Bone of contention: why dog trainers are at war

It’s the canine equivalent of gentle v tough parenting – and there is no sign of a ceasefire. So what is the correct way to get man’s best friend to behave?

Is this about dogs fighting? No, it’s the trainers who are fighting.

What are they fighting about? There are two camps: “positive” trainers, and “balanced” trainers. The former rely on rewards, the latter on a range of disciplinary stimuli, which might extend to prong collars that dig into a dog’s neck when it pulls.

What do the balanced ones say about the positive ones? “It’s all treats, treats, treats, so help me God,” the dog trainer Brian Lee told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s no different than giving your kid a BMW on his 16th birthday.”

And how do positive trainers address these allegations? “I kind of laugh at this whole idea that using treats in training is somehow going to spoil dogs,” says another dog trainer Victoria Stilwell.

I don’t see this getting resolved any time soon. Rewarding dogs with too many treats is “the biggest problem with dog training at the moment,” says the animal behaviourist Dr Ian Dunbar, despite standing in the positive camp.

If I’m honest this war of words doesn’t sound that heated. But it’s getting worse thanks to social media.

To be fair, everything is getting worse thanks to social media. Positive trainers call balanced trainers cruel; balanced trainers call positive trainers “treat-slinging wieners”.

Is this the dog version of the “gentle parenting” v Fafo parenting debate from earlier this year? It’s similar, but I don’t think anybody was recommending prong collars in that instance.

Is treat-slinging v discipline the only issue? There’s also a parallel war about the virtues of online training versus in-person training.

Which is best? Some say in-person is the only way. “You can’t resolve temperament issues over the phone,” Dunbar told the Times recently. “It’s insane.”

I see Dunbar has more than one dog in this fight. But Siobhan Dunn, who runs online courses, disagrees. “We’re working with owners all over the UK, many of whom would never have been able to reach us in person,” she says.

I’m confused – who’s right? It may help you to know that in-person training can cost £150 an hour.

Any signs of a ceasefire in the training wars? Lee has already called for calm on Instagram. “The criticising culture has been exhausted,” he wrote. “It’s time to put down the ‘dog training approach’ pitchforks.”

Did people respond positively to his message of calm? Not so far. “There is literally NOTHING in your bio that tells me you actually have an education in canine behaviour,” wrote another trainer.

Do say: “Dog rewards don’t have to be food-based – what about a trip to the theatre?”