Several years ago I signed Brooke and I up for a park district training class to give us something to do over winter. I called the park district and was assured that the training methods would be pos reinforcement. Imagine my surprise at orientation that there was a slip chain on the table. I naively thought they must be going over why you shouldn’t use that type of training collar…wrong. This was a “yank and thank” class. Hmm…what to do. I asked if I could use a harness in class… nope. They did allow me to use a flat collar but said after a few lessons I’d be wanting to use a choke as my dog would “get so far behind”. I stayed in the class and foolishly thought that through example I could get the trainers to “cross over” to R+ training. I talked to the trainers after class and before class. I brought them the AVSAB position statements and papers linking use of aversives in training to aggression and decreased reliability. Ian Dunbar was in town and I offered to pay for them to go his seminars to talk to other trainers who “crossed over”. While they acknowledged Brooke was the “top student” ( they frequently used us to demo… I never gave them the leash) they said I’d never be able to train another dog that way. They just weren’t interested in any of it. So…… I got them fired. Yup I went to the Park District Board plead my case there, relayed the abuse I saw and got their sorry selves fired.
