17/05/2025
๐ฟ๐ค๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ฅโ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ก๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐จ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐ก๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐๐จ ๐ค๐ง ๐จ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ก๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ก๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข.
As professionals, we have a duty to be honest and transparentโnot only with our clients, but with the wider dog-owning community. That means calling out unethical practices, challenging misinformation, and speaking up when ideology overrides reason and evidence. If you've witnessed emotionally driven narratives that are doing more harm than goodโwhether in person, online, or through clients or acquaintancesโsay something. Share your experience, your professional knowledge, and the facts.
This industry is flooded with judgement and division, often fuelled by ideologues who believe thereโs only one way to train a dog. If you've worked with clients who have been harshly judged, criticised, or publicly ridiculed for their use of certain training tools or methodsโeven when those tools were helping their dogsโyou have a responsibility to stand by them. These owners need our public support. Remaining silent allows false narratives and emotional rhetoric to take deeper root, leaving good people feeling isolated or ashamed for making informed, responsible decisions in the best interest of their dogs.
Too many dogsโand their ownersโare being forsaken due to the rigid limitations and ideology of the positive-only and force-free movement. These approaches are often marketed as the only ethical way to train a dog, while all other methods and tools are labelled abusive, harmful, or outdated. Owners who are struggling are told firmly not to explore alternatives, even when their dogs are suffering. Tragically, these same owners are then left with dogs who remain behaviourally unstable, anxious, or aggressiveโoften psychologically distressed. And when the training fails, they are frequently steered towards psychotropic medications as a last resort, numbing the dogโs mind and masking the symptoms without ever addressing the root cause. This is not welfare. Itโs avoidance dressed up as compassion.
Balanced trainers, in particular, are relentlessly targeted on social media by these same communities. Sweeping generalisations are made, branding all balanced trainers as cruel or abusive, regardless of their skill, ethics, or results. These attacks rarely come from a place of understandingโthey are rooted in emotion, ideology, and a refusal to acknowledge nuance.
One of the most vocal influencers pushing this narrative is "social media influencer" Zak George. He publicly accuses balanced trainers of abuse on a daily basis in his social meda posts, often using inflammatory, emotive language with no evidence to support his claims. When challenged by experienced professionals who point out the inconsistencies and propaganda in his messaging, he refuses to engage in any open or respectful dialogue. In fact, numerous trainers have invited him to public discussionsโon podcasts, live forums, or in-person sessionsโeven after being offered significant financial compensation for his time. He has declined every one.
He has also rejected offers to observe real-life training sessions involving severe behavioural cases, or to allow other professionals to observe his own training. And to date, he has not demonstrated any credible work with truly difficult dogsโthose with complex behavioural problems requiring more than food, praise, and redirection. Instead, he continues to push an emotionally driven narrative that any method or tool outside his belief system is inherently cruelโdespite having no experience with those tools himself.
This is why it is so important that we, as professionals, speak out. Not to argue emotionally, but to present facts, evidence, and professional insight. Dog owners deserve better than viral slogans and emotionally manipulative posts. They deserve truth, options, and real help. They deserve to know that there ๐๐ง๐ other methodsโhumane, balanced, thoughtful methodsโthat can help both them and their dogs when everything else has failed.
So to every trainer who has remained quiet while misinformation spreads: your silence helps no one. Speak upโfor your clients, for your colleagues, and most importantly, for the dogs who canโt speak for themselves. The integrity of our profession, and the welfare of the dogs entrusted to us, depends on it.
