PetSafe Shock Collars Not “Safe” and “Harmless” as Advertised Class Action

Radio Systems Corporation makes PetSafe shock collars for use on household pets. The complaint alleges that the company advertises these collars as “safe” and “harmless” and uses euphemisms for their effects, but according to the complaint, they are cruel and harmful and can cause injuries to, and even behavioral changes in, pets.

The class for this action is all persons who bought one or more shock collar products in California. A subclass has also been defined for claims under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act that includes all persons in the above class who bought the collars for personal, family, or household purposes.

Shock collars are generally offered in three categories: (1) those meant to keep pets within a designated containment area, (2) those meant to control barking, and (3) those meant for training that can be controlled remotely with a handheld device. The collars are worn around the animals’ necks and deliver an electric shock in response to their crossing a boundary, their barking, or their doing something their trainer wants to discourage.

The complaint alleges that Radio Systems falsely advertises the PetSafe shock collars, on the packaging and on its website, in a number of ways, for example, by claiming that they are “safe” and “harmless.”

The complaint charges, “To conceal the true nature of the Shock Collar Products, Radio Systems uses neutral euphemisms to describe what being electrocuted by a shock collar feels like for a pet[,]” using softening words for what is actually a painful shock, such as “static correction,” “surprise,” “tickle,” and “stimulation.”

These kinds of electrical shocks, the complaint claims, are actually “gravely dangerous to the pets’ physical and psychological well-being” including causing injuries such as “skin ruptures, bruising, inflammations, skin burns, and infections.” Photos in the complaint show two such injuries as posted online by owners who used the collars.

The collars are painful enough that the complaint alleges that their use “leads to increased aggression and other significant and irreversible behavioral changes, rendering dogs less obedient, and even dangerously defiant.”

The complaint refers to studies that have been done on dogs after the use of shock collars that show such things as skin injuries, “cardiac fibrillation, inflamed thyroid, and irregular heart rate and salivation” and sometimes elevated cortisol levels, a sign of stress.

According to the complaint the company also advertises that the collars are recommended by veterinarians and professional dog trainers, when in reality, it says, the use of such collars has been “uniformly condemned by professional dog behaviorists, experts, trainers, and veterinarians as a cruel, dangerous, and ineffective way of modifying animal behavior.”

A number of countries has banned them altogether, the complaint claims, including Wales, Scotland, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Austria, and parts of Australia and New Zealand.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels, Injuries or Death, Safe Items Not Really Safe