Shock therapy makes a quiet comeback – Health – Mental health – msnbc.com.
Interesting. Those of us with experience with rural electric fences (a.k.a. hot wire) have suspected for some time that shock therapy can help depression. The reason for that is that most of us have felt our own fences – usually by accident – and we always feel a slight sense of elation afterward. It might even be said that we feel better the whole day afterwards….
I suppose it could just be relief that we can still move fast enough to avoid the inevitable next pulse. But maybe those psychiatrists are actually on to something – a reset button for the brain, as it were.
I just finished re-stringing the hot wire on our fence. I went with a solar charger this time, because the main purpose of the hot wire is to help keep the fox out of the duck yard. We did have a standard plug-in charger years ago to keep the dogs in (I had one who was especially fond of going walkabout). The problem with a standard charger is that it stops working when the power is out – and many critters (including dogs & horses) can tell if a hot-wire is live by just listening to it – once they know what it is they don’t have to touch it at all. When the fence is off, they know they can go where ever they like. A solar charger, on the other hand, will keep going for several days without sun, and doesn’t care at all whether we have power or not.
So, our fence is on, and you are welcome to come over and help yourself to some free therapy…
Self-serve only, mind you.
Just find the shiny wire running along the top of the duck yard fences, and grab on….
If you prefer, we also have a portable, adjustable, on-demand version. Our guardian-in-training, Rubic has proven to be an extraordinary challenge when it comes to not playing with the small birds, and being the bright little beastie she is, she also knows to control her impulses when I am nearby. This meant I needed a way for her to realize that grabbing little birds was wrong that would work from a distance and that was not directly associated with me. The solution (at least that is our hope) is a shock-collar with a remote control. I can not only deliver a shock when needed, I can also set its strength to 20 different levels.
For those of you keen to try this form of therapy, you can control it yourself, or you can let someone else do it. Sounds like fun, no?
No?
(p.s. – No, this is not what Rubic looks like when she is getting a shock – this is what she looks like when she’s laughing. You probably don’t want to see what she looks like when she’s angry.)
