After video surfaced of trainer Jeffrey Schultz hitting and making a dog scream, Schultz defended his actions by saying that the context (the dog snapping at him) was omitted in the video. In a follow-up story on CBS by Jeff Paul, a past client of Schultz, Gary (who did not want his last name used) suggested that such measures were the thin line protecting children from being bitten and dogs from euthanasia. His reply when asked by the reporter if it’d be concerning if his own dog were so treated:
“Absolutely it’d bother me. But what would bother me more is if my dog bit some child at a park and then at some point it’s euthanized,” said Gary.
This logic has been completely debunked by all available research, such as here, here, here, here and here, position statements by the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, the American Animal Hospital Association behavior management guidelines, and the clinical experience of thousands of practitioners who treat the most serious cases and explicitly warn owners away from people such as Jeffrey Schultz. Because what he does actually increases the likelihood of aggression in dogs.
There is no context, circumstance or back-story that makes this stuff appropriate.
Author: Jean Donaldson
Jean is the founder and principle instructor of The Academy for Dog Trainers. The Academy is celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2019. She is a four-time winner of The Dog Writers' Association of America's Maxwell Award. In 2017, Jean was recruited to create Dog Training 101 for The Great Courses. Born in Montreal, Canada, Jean founded the Montreal Flyball Association, and Renaissance Dog Training, the first positive reinforcement-based school and counseling service in the province. Her own dogs and dogs she has trained have earned numerous titles and wins in a variety of dog sports, including OTCh, TDX, HIT and FDCh. While a student, she worked as an adoption counselor at the Montreal SPCA and later served on its Board of Directors. Before founding The Academy, Jean did exclusively referral aggression cases for six years. She lives in Oakland, California, with her dog, Brian, adopted in 2015.