Sep 13, 2022 03:20 PM
(This post was last modified: Sep 13, 2022 04:46 PM by C C.)
Punishment, Puppies, and Science: Bringing Dog Training to Heel
https://undark.org/2022/09/12/punishment...g-to-heel/
INTRO & EXCERPT: Three years ago, Valli Fraser-Celin adopted a blonde husky mix puppy, whom she named Husk. Fraser-Celin soon started looking for ways to curb Husk’s “totally wild” behavior, she said, like stealing food from the kitchen counter and barking incessantly at strangers. Based on the advice of a YouTube trainer, Fraser-Celin started using an electronic collar, or e-collar, that delivered a small shock when Husk misbehaved, but said she felt “yucky” about it.
Fraser-Celin rethought her approach after hearing about an animal trainer who taught a grizzly bear to cooperate with medical treatment using only positive reinforcement. If that hulking animal could learn with treats and praise, she thought, why were dog trainers using prong and shock collars?
“That was the catalyst into my advocacy,” said Fraser-Celin, who studied African wild dogs for her Ph.D. and now works as a remote community liaison for the Winnipeg Humane Society and advocates independently for positive reinforcement training on Instagram. “I really think that there needs to be regulations that are put into place,” she said, “based on the science and the studies that have shown the best type of training for dogs.”
Fraser-Celin is not alone. Many researchers, trainers, and veterinary and training professional organizations are advocating for greater oversight for dog training, which is largely unregulated worldwide — though they sometimes disagree on the best path of action and choose to focus on the research that reinforces their preferred approach.
“Right now, it’s the wild, wild West,” said Anamarie Johnson, a psychology Ph.D. student at Arizona State University with a background in animal behavior and dog training. She recently published a study that analyzed the websites of 100 highly-rated dog trainers across the U.S., which found that most gave no indication whether the trainer had relevant education or certification.
“Anyone can identify as a dog trainer — they can put up a social media page, they can offer services to the public, and there’s no expectations for their education, their continuing education, or their standards of practice,” said Bradley Phifer, the executive director of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, or CCPDT...
[...] Some argue that going straight from no regulation to licensure requirements is too great a leap. Kathrine Christ, executive director of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, said that starting with limited regulations that enhance accountability for trainers would be preferable to licensure requirements.
“We’re not necessarily ready to take a step towards promoting licensure or promoting, you know, intrusive types of regulation, before we can tell you that A, it’s worth the money for the taxpayer or B, it’s worth the money and cost for the people and the profession,” she said. As evidence, she shared a Brookings Institution paper that found that occupational licensing in other professions provided little benefit in terms of service quality and safety... (MORE - details)
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Cynic's Corner: Sure. Always perform the invasion of government micromanagement incrementally, so it's below the boiled frog's threshold of awareness.
But this broader domain of research plagued by invalid science and administratively catering to political ideology and other self-interests might still be better than a feral market of expertise.
Probably not by much, however.
And the real, underlying motives (on the red tape side, not the sci mask itself exclusively) surely aren't any more noble or uncompromised than they usually are. Kind of like one big sphincter (a crime syndicate) trying to squeeze out smaller, independent sphincters to cash in on that particular sphere of shady activity.
https://undark.org/2022/09/12/punishment...g-to-heel/
INTRO & EXCERPT: Three years ago, Valli Fraser-Celin adopted a blonde husky mix puppy, whom she named Husk. Fraser-Celin soon started looking for ways to curb Husk’s “totally wild” behavior, she said, like stealing food from the kitchen counter and barking incessantly at strangers. Based on the advice of a YouTube trainer, Fraser-Celin started using an electronic collar, or e-collar, that delivered a small shock when Husk misbehaved, but said she felt “yucky” about it.
Fraser-Celin rethought her approach after hearing about an animal trainer who taught a grizzly bear to cooperate with medical treatment using only positive reinforcement. If that hulking animal could learn with treats and praise, she thought, why were dog trainers using prong and shock collars?
“That was the catalyst into my advocacy,” said Fraser-Celin, who studied African wild dogs for her Ph.D. and now works as a remote community liaison for the Winnipeg Humane Society and advocates independently for positive reinforcement training on Instagram. “I really think that there needs to be regulations that are put into place,” she said, “based on the science and the studies that have shown the best type of training for dogs.”
Fraser-Celin is not alone. Many researchers, trainers, and veterinary and training professional organizations are advocating for greater oversight for dog training, which is largely unregulated worldwide — though they sometimes disagree on the best path of action and choose to focus on the research that reinforces their preferred approach.
“Right now, it’s the wild, wild West,” said Anamarie Johnson, a psychology Ph.D. student at Arizona State University with a background in animal behavior and dog training. She recently published a study that analyzed the websites of 100 highly-rated dog trainers across the U.S., which found that most gave no indication whether the trainer had relevant education or certification.
“Anyone can identify as a dog trainer — they can put up a social media page, they can offer services to the public, and there’s no expectations for their education, their continuing education, or their standards of practice,” said Bradley Phifer, the executive director of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, or CCPDT...
[...] Some argue that going straight from no regulation to licensure requirements is too great a leap. Kathrine Christ, executive director of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, said that starting with limited regulations that enhance accountability for trainers would be preferable to licensure requirements.
“We’re not necessarily ready to take a step towards promoting licensure or promoting, you know, intrusive types of regulation, before we can tell you that A, it’s worth the money for the taxpayer or B, it’s worth the money and cost for the people and the profession,” she said. As evidence, she shared a Brookings Institution paper that found that occupational licensing in other professions provided little benefit in terms of service quality and safety... (MORE - details)
- - - - - - -
Cynic's Corner: Sure. Always perform the invasion of government micromanagement incrementally, so it's below the boiled frog's threshold of awareness.
But this broader domain of research plagued by invalid science and administratively catering to political ideology and other self-interests might still be better than a feral market of expertise.
Probably not by much, however.
And the real, underlying motives (on the red tape side, not the sci mask itself exclusively) surely aren't any more noble or uncompromised than they usually are. Kind of like one big sphincter (a crime syndicate) trying to squeeze out smaller, independent sphincters to cash in on that particular sphere of shady activity.