Why I Train the Way I Do at True North Canine Academy.

Hi guys! Happy to see you here! Welcome to True North Canine Academy’s first ever Canine Conversations blog post. My name is Andrew and I’m the founder and trainer here at True North Canine Academy (TNCA). Thank you so much for coming to read a bit about my two cents on dog training!

In this first post, I want to let you guys know a little more about me, the way that we train at True North, as well as some of the reasons why we train the way that we do. To not beat around the bush, I'll let you know that I would classify myself a balanced trainer. Now if you don’t know what that means, it essentially boils down to the fact that positive reinforcement comprises about 95% of my training and is always the first tool I want to reach for when working with a dog, especially when I'm training obedience. However, I’m also not afraid to say no to a dog. This includes safely and humanely correcting them for something they do that is deemed inappropriate. It also means that I will (correctly) use aversive tools such as prong collars and remote collars if they are necessary.

If you were to do a quick google search on balanced dog training, a multitude of articles will pop up telling you how evil, inhumane, and terrible it is; how it destroys the welfare of dogs; and calls anyone who uses balanced training a malicious animal abuser. These writers of these articles and the people that promote this rhetoric will often cite “scientific” studies and claim that it has thoroughly debunked the use of any aversive methods or tools. It’s not that I don’t believe in science, in fact, I come from a science background (B.Sc. in Biology and Environmental Sciences at McMaster University) and feel it’s given me the ability to understand the difference between credible science and pseudoscience. Let me explain.

Without getting into too many specifics about the studies in this post, because it would be way too long for this first blog (maybe I’ll save it for another post), I find most of the cited literature to have massive issues in the way the studies were conducted, and often carry biases in the way their conclusions were drawn. Oftentimes, the studies were: missing information on the exact methodology used; based on non-validated surveys; assume that any and all stress is bad for an animal; and most importantly, the dogs used in the studies were often unrealistic representations of pet dogs and the training methods used by an experienced and humane balanced trainer. By the admission of many of the study authors, no firm conclusions can be drawn from the existing scientific literature. Anyone who says that they can come to a conclusive and absolute stance against the use of corrective actions in dog training based on the current literature is likely inexperienced or already had their own unwavering preconceived notions before they did their research.

We do things the way that we do at TNCA because it brings me great joy to help dogs and their owners. I saw so many owners and so many dogs struggling with the same problems and I wanted to help them. Everything that we do here is meant to help dogs and owners live better lives together. The reason why I use corrections and aversives with dogs is simply because for so many dogs and their owners, when it’s applied correctly, it’s the only thing that works when other methods have failed. Their dogs just don’t respond to force-free and positive-only methods. Me and many other balanced trainers have seen it. We’ve seen dogs out of their minds, lunging, barking, and choking themselves on the end of a flat collar whenever they see another dog or person, dragging their owners down the street on a harness after a squirrel; and this causes stress for themselves, their owners, and really anyone or anything within their immediate vicinity. These types of dogs often do not, and will never respond to the piece of chicken in your hand when you’re out in the real world. And we train people for the real world.

The use of aversive tools and corrections in a fair and humane manner can effectively communicate to a dog what is inappropriate; and just as importantly, we can then begin teaching the dog what is appropriate through the use of positive reinforcement. To banish the use of these tools and techniques would be a disservice to hundreds of thousands of dogs and owners around the world. Many dogs display behaviors (e.g. aggression, reactivity, resource-guarding) that can get them seriously hurt or even killed, and in almost all cases, they simply do not respond to non-aversive methods. I’ve seen and heard of dogs that positive-only trainers could not fix, and where the only solution they had was euthanasia. In a desperate attempt to save their dogs, their owners brought them to a balanced trainer who promptly put a prong collar on, gave the dog boundaries and structure, and completely changed the dog’s behavior for the better. Sure, that evidence is anecdotal, but to deny its use would be to deny the experiences of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people who have worked with educated and humane balanced trainers. To hold your ideologies on training over the only techniques that work for many dogs around the world would be to condemn hundreds of thousands of dogs to the streets, to the shelters, and ultimately, to their deaths. It’s nice to cite a scientific paper for information, and ideally, all dogs would simply always respond to the piece of food in your hand. But real life just doesn’t always work out like that. Dogs need to be held accountable for their actions, and they nee

d to have rules and boundaries in their lives (just like you and me). If a particular dog truly doesn’t need any aversives or corrections to establish the rules and boundaries that it needs to succeed, then I won’t use them. But unfortunately, for many dogs, that just isn't the case.

Now you don’t have to agree with me on my stance regarding training. I understand if you’re in the positive-only camp. Positive reinforcement is the best tool for reaching new behaviors and I also think that there are great positive reinforcement trainers out there that have an important place in the world of dog training. However, I also recognize the limitations of positive reinforcement training and believe that corrections have an equal place in dog training. Know that I do what I do because of the looks of joy I’ve seen on people’s faces, and the happier and more fulfilled lives that their dogs have been able to lead. For me, and the cases that I and many other balanced trainers work with, balanced training works, and it has helped so many dogs and owners live a life that would never have been possible otherwise. That’s why I train the way that I do.

If you've made it here to the end, I appreciate you sticking around to hear what I have to say. Whether or not you agree with me and the way that I train, I hope you've taken something away from this post. We'll see you in the next post, so stay tuned!