain, many would disagree including me. Because of this new development and changes in the condition of the acquisition of the Premier brand, I will not be recommending any of Premier’s products in the future joining other positive trainers who had the forsight to see this coming.

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