For me, it is very simple. I want to find and use the best techniques that are most suited for my dogs so that they can have the best quality of life. It really isn’t about me at all, but about my dogs. Everybody has an opinion about dog training, but I care most about hard facts and scientific studies. For example, here is one from the University of Pennsylvania -
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/if-youre-aggressive-your-dog-will-be-too-says-veterinary-study-university-pennsylvania

In terms of animal cruelty and abuse, hitting dogs, choking dogs, kicking dogs, etc. are often not considered abuse by the law. Only more extreme cases that cause immediate serious physical harm are prosecuted. And even then, it is difficult to prove and the resulting fines and penalties are miniscule compared to the crime.

Our laws are created mostly to protect people and not dogs. Dogs can’t vote, so they have very few rights, and none at all in some places.

Yes, dogs can hurt and even kill humans. But then, humans can also hurt and kill humans. Humans also often hurt and kill dogs. I don’t see what relation any of that has to the matter at hand.

If the point is that only pain aversive techniques can stop aggression in dogs, then that is false. Many scientific studies show that pain based aversive techniques actually have a much higher risk of encouraging aggression in dogs.

We may choose to believe random people that we meet, random people on the internet, and random people on t.v.; or we may rely on the many years of rigorous study and results in animal behavior science and behavioral psychology. I choose the latter.

BTW, I have trained dogs for fifteen years using reward training and I have never had a dog fail to learn obedience that way.

Always great to hear from professional trainers like you. The more we spread this message, the better it will be for both dogs and dog owners.

When I got my Shiba Inu, I thought that aversive techniques was the only possible way to train a stubborn dog.

It was a good thing that a trainer recommended that I read “Bones Would Rain from the Sky”. She also told me she had trained many stubborn and difficult dogs with reward techniques, and that such dogs actually respond much better to reward training.

And she is right!

Now let me explain before everyone thinks I like this jerk. About a week ago I saw him in front of my neighbour’s house ‘training’ a dog for an upcoming show. I watched him lift the poor puppy (maybe four months old?) off the ground by the collar so that it was hanging. I watched him pull the dog off of its feet through leash jerking. And finally, I saw him yell at the owners twice to punch their pet in the face- hard! That poor puppy was cowering in fear from this abuse. I damn near went out and ‘trained’ this jerk!

All week I have been feeling alone – like I am the only one who sees this as abuse and a crime. I am so glad to see that other people feel the same way.

BTW, I have trained dogs for fifteen years using reward training and I have never had a dog fail to learn obedience that way. I say that any ‘training’ that would be a crime if done to another human is cruelty to an animal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7MpWbSbomI