Besides the fact that the Force Free trainers community decided to adopt the position of never to engage with trainers who are choosing abusive tools, and incentivating their students and trainers to not enter any type of confrontation, the phenomenon of the social platforms came to change everything.
Facebook was one of the first platforms, but it had a unique way to function and it operated mainly with ads for products and interactions between people.
When Instagram arrived there was a shift. Instagram is a platform which started of by being the sharing of photographs, however something new came into action, the hashtags. The hashtags allowed people to identify their photos within a group. So if I was a traveller I could use hashtags that would put me in contact with other travellers by using the right hashtags like #travel, #travelling, etc...
As Instagram grew hashtags started to be used in all other platforms. Nowadays we have Tweeter, Instagram, Whats App, Facebook, Youtube and the latest TikTok. All these platforms not only use hashtags as it is possible to go from one platform to another with the right ones. All the social platforms function differently and reach different crowds. With TikTok being the one which reaches more dog owners, and also a younger crowd.
So what does all this has to do with the use of abusive tools?
If I am a dog owner, and I have a dog who pulls on the lead, I might be on TikTok of even Instagram and type in the hashtag #dog trainer or #Dog pulling. By doing so I will be directed to all the videos who use those samew hashtags. Imagine the first video I see is someone teaching how to use a prong collar. I watch the video up untill the end and ponder. I don't like how the collar works, so I continue watching and voilá, the second video of how to use a prong comes up. This happens because now I have felt into the hashtag "prong collars". After 20 mnts I am totally convinced by several trainers, and regular dog owners that the prong collars, does not hurt, is humane and the best choice for a dog who pulls.
So I go and use it. Also by the point, I am starting to follow the trainers who taught me this because they are so effective and knowledgeable. Better yet they have thousands sometimes millions of followers which is something that must confirm the validity of his knowledge. Not all these people could be wrong for sure.
Within this bubble, there is not one Force Free trainer, challenging the use of prongs, or offering other advice, why? Because we were told never to come into conflict and to be inclusive. Let them come to us right? Only it does not work like that.
One thing is clear and real, aversive trainers are way better marketeers than any FF trainer I have ever seen. They have a great advantage over the FF community which is filming the dogs reacting - and the more reaction the better - and then very quickly showing the dog dog in the same situation offering a completely different behaviour. We know this is because aversives supress behaviour, but the average dog owner, does not know this, he only knows what he sees.
Then the whole rethoric of the use of punishment when the dog needs to know when he is wrong and rewarding when he does nice things, sounds incredibly appealing to any dog owner, because that's exactly what he knows from the world. We live in a world where we have our behaviour constantly punished by partners, work colleagues, society, governments, etc... And we also get some rewards once in a while.
So it makes sense and it makes for a great argument for the use of aversives. Very seldom if ever have I heard an aversive user talk about the consequences of its use, or explain the risks the dog goes. That part is left, conveniently out.
So now, we have balance trainers, they claim to use positive reinforcement whenever possible and argue that they will use a tool only when strictly necessary and theu will many times call this a matter of life or death.
One of the most known trainers in Brazil, invited to go to the Lemon Conference from IAABC talking alongside people who claim to teach force free techniques, in the end of last year 2020, did a video explaining dog owners why they should use a choke chain to walk with their dogs. He also uses aversives such as squirts and to deal with agression behaviour he uses flooding. He is been given a huge platform within the FF community and now all his followers which are by the millions will be even more convinced that what he says must be correct.
We have come to such a point where power, money and fame have shown who is here for the dogs and who is here for other interests. Not speaking up against talking next to a dog abuser, is condoning it. Worse than that is confusing the dog owners and causing disruption in the force free techniques. We have gone all the way to inviting aversive trainers to come to us and validate them. The only reason that happens is because they have millions following them and the force free community does not reach those numbers.
Not only do we fail as trainers to reach dog owners, but we tend to speak to our own only, because we are always told not to disrupt the aversive trainers. Not even when they are purely abusive.
Little people like me, don't sit in a desk making studies. I read them, to continue to be informed and to always continue to learn, but then tomorrow I will have to deal with clients and that is another problem with the Force Free community. Our masters and teachers the same ones who tell us that we should "respect" the abusers, are very seldom in contact with dog training in the real world, meaning they don't go to a clients house and deal with the drama of a family who has a dog that bit the child.
I have been training for 13 years and this last week alone I had two people euthanize their dogs because they bit. And they bit, because they were beaten up, victims of physical abuse and tools such as prongs and shock collars. So they developed the all well known defensive agressive behaviour. They are terrified of their owners and the envirnment and so they bite. Dog owners do not know how to deal with this and end up giving up on the dogs.
When you see and hear people tell you, you should not be so "toxic", or "bash" other trainers just because they work differently I wonder, if they know how it feels when a dog hides from their owners petrified and jump into your lap, asking for help. Or when was the last time they held a dog owner crying because they felt lost and did not know what to do.
I also wonder if bashing and being toxic would serve the great battles of our lives, like striving for the end of slavery, racism, ableism, sexism, all all those social injustices. Why is it that fighting for the dogs well being and the end of abuse of a dog in the name of training any different? Why is it seen as if I am the one causing problems?
Why are dog trainers, grooners, walkers, vets, and owners who speak up against these tools openly seen as a problem? The problem is that we are silent and in the silence the oppressor thrives and there are victims involved. Silent victims, who live in fear, pain, anxious and stressed because we need to give "them" time.
Nowadays trainers who use tools like choke chains, prong collars and e-collars are nothing but abusers using false arguments to continue using these tools, and looking for support from all the community.
Recently in the newest platform around, called ClubHouse I was silenced and censored by a trainer who claimed to be positive reinforcer trainer, but who happily gave 15 mnts of fame to the balance trainer in the group and silenced me after 5 mnts because "I was not making a point", or "I was not talking about the subject at hand". The reality was she knew what I was about to say and she stopped me in my tracks.
I am not allowed to speak within what should be my community. But dog abusers are praised for trying to give some treats.
I claim the right to fight for the dogs wellbeing. This is activism, not hate, nor toxicity, nor bashing. It is my obligation as a dog trainer, and owner to do so. Not for me, for the dogs. One more dog with a shock collar is one too many. We need to take the steering whel and stop traying to please everyone. This should be about the dogs always.
We all came to this because we love them. Even dog abusers must love dogs, even though they don't hesitate to claim FF trainers kill dogs. If we all can agree on the love for the dogs we need to start being more proactive and less passive or even inviting.
We also need to establish what is dog abuse in the name of training, and not look the other way or try to justify it. No more, of this. 14 years and dogs are still suffering more than ever due to money and power.
So my call is for you to understand how this is working against us and that we need to support each other, not the abusers, the money grabbers, the people who want fam and the ones who have the need to be up there.
All I really want is tomorrow to go to work and not see a dog suffering and their owners at a loss due to our silence.
So please help me.
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