I can’t believe we have to say this, but here we are.

Reality television is NOT a good place to get training advice or to learn how to train your dog. 

This would be like taking dating advice from the Bachelor. There may be a few tidbits here and there worth trying, but as a whole? It’s a lot of smoke and mirrors.

POPULAR TV DOG TRAINERS

These are the current popular dog trainers that have reality television shows.

Cesar Milan – “The Dog Whisperer”

Victoria Stillwell – “It’s Me or the Dog”

Jas Leverette – “Canine Intervention”

Graeme Hall – “Dogs Behaving Badly”

These shows are fun to watch and often hit on common ‘pain points’ that dog owners have.

At its core, reality television is produced to generate viewers and ratings. Dog training shows are no exception.

Did you know that there is no governing authority for dog trainers education or certifications?

The titles of ‘Master Dog Trainer’, ‘Dog Whisperer’ or ‘Dog Psychology Specialist’ have no legitimate meaning.

SHOWMANSHIP

To film these dog training shows, the producers record and cut as much as they need to so that what you see is purely ‘amazing’ results.

They purposefully wind the dogs up and set them up to fail so that what you see first are out of control dogs and upset owners. You empathize and see your own struggles in it.

Then they take the overwhelmed, tired, emotionally exhausted dog(s) and ‘fix’ the problem with ‘psychology’ and intimidation.

In the final reel, you only see the best take of the improved behavior. The owners are coached to rejoice, they didn’t realize how ‘easy’ it was going to be to fix the problem!

Ratings go up, you continue to tune in not recognizing that all the while, the reality TV dog trainer is using smoke to distract you from what is really happening.

DOG PSYCHOLOGY & WOO

Reality television trainers use ‘dog psychology’ and woo to distract you. They need you focused on them, NOT the dogs (who are often showing significant signs of stress and anxiety).

It’s engaging, interesting, and ‘makes sense’ so you buy it, believing that the training they are doing must be necessary and appropriate.

The problem is that ‘dog psychology’ is rarely rooted in legitimate, modern, up-to-date behavior science.

Simply put, it’s often just made up or grossly misinterpreted. 

THE INTIMIDATION FACTOR

The majority of reality TV dog trainers rely on intimidation to quickly shut down problem behaviors.

Anybody can intimidate a dog into being ‘submissive’.

Intimidation is a powerful and quick force to shutting a dog down.

‘Dog Psychology’ makes you believe that the now terrified dog is being ‘calm and submissive’, and it looks GREAT on television.

Studies show, however that confrontational training methods increase anxiety, fear and even aggression.

FORMS OF INTIMIDATION

Here are ways that many reality TV dog trainers will ‘fix’ problem behaviors:

• Alpha Rolls/Pinning
• Neck jabs and ‘Pssshhht’
• Using a foot or knee on the dog
• Pinching or choking
• Throwing things at the dog
• Repeated collar pops, especially without actually teaching the dog what it should be doing
• Forceful, threatening and forward body presence (arms out, leaning into the dog)
• Exposing the dog to situations that the dog finds uncomfortable or scary (flooding)

Confrontational and intimidation-based training methods such as the alpha roll, flooding and physical punishments have been proven by science to increase aggression, anxiety and confusion.

TURN OFF THE SOUND

Turn off the volume so that the ‘dog psychology’ cannot fool you.

Watch the dog. What is their body language like? Do they look happy, comfortable and engaged?

Is the dog scared, overwhelmed and feeling threatened? Does the dog want to work on training and be with the handlers, or is it wishing it were anywhere else?

Unlike ‘dog psychology’, canine body language is a studied and proven science. 

BE THE ALPHA

Many reality TV dog trainers preach that you need to ‘be the Alpha’ and ‘dominate’ your dog.

The television producers aren’t knowledgeable in dog training, they just know what looks good on TV…and ‘being the boss’ looks GREAT.

The idea that our dogs are trying to be dominant and boss us around is an old school belief based on faulty studies of captive wolves. Those studies were later retracted by the author, but the method unfortunately persists.

For more information on why it’s not ‘dominance’, read our blog post on the topic! 

Very few legitimate dog trainers will tell you that a scared, overwhelmed, bored or frustrated dog is being ‘dominant’, and even fewer will tell you to alpha roll your dog to show that you are the boss.

This idea is largely perpetuated by dog owners that learned it from, you guessed it: reality television. Run from any dog trainer that learned how to train dogs from reality TV. 

FALSE HOPE

Reality television makes us believe that we can transform our dogs behavior without the help of a legitimate, qualified dog trainer.

It makes us believe that it can be done quickly if we just change our energy or be more authoritative.

It fails to address the root cause of canine behavior (most often boredom, fear, frustration, confusion and anxiety) and puts a one-size-fits all bandaid on dog behavior and the interactions we have with our beloved family pets.

Because it is so engaging, people take what they learned from the 20 minute prime time slot and share it with others. It worked on TV, so…

Reality TV is not a good place to get information about dog training and dog behavior.

Every dog and every family is different. If you are struggling with your dog we encourage you to bring in a highly qualified trainer that can watch your interactions and teach you how to appropriately work with your dog.

The last thing a dog trainer wants you to do is to apply advice you learned from reality TV and possibly make the problem, or your relationship with your dog, worse. 

A better place to seek advice is from legitimate balanced and thoughtful positive trainers on Youtube and social media. There are some amazing people putting out a lot of real tips and content, not just using their platform to show off their ‘amazing dog whispering skills’. We’ve linked to our favorites below!

A note about Victoria Stillwell and ‘It’s Me or the Dog’: this program leans more towards positive dog training. She doesn’t fall under the umbrella of ‘alpha/dominance’ and intimidation, however, we don’t find that her training is particularly helpful for most dog owners either. Watch for fun but please, find a positive-balanced (yes, we said balanced!) dog trainer to come visit and help you directly. 

EXCEPTION

Of course, there are some notable exceptions.

Many exceptional dog trainers and behavior professionals freely share their knowledge and have some great things to say.

Chirag Patel (Nightmare Pet SOS on BBC) is a wonderful example.

Just check out his credentials, they make the other television dog trainers look like complete amateurs. If I’m going to take advice from somebody on television, I’m more inclined to listen to the guy that has a veterinary sciences degree and postgraduate certificates in clinical animal behavior.

Not the guy that bases his training on debunked pack/alpha theory. Not the guy claiming to be a ‘master’ dog trainer. Not the guy who makes me believe I can fix my dogs ‘mental state’ by saying ‘pssst’ and jabbing her in the neck. Definitely not the guy that has multiple organizations raising alarms regarding animal abuse and the use of confrontational training methods.

If we can gain just ONE thing from the popular reality TV dog training series, it is this:

Dogs still need leadership, boundaries, exercise, management and structure no matter what.

All TV dog trainers get this one correct. We have to train our dogs, and we have to recognize that many behavior problems are rooted in boredom and/or anxiety.

It’s important to set dogs up for success, and to start giving dogs more guidance and enrichment overall.

That will help their mental state more than any ‘alpha roll’, power play or leash pop ever could. Get off the TV and go play with your dog!

LEGITIMATE RESOURCES FOR DOG TRAINING ADVICE

KikoPup- Positive Training

Larry Krohn – Balanced/E-Collar

Susan Garret – Positive, Game Based/Sports/Agility

Grisha Stewart – Aggression & Behavior Modification

Tom Davis – Balanced/E-Collar

Denise Fenzi – Positive and Play-based dog sports

Bark Busters, Sit Means Sit and Off-Leash K-9 are three of the most popular franchise dog training companies in the U.S.

If you are searching for more information about dog training for your Great Dane, and considering hiring one of these companies or sending your dog to them for a board and train, read on for more!

FRANCHISE DOG TRAINING

A franchise is essentially a ‘child’ business to a parent company. All three companies we are talking about today run on a franchise model.

Anybody with the financial means can purchase a franchise. They do not necessarily have to have dog training experience! 

In purchasing the franchise, however, they do have to follow the parent companies marketing, location and training methods and ideaology.

Franchise dog trainers have access to the larger company, which means better/nicer websites, better reach in search engines, and a polished, shiny, engaging sales pitch.

This can make a dog trainer/franchise owner look infinitely more polished, experienced and successful than they actually are. 

Great for business, but not so great for you and your dog. Upon approval and financing, a new franchise dog training company owner will typically take a roughly 2-week long ‘intensive’ course, from which they emerge as a ‘dog trainer’ for the company.

2 weeks. That may be all the experience they have.

FINDING EMPLOYEES

If you do a search through your local job ads, you may notice that any one of these companies may be hiring.

In my experience, they typically look for people with very little dog training experience.

“We will train you!” As a matter of fact, these companies may purposefully seek trainers with little or no experience so they can fully sell them on the method they use.

With time, these trainers do gain experience…however, their experience will be limited to the methodology and ideology of the franchise parent company.

Remember, franchise dog training companies have marketing experts, lawyers and social media teams in place to make these businesses look like the best option available, especially to desperate and frustrated dog owners!

A team of marketing and media experts is on hand to bury bad reviews and push all ‘positive’ results to the top, so all you see is good stuff.

BARK BUSTERS DOG TRAINING FOR GREAT DANES

Bark Busters, as of this writing, uses a methodology based in extremely outdated ideas about being the ‘pack leader’.

Note: Canine behavioral science considers ‘alpha’ theory, ‘dominance’ and ‘pack leader’ ideologies to be a load of nonsense. It’s woo woo in the world of dog training.

To market their business, they use words such as ‘humane, dog friendly methods’, ‘lasting emotional bond’, ‘natural techniques’.

Bark Busters does not use e-collar, shock collar, clickers, ‘harsh treatment’ or treats. They believe that body language and voice are all that is needed, and that all behavior problems from aggression to crying in the crate are resolved very simply when you implement order and hierarchy.

Despite their claim that they don’t use harsh methods or need anything more than voice control and body presence, Bark Busters training tools DO include the following: air horns, penny cans, bean bags full of chains, shouting a gutteral ‘BAH’ at the dog and spray bottles.

Like the other franchise dog training models, they are not very transparent about their methods, beyond claims that they can ‘quickly and easily’ fix all behavior problems. They often say that they can transform even the most out of control dog within an hour.

While being a good leader and providing enrichment and structure may be important, it’s not the entire story when it comes to dog training. Anybody can throw a bag of pennies near a dog and frighten them into ‘submission’, but that’s not dog training, nor is it natural. It’s intimidation.

THE SHINY SALES PITCH

There is no such thing as a quick fix, or quick dog training.

There are things you can do to manage the environment, teach, guide and help your dog learn. These things take time & dedication.

Dogs, like humans, take time to grow their skills into advanced levels.

Be very, very wary of the shiny sales pitch, implying that a dog can be made free of aggression, fear or poor behavior with just a few training sessions or two weeks in a board and train program.

You owe it to your dog to choose an experienced dog trainer that understands canine behavior and modern, up to date scientific methodology in dog training.

SIT MEANS SIT DOG TRAINING FOR GREAT DANES

Sit Means Sit has the ultimate shiny sales pitch, using words such as ‘cutting edge’ and ‘attention based’ training. As with all franchise training companies, they have large facilities, huge websites and lots of online presence, which can lead people to believe that they are the real deal.

Sit Means Sit is the franchise model of ‘compulsion-balanced’ dog training, where trainers will use anything at everything at their disposal to train a dog (leash, muzzle, crate, e-collar, prong, penny can, etc.).

While there isn’t much inherently wrong with taking a proper, thoughtful and humane balanced approach to dog training (Larry Krohn is a good example of proper balanced training), it’s important to note that balanced dog training is no longer balanced if the primary method of teaching is punishment.

Sit Means Sit uses e-collars for training. At Hello Danes, we believe in and recommend properly used E-Collars.

They recommend the brand that they produce and sell, despite the fact that there are many quality options in the world of e-collars. E-collars can be a wonderful tool when used correctly.

Positive reinforcement and management must still be used, and it’s unclear if Sit Means Sit trainers consistently use treats, praise or play to reward correct behaviors, and if they are able to teach a dog basic Kindergarten level obedience skills (sit, go to a mat, stay) without the use of the e-collar.

A quick search of some video training on Youtube produced Sit Means Sit training and dogs that look uncomfortable and disengaged. They ‘pay attention’ because the tap from the e-collar asks them to, but they aren’t necessarily paying attention because they are engaged with the handler and excited to learn.

They are panting, turning their head away, walking low to the ground and trying to avoid the training.
That to me is a HUGE red flag that they are inappropriately using e-collars and ‘balanced’ training methods.

DOG BODY LANGUAGE

Dog training should NEVER make a dog feel frustrated, scared, confused or intimidated.

As a matter of fact, good dog training is about resolving feelings of insecurity, anxiety, fear,  confusion and frustration!

When evaluating potential dog trainers, watch them in action on their videos, social media or by attending a class to observe.

The dogs should have positive body language, be engaged with the handler and trainer, and happy to be learning. The dog in the photo on the left does NOT have positive body language!

Here are some signs that a dog is uncomfortable, anxious, stressed, confused, frustrated or checked out:

Ears pinned back, overall tense body, tight tail wags, tucked tail, stiff tail, stiff mouth, hunched shoulders and body, walking low to the ground, grimace, panting,  cowering, hiding, shaking, or pulling to get away.

Avoidance signals may include sniffing, scratching, sneezing or turning the head or body away from the handler.

Sometimes a dog will do these to ‘think’, but they should come back on their own and re-engage.

Do not mistake ‘calm submission’ with ‘well trained’ or ‘confident/happy’. Dogs being presented in a ‘calm submissive’ state are often very stressed and checked out.

Work with a quality, experienced trainer that understands body language and that uses modern, humane and thoughtful training methods.

OFF LEASH K-9 DOG TRAINING FOR GREAT DANES

Off Leash K-9 loves to use social media and youtube to astound viewers with videos of dogs that after just a few short training sessions can walk off-leash through busy locations.

It’s easy to be amazed by this, but find me one of these videos where:

a. The dog is comfortable, excited and engaged with this activity and has loose, calm, confident body language (no panting, grimace, stiffness or wide eyes).

b. The dog needs to be doing this activity for some reason.

c. The dog is doing this activity in an area where it’s legal and safe to be off-leash. (Note, even highly trained service dogs must remain on a leash in busy areas!).

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Off Leash K-9 claims they can take your dog for a board and train and have it fully trained within 2 weeks. They may use some toys and praise to reward dogs, but rarely treats or food motivators,. They use the e-collar and prong tools to communicate.

Note, it is very easy to keep a dog in a down-stay for 3 hours at a time (or in a strict heel through a busy area) if it is both extremely worn out (following treadmills and structured walks) and then corrected (collar pop, e-collar correction, verbal correction etc.) every time it tries to step off of an elevated bed or break the heel position.

Off Leash K-9 relies on this principle, calling it ‘discipline’. In the four quadrants of operant conditioning, this is called ‘positive punishment’.

Small corrections may be appropriate and may come into play depending on the trainer, but as above it’s not ‘balanced’ training if reliance is made primarily on corrections.

The Off-Leash K-9 model claims to be able to fully, reliably train any dog quickly. That’s not how humane, thoughtful and ethical dog training works, so be cautious about this shiny sales pitch.

FRANCHISE BOARD AND TRAIN RED FLAG

Many franchise dog trainers have been sued or shut down because of abuse. Videos abound of dog trainers harshly punishing dogs, bonking them with objects, scaring them or using high-level stims to keep the dog in place.

Worse, there are 100’s of reports of dogs coming back from board and train with behavioral and health problems. They may be emaciated, dehydrated or even terrified.

Some dogs have even passed away while in board and train. Remember, board and train franchise owners and their employees may actually have little to no dog or training experience. 

A board and train program may be a great way to install the basics and reinforce known skills in a new environment, but we encourage you to look beyond franchise training companies when pursuing that option.

THE BIG PICTURE

There are better, more reliably qualified dog trainers out there that aren’t required to utilize a canned franchise method to teach your dog.

We encourage you to be wary of any trainer that will ‘method bash’ between ‘positive’ and ‘balanced’ or claim to provide ‘quick results’ through the use of ‘psychology’ and ‘woo’.

Good dog training relies on creating a positive relationship with your dog, based on trust and guidance. Even when E-Collars are involved!

Being ‘old school’ or stuck in a franchise ‘quick fix’ model as a dog trainer is not a good thing; many of the world’s top obedience, agility and scent tracking dogs were not trained through alpha rolls, so why does your pet dog need to be trained that way?