Thought I'd finally post my musings on this thread, having read all 11 pages. Sorry in advance if it's not very coherent and doesn't flow very well - it's an amalgamation of things that are whizzing around my head from the various discussion points on here.
First off, I will say I have not listened to the podcast in question so cannot comment on that. This is just my general thoughts on things that have been brought up on my thread. I'm not a fan of ZG. I have nothing against him per se, but I don't follow him and he's not a trainer that I find particularly inspirational. I know nothing about IB really so won't comment on him either.
As I said above, I hate the term "force free". It's not a term I would ever use as to me it is inaccurate. Also, I prefer to say how I DO train rather than how I DON'T train.
I think someone mentioned something about allowing dogs to tell other dogs off for things. I do this providing I am confident that it is unlikely to escalate. Holly is a great example (sorry, I know I think the sun shines out of her backside) of a dog who is really good at putting rude dogs in their place without taking it too far. She's like the strict headmistress - you cross her once and you won't do it again! Ruby quickly learned not to get on the wrong side of her (yet she will continually wind up other dogs given the chance). Yet Holly can be very forgiving and tolerant of a lot of things. Ruby knows what she can get away with and what she absolutely cannot, as Holly has set very clear boundaries. I have also found that Holly is a great diffuser in awkward situations. There's a Labrador that I walk, and I used to take her out with Ruby to a secure field. They are a similar age, and got on well. Only, I found that the Labrador started getting a bit bolshy with Ruby, jumping on her and generally being a PITA. Ruby did very little to stop it, but it was clear that she didn't like it. I'd call the Labrador away and re-direct her, which was fine but it became quite intense. My business partner suggested taking Holly with me as well, so I did. It completely changed the dynamic. The Labrador tried that nonsense on Holly and Holly very quickly made it clear that her behaviour was unacceptable. Just one stern word from Holly was enough, and the Labrador never tried anything like it with Holly again. It also changed how she was with Ruby, and if the Labrador starts getting a bit bolshy with Ruby then Holly will just trot past between them and it diffuses the situation. The dynamic between the 3 of them is so interesting to watch. The Labrador is extremely respectful towards Holly. She doesn't appear to be scared of her, but she is very respectful.
I know that there will be some that disagree with me doing this, but I made a judgement based on what I know about the dogs in question, and I feel that it worked out well.
My Facebook account got hacked a while back and I couldn't access Facebook for a few weeks. In all honesty, were it not for the fact that I needed it for my business then I probably wouldn't have been that bothered. The amount of bitching on Facebook between dog trainers is horrendous - I'm honestly sick to death of it. It reminds me of a school playground at times.
I have to say that I find it incredibly depressing when my Facebook feed is full of posts for trainers criticising other trainers and their methods. A few months ago I saw one from a trainer, not someone that I follow, who had just had a session with a previous client of mine. Whilst she didn't mention my name or business name, she felt the need to criticise my methods, which she was also incorrect about. She basically said that the client had been told to "avoid and distract" with her reactive dog and then went on to say why this was flawed and ridiculous. Well I don't ask my clients to "avoid and distract". There had been no avoidance, in fact on at least two of the sessions we had done parallel walking with Holly, so I'm not sure how that constitutes avoiding. And "distract" shows a clear lack of understanding of what counter-conditioning is. For the record, I do think there are sometimes situations where you need to distract the dog, but this would generally be when faced with an unexpected situation that you just need to get the dog through, not for general behaviour modification. Now I know she can only go on the information given to her by the client, but if there's one thing I've learned it's that you can't always take things that you're told at face value. Sometimes clients misinterpret things, and whilst it is important to note that part of being a good trainer is making sure that your client understands what they are doing and why, it doesn't mean that it needs to become a bitchfest on Facebook if things don't work out for whatever reason. I was absolutely seething when I read the post, and then watched the video of her "behaviour modification" where the dog in question harasses one of her pugs who looks mightily uncomfortable with the situation. Well sorry if I wasn't about to let my 8 year old arthritic dog be pounced on by a rude large male dog (muzzled or otherwise), who I knew was likely to jump on her and try to intimidate her given his history in the name of behaviour modification - she means too much to me for that.
And yes, that sounds like a contradiction to what I mentioned above with the Labrador, but the situations are very different. Firstly, the Labrador is quite a bit smaller than Holly, and secondly I know the Labrador very well. I knew that a quick telling off from Holly would stop anything else from happening, whereas with the male dog mentioned I did not feel the same.
I do think it's important to have discussions, and yes sometimes these can turn heated, and it's important to evaluate and re-evaluate our methods to try to do the best by the client and dog. But I don't think there's ever a place for outright bitching and criticising other trainers. We've had loads of dogs come to us after seeing other trainers and not once have I felt the need to take to social media and criticise the trainer in question. I do not use devices such as ecollars, prongs or slip leads in my training, but I do think it's useful to understand how others might use these to train. I have attended some webinars by "balanced" trainers because I want to understand how they train. I can take the stuff that I like and use that, and leave behind anything that doesn't match my own ethics.
I will get off my soapbox now and watch some Call the Midwife for some escapism!
