Puggles & Pitties

Disclaimer: I am a force-free trainer and do not use pain, intimidation, or fear to modify dogs’ behavior. The following is a rebuttal to Gary Wilkes’ article titled “Modern, Scientific, Positive Dog Training and Dirty Little Secrets.” For brevity’s sake, this post will only focus on the first six points of his article.

While full of myths that pervade current dog training culture, Wilkes’ statements simply do not hold up in the court of science.

“Let’s pretend for a second that you are a positive trainer who uses methods based on science. That is a pretty big club. It’s also a pretty handy business strategy. For one thing, it differentiates your style from “those other trainers,” who are assumed to be un-positive and unscientific. It also implies that you are more educated than your competition and have diligently studied learning theory – the science of behavior as accepted by behavior…