Organizations

All of these organizations have made particularly impressive

progress towards furthered professionalism in the industry in

the past year and continue to do so. As a member of all of these organizations, and being unbiased towards anything but the interests of my clients, their dogs, and my own business, I fully support them working together in such as fashion as we move forward and will contribute whatever I can to that process. For any of us who share in this goal of raising the bar in our field, we should remember that membership in, credentialing by, and promotion of these organizations in their efforts independently and together will have a direct impact on the quality of life for countless dogs as we exponentially inspire other trainers to raise the bar on their own practices. Even if we don’t currently need them for the success of our businesses, our involvement and credentials speak volumes about our personal and professional values and strengthens the mission of ensuring the scientific and ethical future of dog training. We should all work to educate trainers, animal service providers, and the general public about them in our own communities. In my own community of Western North Carolina (Asheville), I have recently launched such a community education program, “Train Humane”. This program offers free presentations for veterinary hospitals, shelters/rescue groups, kennels, groomers, and training centers about:  modern training practices reflecting both science and the humane treatment of dogs, cutting edge organizations and legitimate national credentials. Since the public currently doesn’t generally recognize any of these organizations and certifications as any different from the myriad of generic certificate programs offered by various programs in this unregulated field, we have our work cut out for us. As we make our grass-roots efforts in our own cities and towns, these organizations can launch increasingly large-scale marketing campaigns. We need to communicate what is at stake when hiring a trainer or consultant and instill our commitment to excellence and accountability as professionals.

We cannot accomplish this too soon. The suffering, cruelty, abandonment, and euthanasia that befall innocent dogs as a direct result of the wrong information (which occur, without consequence to the providers of that information, on a regular basis) should be considered entirely unacceptable and constitute malpractice. I do not believe that it is just a coincidence that, in a society still intensely dominated by misinformation about canine behavior, the number one reason dogs are relinquished to shelters in this country is “behavior problems”. Just as veterinarians do, we literally hold dogs’ lives in our hands, and should strive to both practice and preach the “first do no harm” oath of the veterinary profession which begins by our commitment to science and education.

What the public is absorbing in volumes on national television is mostly outdated information, dangerous techniques, misguided assumptions and lack of credentials and professionalism. It is up to us to change that.  We must raise the bar again, with an even clearer vision of the end result and a more thorough understanding of the steps we must take to realize it. We all know that we will have to raise the bar gradually, incrementally, rewarding whatever approximations of our ultimate goal are available. We will have to work consistently with each other and the tools we have (including our knowledge of learning theory as it applies to human behavior) towards realizing a better world for dogs and all of us who are so greatly touched by them. We should consider all of our efforts to be the administration of an antidote to the epidemic of misinformation and resulting suffering plaguing America’s dog owners and their canine companions today. We hold the solution in our hands, and now must act to reproduce and distribute it in an organized and efficient manner. We owe it to this species that has lived and evolved with us more intimately than any other, as its gifts have been and continue to be immeasurable.