A recent post stated "for novice dog owners, any training is better than none." I really have to disagree.
Ineffective and/or abusive training absolutely CAN be worse than no training. Not only does the novice owner feel hopeless when the dog still has behavior issues -- "We took him to an obedience class already, why do any more training, it didnt work, he must be stupid or a bad dog" -- but bad training can actually do more harm than good. There are cetainly differences in training techniques (what works best varies by instructor, handler and the individual dog.) We know there is a very fine grey line between ineffective "training" that is really just abuse and effective "traditional training" (tho personally I feel the end doesnt always justify the means)....and of course there are some so called positive trainers who are about as ineffective as some old time jerk and puke trainers. What I mean is there are some classes (I have seen them) that are so bad the dogs learn worse than nothing, they come out of the class worse than when they started. The dog can learn how to ignore constant nagging jerks/yelling or worse yet learn to have worse behavior problems, like to be aggressive. I am in a puppy class w/ my 15 week old BC (she is the cutest cleverest thing on the planet, of course!!) now in Columbus OH where the elderly instructor told the owner of this very nice 3 month old female Akita puppy that he (and his 8 yr old daughter ) should pin the puppy to the ground and give her a shake and stare directly in her eyes and growl at her to KEEP her from becoming aggressive -- hmmmm....seems to me that is exactly how to MAKE a puppy aggressive....this owner would be better off doing nothing w/ the pup than doing these kind of things! And when his child tries this on the dog when it weighs 85 lbs, she could be looking at extensive plastic surgery. Bad training CAN be worse than no training. You are your dog's steward and guide thru life. You owe it to him to be careful. Vilma Briggs (Kistner) Mt. Gilead, OH U-UD Mocha Java Slurp, UDX, HIC, TT Ch. Brighteye Expresso Bean, UD, NDD, TT U-CDX Our Little Buddy, UD, NA, TT Thirdtym's A Charm, CD Hob Nob Clouds In My Coffee (puppy "Perc") and foster Bernerboy: Brew/Bruin
