The end for e-collars?

FOUR YEARS AGO, Michael Gove introduced plans for legislation to ban the use of electric training collars for dogs in England. It was a proposal supported by not only animal-rights groups, but also the Kennel Club.

I suspect that it was a calculated decision by the Conservative Party to show that it could be equally sympathetic to animal-welfare issues as its Labour opposition. Perhaps surprisingly, the proposed ban has never been enacted, though Lord Goldsmith, the Government minister for animal welfare, has