Paws for Alarm: The Rise of Fraud in the Dog Training Industry

Imagine if you will, having the world of human mental health be in the following condition: anyone can offer behavioral therapy/mental health services/behavior modification for emotionally troubled youths and adults. You only need to say that you are an expert, and you can legally hang out your shingle and charge for your services. Anything that you suggest, short of actually suggesting killing the human needing the help, is legal while under the umbrella of mental health services. You can suggest beating the human in need. You can suggest shocking the human in need with varying levels of electrical shock with devices made just for that purpose. You can chain them up and jerk them around when they behave in a manner that you deem unacceptable. You can throw chains and large objects at them and that is considered normal treatment. You can spray them in the face with water as well as with assorted toxic mixtures that may cause them harm. You can choke them by hanging them by their necks above the floor and insist that you are their boss and that they must behave as you say. You can throw them to the floor/ground and insist that they submit to you. You can place collars with pointy metal spikes poking into their neck and yank on said collar when you are displeased, all the while saying, “there is a right way to use them”. I could easily go on and on unfortunately. Thankfully, outside of the title of life coach, the human mental health field is well regulated. But even life coaches cannot do the things that are listed. They would be arrested. Rightfully so.

Let’s also talk about educating humans such as in schools/universities/etc. What if all of the above-named horrors were permitted in that field? Not just limited to mental health issues but also basic social skills teaching and the education that one needs to get through life and to choose/study for a vocation. Would you think that any of this makes sense? How would anyone learn by having these things done to them when they made a mistake? Would YOU learn anything, other than not trusting anyone in these positions?

Surely normal empathetic humans would be horrified that we are treating sentient beings in such a manner, correct? Then why are we, as a race of humans who are supposed to possess critical thinking skills and compassion, not horrified that all of these things and more, are legal to do to dogs under the umbrella of ‘training’ them? Why are we even having to have a conversation on this subject in this day and age? Why do so few humans give this atrocity a second thought? Why do people who profess to love their dogs defend such practices?

There are so many so called professionals out there taking people’s money, who falsely claim that one cannot possibly resolve serious behavior issues with rewards-based methods. Or that one cannot train “high-drive” dogs with rewards-based methods. That cannot be further from the truth. Truly, all dogs can learn from rewards-based methods. Read about that subject here.  There is no breed in existence who needs harsher methods in order to modify their behavior. The more confident a dog is, the more that they are likely to challenge you if you try and manhandle them. Read about my journey crossing over to the positive side here.

Ethical considerations? This is something that myself and so many empathetic dog behavior professionals wonder about on a daily basis. Dear dog loving reader, we understand that when someone presents themselves as an expert on any given subject, there is a tendency to simply believe in that ‘expert’ advice. But this has to stop. These actions and advice are not the advice of real experts. These actions and advice are only presented by those who have less than an adequate education and less than adequate skill levels in working with dogs. The unregulated world of dog training and behavior allows this at the moment but you as dog parents must demand better.

Therein lies the fraud. The elephant in the dog world. The debate over methods. There really is no debate. Science has shown over and over again how dogs learn best. The governing body of those with the highest credentials in dog behavior made their proclamation on this subject years ago. Yet when that fact is stated, those who use such methods on their own and the public’s dogs call those academic experts, charlatans. How does getting a solid well-rounded education in dog behavior and how to successfully modify it make one a charlatan? Surely when you need an expert in any other area such as mechanics, electrical issues, plumbing, roofing, and most importantly, physical illness, etc. you go to a qualified licensed expert, correct? Why is this field so different? Your manicurist is required to be tested and licensed. Shouldn’t the person who ‘helps’ you with your dog’s behavior have the same requirements?

The world of dog training and behavior is a world of buyer beware. Dog parents overwhelmingly have no idea that these terrible scenarios really do exist for their beloved dogs. They just perform a google search with the intent of getting some assistance for their dog’s behavior concerns or even just getting some help training basic manners. They may look at reviews or they may ask their friends. In general, those friends are not going to be any more cognizant of the horrors that exist in these worlds than they are.

One would think that reviews would safely give one a true picture of the company’s/trainer’s skills and successes. But I can assure you that with many of those whose businesses depend on the use of shock collars for the client’s dogs, the reviews are going to be bought and paid for. Several large shock collar chains and even some small local chains/individual shock collar businesses typically use a contract that offers a discount for an immediate review with a stipulation that if you speak negatively about them in any way on any public forum, then the amount discounted will immediately be due upon discovery of the breach and the client will be responsible for all legal costs involved in the matter. I have seen these contracts myself. Reviews from anyone who uses a company like this should be dismissed.

Unfortunately, the lack of expertise and professionalism is not limited to those still using outdated training tools and methods. Many of those who use what might be called many things including: force-free, positive reinforcement training, rewards-based training, modern methods, science-supported training, dog friendly methods, etc. are also offering their services without the benefit of a sufficient education and schooling. One can literally wake up one day and decide to become a dog trainer. There are many “about me” pages on websites all over the globe that start with “I have loved dogs all of my life.” That is not okay. Training one’s own dog is simply not enough. This is a recipe for clients of said individual saying “I tried positive training, and it didn’t work”. It absolutely works on all dogs. The trouble is that one needs to very much understand how it actually gets implemented and not be limited in skills. There are an abundance of ways to modify behavior and to train a dog with rewards-based methods. There is no cookie cutter template, despite the fact that one is often using cookies (of the dog variety of course!). Every dog is indeed different, as many professionals on both sides of the equation will state. But one must have the education and the skill level and the experience to know when to stop with one way and try another. See this article for more on that subject.

I cannot tell you how many eye twitches I have experienced watching random people on the internet give horrible training and behavior advice because “it worked on my dog” or “my neighbor told me to do this” or “my dad is a veterinarian, and this is how we do it”. Substitute groomer or dog walker and any other dog related position. Unless one is a well-educated with some globally respected credentials and sufficient hands-on experience to learn from that *and* is asking a multitude of questions of the person in need to get a solid idea of the context, then no one should be answering random dog training/behavior questions on the internet outside of when it may actually be your literal job to do so. And one would still need those solid credentials. See this article for more on that subject.

Where does actual fraud come into play? Well, I think *all* of this is fraudulent. Someone offering to resolve your dog’s behavior issues without having sufficient credentials/knowledge/experience is *all* fraud. But the trouble is that anyone can “certify” anyone and that is also legal. See more on that here.  But the most troublesome fraud is the guarantee of what is going to happen with your dog’s behavior. Ethical credentialing organizations do not permit their certificants to offer guarantees. Why? Because one cannot guarantee the future behavior of a sentient being. I see (and hide) ad after ad on Facebook for both online courses and in person ‘trainers’ promoting their fail-safe method to ‘fix’ your dog’s behavior issues in 1 session or 1 hour or 1 course or what have you. Dogs don’t get ‘fixed’ unless we are referring to spaying and neutering. Behavior doesn’t work like that. Behavior is modified, in a similar manner that humans accomplish the same thing but since dogs cannot effectively participate in a two way conversation with an actual therapist, we set them up for success with management first and foremost and then in increments very specific to *that* dog, we teach them how to use coping mechanisms to deal with things/people/other dogs/animals that they either get uber excited about or are terribly frightened/anxious of/over.

There is *NO* fast fix. None. There is behavior suppression though, and that is what happens with that terrible list of things that I described in the first paragraph consist of. That may initially look like the behavior issues is resolved because it may not be happening anymore. But the why on it is not happening when it is addressed in that manner is because the recipient of such nonsense is now terrified to show their feelings on the matter lest the pain/intimidation occur again. The mental torment is still there. Nothing has changed internally. This may be acceptable to some people and the thought of that makes me truly sad, but I like to think that most dog parents truly want their dogs to feel better inside as well as outside. Using modern rewards-based methods is what will help make that a reality.

There are many well qualified trainers who do try and educate the public on this subject on various social media platforms. But what happens when those who choose to speak out do so, is that trolls flock to said platforms to villainize/insult/disparage/malign/slander/what have you, said individual. The comment section then becomes the main message versus the important message of all dogs can be trained with rewards-based methods and dog parents are being lied to. A sad example of this is Zak George’s (1) Facebook and Instagram pages. Zak has the courage to stand up to bullies and call out those who publicly abuse dogs and call it training, like the infamous “Dog Daddy”. Just to be clear, I do not believe in name calling. What I do believe in is stating the facts clearly and truthfully when someone calling themselves an expert in dog behavior is perfectly fine with having themselves be filmed stringing dogs up on choke chains and yanking them around when they are gasping for air. This is NOT training. This is clearly painful and harmful to the dog in question. If anyone were doing this without calling this ‘training’, they would be arrested. So why are we allowing it under the moniker of training? Even more shocking (pun intended) is the number of individuals who claim to love their dogs, who will loudly support these archaic practices as necessary and productive. We need regulation badly. Until we get that in the dog training/behavior industry, you as the dog parent, must be aware of the education/methods/credentials/etc. that anyone you want to hire is using. Stick with someone who follows this ethical stance.

In the meantime, when choosing a trainer, ask direct questions. And be aware of red flags. Unfortunately, there are a lot of red flags when choosing a trainer to work with but one of the biggest, at least in the US, is the claim that they “work with/train police dogs”. Police dogs in the US are notoriously unstable and generally only trained with punitive methods. Other red flags are mentioned here and here and here and here. It’s sad that there are so many sources for these, isn’t it?

Until we get regulation, we must demand better. We must expose this fraud. We must be vocal. We must consider humane interactions with our dogs, first and foremost. If someone needs to cause physical or emotional harm to a dog to change their behavior, then they need to find a new profession as they aren’t very good at the one they are claiming to be an expert in. (1)

I am sure that I will get hordes of people telling me how much their dogs love their shock collars or their prong collars and the like. No, they actually don’t. But dogs are super resilient. That is a blessing and a curse. They continually forgive us mere humans for all of our faults. And when the painful thing is the only way to get to the fun things, they think about the fun thing.

A world for dogs that I dream about is a world like Germany creates for the dogs who live there, with requirements to have a dog as part of one’s family, requirements for trainers and requirements for breeders. I wish this for all dogs everywhere someday. I really hope you will too, for the sake of the dogs. Choose kindness. And please, come to the positive side, we always have cookies.

(1) Addendum for the current turmoil in the dog training world: I feel the need to add some information here due to the public conflict going on now in the dog training world. I did mention Zak George above and that I support his efforts against The Dog Daddy. I support his goal of a ban on all tools and methods designed to cause pain and fear in dogs under the umbrella of training them. What I do not support by anyone is badmouthing one’s colleagues in the rewards-based training community and twisting their words into a completely different meaning. I also do not support witch hunts against my fellow rewards-based colleagues from the extremist members of my community. We are not all like this, I assure you. We all want the same things but unfortunately, some of us want to control how others spread their messages. Someday we will have regulation and that will be a start. In the meantime, please do choose a well qualified and credentialed member of the rewards-based community to assist you with your dog’s issues. And please make sure that that particular professional is also positive with their colleagues. This is how we create change. It really is. One person at a time. Thanks for reading.

#choosekindness #cometothepositivesidewehavecookies