have prong and shock collars been banned in the uk?  to clarify i am NOT looking to buy or use one. 

Unfortunately not, although shock collars are banned in wales.

i sadly thought that was the case :-(

they are common out here in France, it seems to me its the way the french control there dogs, I walk regularly on a Randonnee with people whose dogs have these collars on, unfortunatly I do not know enough french to ask about them, but they are available in all garden centres and big supermarkets, I really feel for the dogs whose owners buy them with no clue whatsoever.  But then they have puppy markets at dog shows here, so that opens opens another can of worms.

pets @ home had an anti pull collar in the other day.  I did not look too hard but going by the price tag I suspect it was an e-collar.  What on earth is wrong with training your dog?!?

It's too much work, that's what!  I've had a fair few people come to me for help training their dogs and they disappear as soon as they realised that they are actually going to have to do some work themselves.  Far easier to get a prong or a shock collar.  :-(

:(  What is the point of having a robot controlled by a remote?  Do people not understand that to get the pleasure out you have to put the time in.  I guess it is one of the reasons we have such a lot of aggressive and bad mannered dogs around. 

It's not that long since I saw a couple of guys with a mature rottie and a young one.  The young one was a bit bullish and bad mannered but she just wanted to greet other dogs (not aggressive), she would run ahead from them because she knew if she went back to them she would not be allowed to greet.  Last time I saw them she went to run up to us from a fair distance away and stopped suddenly yelping with pain.  They passed close enough for me to spot the collar.  If it is producing that sort of reaction what happens when she starts to associate the sight of another dog as causing her pain and reacts violently, she was already fearful of her owner.  I can only see this ending in disaster.

> Do people not understand that to get the pleasure out you have to put the time in.  I guess it is one of the reasons we have such a lot of aggressive and bad mannered dogs around. 

Nope.  It's the whole "I want it now" type culture - people have forgotten that you do need to put work in to get results, they just expect dogs to basically train themselves.  No regard for the fact that they're basically raising a child, just straight to off leading, leaving them to it and full adult length walks as soon as pup is allowed out regardless of breed.  I've seen it many times over the last year :-(

"i sadly thought that was the case "

I don't understand, you are sad they are banned in Wales?

No, she means sad that they're not both banned throughout the whole of the UK.