An alarming trend in the dog training industry is the marketing of these online “become a dog trainer” franchises and systems. The dogs are going to suffer the consequences.
They will give you a “cookbook” of how to train dogs. Then offer some kind of “certification” that you are now a good dog trainer. I don’t think so…
What should be taught? First, a heavy and correct emphasis on theory and animal behavior. Second, evaluation of each dog’s talent. Third, various methods that tend to work.
What to look out for:
Is the “theory” and “animal behavior” you see in their promo videos wrong and gibberish? You can’t know that if the theory and behavior is just their opinion or based upon the works of the known and revered theorists and field scientists. I never hear them quote any of these people.
Let’s take me for an example: Do you realize how hard it is to study this part? Let’s say all you had to do was read my library of animal related books, how long do you think it would take you to go through them and be fluent in the concepts contained in them.? Just in my office bookcase, I have nearly 40,000 pages of reading, mostly college level textbooks. Every page is marked up with highlights, notes in the margins, and my handwritten comments. Let’s say you read 500 pages a month. That is 6 ½ years, non-stop. Then there are the other books in storage. Plus, the books I read from the library, and the books I lost along the way with moving from one place to another over the years. I started on this journey in 1996, so it has been continuous learning for a very long time, and I am still studying.
Just because someone says they have trained “thousands of dogs” doesn’t mean that is true or that the training was any good or they know the theory. Just saying you were a K9 handler for a police department or in the military doesn’t mean you know your stuff.
You need to know the theory and have years of experience to evaluate dogs. Can these cookbook programs teach you to properly assess each dog? If you were wanting to be a Golden Gloves boxer, you wouldn’t just bang away on a punching bag. You would be spending at least 2 hours a day sparring with live opponents, five days a week, for several years. You would also be watching hours of fight videos every workout day. And all of that would be topped off with fitness workouts, nutrition, and the game theory and techniques that fit your psychology and body which you’d learn from your Olympics coach.
How do you assess your dog to know what is going to be good for them? Can that be done in a cookbook? Maybe you have a Golden Retriever, but it just doesn’t have the talent to be a hunting dog. Or you have a Rottweiler, and it just doesn’t have the talent to be a guard dog. Or you have a Chihuahua, and it just doesn’t have the talent to be a therapy dog. How is that cookbook programmed going to work out for your dog? I don’t believe it can be justified to push a dog past its talent and no cookbook can be written to make that evaluation.
The Big One: Let’s talk about ego. Watch out for those programs that are ego driven. That goes something like this…
First version: most of the purely positive programs. Not all of that is for the benefit of the dogs. A lot is about virtue signaling by the person you are watching. These people have a problem themselves. Maybe they have past trauma in their lives, so they are projecting that onto the dogs. Maybe they are just marketing a system to make money but couldn’t train a dog past puppy stage. Many are trolls.
Second version: the psychopaths. These are the ones that have no problem with animal cruelty, all wrapped up in bows and birthday balloons. Often, they are the “tough guys”, “it is my way or the highway”. It is well known that psychopaths can be unusually charismatic, thus their marketing will draw you in and they will convince you to progressively do more and more cruelty to dogs. You must know when to bail out of a program when it takes a turn for the worse. These people are in it for their own ego gratification… and your money. It is like there are boxing coaches and promoters that destroyed good boxers… the same could happen if you get involved with the wrong dog training coach.
Neither of these types are new. They have been around forever. You can find them in old books, and now on social media.
The bottom line: Whoever you learn from, and whatever is being taught should be measured against this standard: is this going to be good for your dog? How can a cookbook program be good for your dog? I don’t see how.
Look for a coach, not a cookbook.
Plan accordingly.