Last time I wrote about making plans. It occurs to me, after, or before, you make plans, or set sail on a ship, you must figure out the method you will use to accomplish your goals. Will you use traditional Post and Beam; modern construction framing, or go all out and make a concrete; sail, steam or catamaran?There are numerous ways to train dogs in the world today. A lot of them are basically the same, some are as different as night and day. I've talked about some of it before; others have talked about it. There is a lot of weasel wording in dog training. First and formost people need to be aware that there is, as I've said in the past and I will keep saying until enough people stand up and demand their rights as consumers, THERE ARE NO REGULATIONS IN DOG TRAINING. Anyone can hang up a shingle and say "I'm a dog trainer; I've been training dogs for XX years; I'm an expert; I know dog behaviour; I know dog body language; I understand dog psychology...." There are only a few areas in dog training that are currently regulated. That small list includes Veterinary Behaviorists who work on very special cases and are usually referred to by more reputable dog trainers (Trainers who admit that they are out of their league or comfort level when dealing with a case and understand the dog needs more assistance).
We should talk about the biggest myths out there openly, and plainly. To understand the root cause of them, and to establish them as outright myths. There is a lack of critical thinking in Dog Training, which leads to blind acceptance of methods that are either unneeded, outdated, and/or just dangerous.
I've heard well educated people say "Science has their theories, but I know xxx works, I've done it myself!" The fact is that Science Theories are well ordered, usually very simple concepts that have been proven over, and over, and over until all the extraneous non-useful, false or unverifiable information is rejected. We cannot accept the Theory of Gravity, Germ Theory, Quantum Theory, Evolutionary Theory and reject Learning Theory because it is discomforting to the way we think. Learning Theory, is a theory, because it has been proven over and over again on numerous animals (kingdom Animalia).
If someone is using a technique to change an animals behaviour and deny they are using Learning Theory, or that they have developed a technique outside the boundaries of these Theories, they are either unaware of the Theory or purposefully promoting falsehoods. The question then becomes of us, as dog owners in general, do we want someone who has either no understanding of the science behind their techniques or is lying to you. Would you trust a doctor with this level of education or duplicity? As a species, probably through society, we have a tendency, if someone calls themselves an expert or professional, to take them at their word and not question anything they say! (how many times have you watched your money walk away because an expert said you needed something, but you were not sure and found out later you didn't need what they were pushing?)
A good dog trainer will happily take questions; and if they can't answer them right away, they will probably be more than happy to find out the answer! Why? Because just as much as you, they want to know the truth. If they give an answer that doesn't seem well thought out, utterly ridiculous, or makes you uneasy - question them more. If the answer is not immediate and makes logical sense without a lot more thought involved to parse the language, it is likely that they are not in understanding of the Science behind their technology.
Your relationship with your dog is Critical; your dog deserves you to be critical in your thinking. Critical thinking is the first step to deconstructing and then understanding false claims and undeserved methods.
More to come.
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