Warning the following post may contain materials not suitable for all audiences (As most of my posts)
Now many of us own dogs and love them to bits. Many of us also got these loving companions as puppies and remember the many months of training that came with it, and with this training comes dog trainers, trusted individuals who we entrust our dogs with, or should we?
Dog training is a career anyone can get into, no qualifications needed. There is no prior schooling required nor a certificate saying you're a trainer (This certificate not existing in many nations). This can be scary to think about as any of you reading this can just print out a paper saying you are a dog trainer and get someone random to sign it and boom you right there are a professional trainer. Now is this safe for anyone involved? No, it's not safe and it creates an even more unsafe environment for the dogs. These individuals often use outdated training methods that instead of training the dog they strip the dog's emotions from them. These out- dated can have serious mental and physical implications for the dog ranging from choking the dog to serious psychological trauma which can cause aggression.
The methods used by people such as Cesar Millan have been proven to be outdated and proven to not be true or ineffective and in worse cases abusive. Not to mention that Millan has no qualifications nor education in the direction of dog training, due to this he has been denied the right to train dogs in Germany (Which has laws when it comes to dog training). He promotes abusive methods of training and in many cases he "sets the dogs off" making them react "badly" on purpose to make good tv. Is a person like this someone you want to trust? I could not put enough detail in this about Millan but I can help by providing link to a video by a licensed dog trainer about Millan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWrkFLu5QcY&list=PLHG3NYUNiEMizI5NBqyvbTQhMiMDJenPX
As seen in the video a lot of the training methods used by Millan and trainers like him are based on Pack theory also known as the Alpha Dog theory, a study from the 1930s and 1940s based on zoo wolves. Since then it has been proven that in fact dogs are in fact not pack animals rather social opportunists who form packs to help with resources such as food or shelter and only form these packs when needed. Thanks to this knowledge we were able to devise a training method known as Positive Reinforcement training which is way better for the dog, unfortunately, thanks to Millan's tv show 'The Dog Whisperer' Positive Reinforcement training has taken a back seat to the old abusive ways of abusive dog training based on Pack theory. People started trusting Millan due to his celebrity status and his "dog training smarts". If you are interested in more of the history here is an amazing article: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/14_12/features/Alpha-Dogs_20416-1.html
If you are thinking about hiring a dog trainer do your research, see what their methods are, make sure they use positive training and be sure to check their qualifications and training as well as reviews and past jobs they have done, make sure they are expirienced with your kind of dog and situation.
Dog training is a career anyone can get into, no qualifications needed. There is no prior schooling required nor a certificate saying you're a trainer (This certificate not existing in many nations). This can be scary to think about as any of you reading this can just print out a paper saying you are a dog trainer and get someone random to sign it and boom you right there are a professional trainer. Now is this safe for anyone involved? No, it's not safe and it creates an even more unsafe environment for the dogs. These individuals often use outdated training methods that instead of training the dog they strip the dog's emotions from them. These out- dated can have serious mental and physical implications for the dog ranging from choking the dog to serious psychological trauma which can cause aggression.
The methods used by people such as Cesar Millan have been proven to be outdated and proven to not be true or ineffective and in worse cases abusive. Not to mention that Millan has no qualifications nor education in the direction of dog training, due to this he has been denied the right to train dogs in Germany (Which has laws when it comes to dog training). He promotes abusive methods of training and in many cases he "sets the dogs off" making them react "badly" on purpose to make good tv. Is a person like this someone you want to trust? I could not put enough detail in this about Millan but I can help by providing link to a video by a licensed dog trainer about Millan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWrkFLu5QcY&list=PLHG3NYUNiEMizI5NBqyvbTQhMiMDJenPX
As seen in the video a lot of the training methods used by Millan and trainers like him are based on Pack theory also known as the Alpha Dog theory, a study from the 1930s and 1940s based on zoo wolves. Since then it has been proven that in fact dogs are in fact not pack animals rather social opportunists who form packs to help with resources such as food or shelter and only form these packs when needed. Thanks to this knowledge we were able to devise a training method known as Positive Reinforcement training which is way better for the dog, unfortunately, thanks to Millan's tv show 'The Dog Whisperer' Positive Reinforcement training has taken a back seat to the old abusive ways of abusive dog training based on Pack theory. People started trusting Millan due to his celebrity status and his "dog training smarts". If you are interested in more of the history here is an amazing article: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/14_12/features/Alpha-Dogs_20416-1.html
If you are thinking about hiring a dog trainer do your research, see what their methods are, make sure they use positive training and be sure to check their qualifications and training as well as reviews and past jobs they have done, make sure they are expirienced with your kind of dog and situation.
And remember you can always give feedback.
~Pheonix
