Great Throughts Treasury

"The clicker is a scalpel, the voice a butter knife."

"I could speak to you and say, ‘Laytay-chai, paisey, paisey.’ … Why aren’t you responding? Oh, you don’t speak Swahili. Well, I’ve got news for you. The dog doesn’t speak English, or American, or Spanish, or French."

"I grew up on a farm and my grandfather quit school when he was 12, but when it came to common sense and animals, he was the smartest person I've ever met, before or since. He taught me that to touch an animal is an earned privilege. It's not a right."

"Bubba with the shock collar never takes the collar off and is constantly punishing the dog"

"Half the dogs at seminars shouldn?t be there because they are dog trainer?s dogs."

"All training is negotiation, whether you're training dogs or spouses."

"Just because it works, doesn?t mean it is the right way to do it"

"Shock collars don?t work to strengthen the bond; they only make the dogs more fearful"

"It is horrible that they are because there is no proof of reliability; it is wrong because so many trainers have proven themselves to be hopeless dog trainers, and shock collars will do a lot of damage and make the dog?s life miserable"

"The conference at the International Association of Canine Professionals was filled with dogs wearing shock collars. There were too many dogs on shock collars, that is NOT training and there were no trained dogs at the conference because they were all wearing shock collars."

"Shock collars will be gone in 10 years. There is precedence overseas. They are done"

"Training a puppy is like raising a child. Every single interaction is a training opportunity."

"Training a dog, to me, is on a par with learning to dance with my wife or teaching my son to ski. These are fun things we do together. If anyone even talks about dominating the dog or hurting him or fighting him or punishing him, don't go there."

"Learning from wolves to interact with pet dogs makes about as much sense as, 'I want to improve my parenting - let's see how the chimps do it!'"

"People - and dogs - are dying to be trained."

"The three worst things to wean your dog off are, a leash, a shock collar and a treat bag."

"We see people jerk forever and shock forever, that is not punishment training, that?s abuse."

"When I'm training a dog, I develop a relationship with that dog. He's my buddy, and I want to make training fun."

"With every animal, you have to build its confidence around people because people do some crazy and stupid things."

"You don't train a dog in a training hall, jerking his neck or even giving him food treats. You train him using life rewards."

"You can instill fear in your kids and get them to mind, but they won't function better in the world and your relationship will suffer greatly."

"You shouldn?t have to shock a dog more than 3 times, that is just an advertisement that you don?t know how to train, shock is painful so if you can?t train with one shock you are the problem"

"You don?t understand anything until you learn it more than one way."