A Cacophony of Dog Trainers

When I started training, there was no such thing as camaraderie amongst dog trainers. You would never consider “sharing” ideas with fellow professionals, and it was more of a “cut throat” business. Things have delightfully changed in that regard, but the change has brought along its own batch of problems and confusion.

You’ve probably heard the statement, “The only thing two dog trainers can agree on is what the third one is doing wrong”. There is much truth in that, as dog trainers tend to be strong-willed individuals who have clear beliefs and feelings about their profession. Maybe that’s what it takes to enter into clients’ homes and lives to help facilitate change in their relationship with their dogs.

When I first started training, it was considered very important that dogs were trained up to AKC obedience standards – I worked hard to try and get every dog off-leash by the end of a ten week group class. All dogs learned a Stand-Stay, and there were good reasons for them to learn it. I competed with my own dogs and was proud of it. We didn’t use food, we didn’t have no-pull harnesses or head halters or psychotropic drugs: we were lacking in all of these wondrous tools, but somehow – believe it or not – dogs were still humanely trained, and well-trained too.

I always tried to be attuned to each dog’s temperament, what they needed to understand; what might be the reason for their undesired behavior.

But things have changed.

We have all of the great tools mentioned above, and we have a strong movement which has created the concept of “dog-friendly” dog training. We have certifications and new organizations, veterinary behaviorists and the emergence of dog training as a truly professional career. The public and trainers now are aware that dog training doesn’t have to be militaristic or harsh or punishing – and what a wonderful thing for the dogs. However, as with so many things, this good move in a positive direction has created a pendulum swing to the far opposite outlook.

Many trainers now are heartily against the idea of competing with their dogs – there’s no need, they say, and associate the concept of competing to something a “traditional” trainer would do. Most trainers these days don’t really try to train a dog to off-leash reliability, and many have never seen it done – why do it, they ask, in this society where dogs are not allowed off-leash anyway? Many trainers now are vehemently against the use of certain tools, under any circumstances, and don’t hesitate to label those who use them as unethical, inhumane and not *friendly* to dogs. One must tread carefully to avoid falling into an emotional argument where you can find yourself somehow defending tools that you have no desire to defend. New trainers agonize over how to teach an adolescent dog not to jump without ever using the word “No”, or any other form of “correction”; how to stay within the boundaries of completely positive reinforcement.

To an “old-timer” like me, it’s become downright confusing to get along these days: I and many I know of simply try to follow the “LIMA” guidelines – Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive – to be aware and sensitive to the needs of the dogs we work with as well as to their owners, and to try and avoid villainizing certain tools – because:

a) any tool can be misused (though I certainly would agree with the mandating of electric collars only being available through a professional as its potential for misuse is so high).
b) there just *might* be a reason to use a tool for a specific individual in a specific situation.

So I guess things maybe haven’t really changed all that much: we still have a situation where lots and lots of dog trainers will only agree on what lots and lots of other dog trainers are doing wrong – it’s polarized into large groups now, that’s the difference these days.