The RSPCA has called the ban on electric collars “a great day for animal welfare in Wales”, but realistically no responsible dog owner who has paid out considerable sums in food, vets bills and sundries such as microchipping, let alone the time invested in training, is going to mistreat a faithful, hard-working and much loved pet. I am sure they will know full well that praise and reward are the best way to achieve results.

Anyone who wishes to mistreat their dog is going to anyway, and will probably do so without going to the expense of buying a “training aid” such as the electric collar.

I am the owner of a two-and-a-half-year-old English springer spaniel. He is the epitome of the term “hard hunting”, and responds to some commands some of the time, if he feels like it. It is for that reason that I have used an electric training collar on him for the purpose of saving him from harm.

My spaniel bowled over a newborn lamb that was in the middle of a flock of ewes and patted it with his paw, urging it to get up and play. However, after two further attempts at approaching sheep while wearing an electric training collar, he has not looked at them since. Though he can still become excited when walking past a flock, his memory of the sensation of touching sheep is enough. Ninety per cent of the time he responds to conventional commands. However, when he is hot on the trail of something and is heading for barbed wire, newly flailed blackthorn hedging or a road, he has been saved by the collar on many occasions from possible injury. This was done only by using the “beep” facility on the training collar.

The responsible and limited use of an electric collar is not a “cruel, outdated and unsuitable method of training dogs”, as stated by Caroline Kisko of the Kennel Club, but a way of giving a dog freedom from being on a lead while helping to keep it free from injury.

The Kennel Club is entitled to its point of view on what is “cruel, outdated and unsuitable”, but is this not the same organisation that permitted the breeding of pedigree dogs so malformed that they could barely make it to the show ring?

If this ban is so great for animal welfare, presumably the RSPCA will now push for a ban on electric cattle fences, which are also used to keep animals from harm.

DEFRA has commissioned a university research programme into dog training methods and aids. We should wait for the outcome of that research before allowing charities to attempt to impose legislation based on emotion.

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