08/14/2026
An Open Letter to the Next Generation of Dog Trainers
If you're just getting into dog training, I want to tell you something I've been sitting with for a while.
I'm genuinely worried about the education you're receiving.
Not because I think you're being taught to care less about dogs. I actually think this generation cares more deeply about welfare, emotion, and doing right by the animal than any before it.
That's a good thing.
What worries me is that somewhere along the way, we started replacing education with ideology.
And ideology is starting to decide what you're even allowed to learn.
I don't care what you eventually call yourself.
Force-free. Balanced. Positive reinforcement trainer. LIMA. Whatever.
I genuinely don't care.
Because before you decide what kind of trainer you want to be, you deserve the opportunity to actually learn how dog training works.
All of it.
Instead, we're moving from:
"Learn everything. Understand it. Question it. Then make informed decisions."
to:
"We don't do that, so you don't need to learn it."
Trainers are expected to agree to codes, pledges, or restrictions about methods and equipment before they've even had the opportunity to fully understand what they're choosing not to use.
Think about that for a second.
We're asking people to make professional decisions about things we're simultaneously telling them they shouldn't learn.
That's not education.
Dogs don't stop learning through punishment because we stopped teaching it.
They don't stop experiencing negative reinforcement because we don't like discussing it.
Pressure doesn't disappear because we've decided pressure is bad.
Learning theory doesn't change because an organization changes its ethical position.
Positive reinforcement exists. Negative reinforcement exists. Positive punishment exists. Negative punishment exists.
You can make ethical decisions about when, whether, and how you intentionally use those processes.
But you still need to understand them. Because they're happening whether you intentionally use them or not.
And the same thing is happening with mechanical literacy.
Every piece of equipment has mechanics. A harness. A flat collar. A head halter. A slip lead. A prong collar. A long line.
They change leverage. They change where pressure occurs. They change how movement from your hand travels to the dog. They change how quickly information appears and disappears.
Learning those differences teaches your hands.
Timing. Pressure. Release. Movement. Position. Observation.
It teaches you to notice the tiny shift in weight before the dog moves. The moment tension appears in the leash. The difference between guiding and restraining. The half-second-late release that changes what the dog learns.
You might learn every one of those tools and ultimately decide you never want to use half of them.
Good. That's what an informed professional decision looks like.
Because there's a massive difference between:
"I understand and know exactly how this works, I've considered the risks and benefits, and I've decided not to use it."
and:
"I've never learned how it works because the people educating me told me good trainers don't use it."
One is education.
The other is ideology.
And I worry we're stripping away the first while congratulating ourselves for the second.
Here's where this eventually matters:
You're going to meet difficult dogs. Not Instagram dogs. Not demonstration dogs. Real dogs.
Dogs with complicated histories. Dogs with bite histories. Dogs whose behaviour has already cost them pieces of their lives. Dogs living under layers and layers of management. Dogs whose owners are exhausted. Dogs who don't respond the way your course told you they would. Dogs where there isn't an obvious perfect answer.
And that's when the depth of your education matters. You need more than a list of things you're allowed to do.
You need to understand behaviour. Learning. Mechanics. Welfare. Risk. What happens when Plan A doesn't work. And Plan B. And Plan C.
Because sometimes the dog standing in front of you isn't going to fit neatly inside your ideology.
And when that happens, the dog shouldn't pay the price for the gaps in your education.
That's my concern.
While the industry fights about which side gets to claim science, there are dogs whose worlds are getting smaller. Dogs spending their lives under management. Dogs who can't safely access environments. Dogs who never gain the skills necessary for greater freedom. Dogs whose families eventually reach the limits of what they can manage.
No, that doesn't mean every one of those dogs needs a prong collar or a remote collar. That's exactly the kind of simplistic thinking I'm arguing against.
It means you need enough education to evaluate the individual dog and understand the options in front of you.
Sometimes the answer will be reinforcement. Sometimes management. Sometimes environmental change. Sometimes changing the owner's expectations. Sometimes deciding that a particular goal isn't appropriate at all.
And sometimes professionals will disagree about what the best option is.
Good. That's what happens in complicated fields.
But you should understand enough to participate in that conversation.
I don't want you blindly defending tools. I don't want you blindly condemning them either.
I want you educated enough that you don't need someone else to tell you what to think.
Learn reinforcement incredibly well. Learn punishment. Learn motivation. Learn frustration. Learn pressure and release. Learn timing. Learn mechanics. Learn management. Learn body language. Learn emotion. Learn welfare. Learn risk.
Learn the science. Learn its limitations too.
Learn everything you possibly can.
Then decide what kind of trainer you want to be.
Because knowledge doesn't force you to use something. Knowledge gives you the ability to make an informed decision not to.
That's what I think we're forgetting.
I don't care what label the next generation of trainers chooses.
I care whether we've educated you well enough to deserve the dogs who will eventually be standing in front of you.
Because while ideology might win arguments online, dogs don't benefit from trainers who were taught less.
They benefit from trainers who understand more.
