Fixing Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the King's men
Could not put Humpty together again.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that nursery rhyme lately, especially in light of our unregulated training industry’s attempt by some, to set a standard for legislation.
Many may not be aware that anyone holding the other end of the leash can call themselves a dog-trainer. It doesn’t matter whether they have a certification that mandates continuing education, whether they are self taught or brag about their “credentials” because they wrangle dogs for the military or police department. And it certainly doesn’t matter if they are a self-proclaimed expert with their own television show or are part of a religious order writing books that claim to understand dogs! Again, the industry does not have a standard.
The problem however, is not just who is more knowledgable, but rather what you’re going to do with that knowledge, because when we’re talking about people who hurt companion animals for a living, it really doesn’t matter whether that professional is a self taught idiot or an idiot with a PhD. They are still hurting the animal!
Check out any dog-training group on Facebook, or Google “shock collar use” or other such aversive tools and you’ll get heated arguments on both sides. People will defend their ignorance, while others point to the research studies that show that training with “X” is faster than training with “Y”, however, none are focused on the wellbeing of the animal. In the case of The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, that is pushing for legislation, they’ve adopted L.I.M.A. which stands for Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive, as a policy standard. And while at first reading, it sounds right, however, in the final analysis, they’re saying that aversive tools are okay as long as the professional checks all the boxes to adhere to that policy. LUDICROUS, and one of the many reasons this industry will remain unregulated until hurting animals, even “minimally” is outlawed!
For the educated professional who actually understands how animals learn, it’s mind boggling that they would try to “fix” animal behavior with a “shock, pop, or sock” technique, when they possess the right tools to prevent the animal from doing undesirable behaviors in the first place, and for the uneducated professional, they unfortunately have only one tool. To paraphrase Maslow, when your only tool is a hammer, you see all problems as nails.
But regardless of education or lack of, choose your trainer wisely, pet-parents, because if they are using aversive tools to train your companion animal, please understand that just like the fragile Humpty Dumpty, your animal cannot be put back together again using a hammer!
HAPPY TRAINING & ENRICHMENT
© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2022
