Times opinion editor Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer used a podcast to explain how the great political divide affects dogs. Training styles and methods can be as much about identity as efficacy, she has realized. “Are you imposing colonial concepts on your dogs? Are you harming their mental health? Is your style of training woke?”
Alicia’s rescue dog likes to chase joggers. “There are a few ways to deal with your dog having a jogger chasing problem,” she says. “And these solutions maybe fall into one of two camps, positive reinforcement training or balanced training. Positive training is a style of dog training that basically says, we’re not going to make your dog physically uncomfortable in order to get it to behave the way you want. So what it argues for doing is rewarding behavior you like, and basically managing your dog so that it can’t engage in behavior you don’t like, and just kind of ignoring it.”
Balanced training, however, or what I would call Skinnerian training, involves negative reinforcement. “If your dog is doing something that you don’t like,” Alicia explains, “to discourage that, we want to make it uncomfortable for the dog to do that. We want to give some kind of negative stimulus. Sometimes that might be a noise, or sometimes like a squirt of water to the face.”
“But sometimes it’s more physical discomfort than that. That means punishing your dog. And usually that punishment comes in the form of something called an e-collar, a tool that will give your dog an electricity stimulus.”
Alicia claims that upon doing online research, as a first-time dog owner,
So I was spending even more time in the world of online dog training, trying to figure out solutions for what to do here. But the more time I spent in this world, the more I found that these two styles of training weren’t just about how you train your dog. They also were really associated with two cultural camps in America. And so when I was considering whether or not to use an e-collar with my dog, there was just a lot of baggage I was bringing to the decision that really actually didn’t have that much to do with dog training, but was about how I thought of myself, a sort of position within America’s broader culture wars.
You know where this is going, I assume. She concluded that the conservative, deplorables among us gravitate to an autocratic, law-and-order approach to our dogs. “Positive training was woke. Balanced training was anti-woke,” she learned. “Because there are so many ways to train a dog, they kind of inevitably reflect our broader worldview. And so it turns out that if humans are fighting culture wars, then dogs are almost inevitably going to be recruited into those culture wars in some way.”
And so it is that Alicia decided against using an e-collar:
What I came to realize is that the reasons why I felt conflicted about whether or not to use an e-collar, it wasn’t just about questions of how I want to train my dog. It was also that the e-collar had kind of become this contentious object within the dog training culture wars. But I think that there was an element of what would people think about us. Would I feel like I have to explain why I have an e-collar? Would I just feel like this was something that I’m not the kind of person to use this kind of tool?
….So the solution that we ended up going with was a very long leash. It’s 32 feet, I think. It’s ridiculous. But it works.
First and foremost, I have this message for Alicia: It doesn’t work, and you will find that out sooner or later. I hope the result isn’t a bitten or tripped jogger and a lawsuit.
I also have a rescue dog, and he also doesn’t like joggers….nor vehicles of any kind, including skateboards, scooters, tricycles, bicycles, cars, buses, fire engines or bulldozers. I am in constant fear that he is going to run into the street and leap at a truck, and when stupid and careless cyclists and joggers come up behind us without making any noise or giving any warning (as an asshole jogger did yesterday), it takes all my strength and reflexes to stop Spuds from going after what he regards as a threat. I have learned to be very, very wary and alert.
But I will not use an electric collar on my dog. I do use a prong collar, but because dogs like Spuds have layers of muscle around their necks that could probably repel a harpoon, it barely inhibits him. My decision not to give my dog a painful shock every time his conduct displeases me, however, is not to conform with the woke pledge Alicia found online, “I will not project colonial, capitalist, or patriarchal concepts on my dog.” The reason is this: Spuds had a terrible first three years in his life, being bounced around among four owners who had no business taking care of a dog, starved, neglected, forced to live in small spaces (after two years with us, he finally was able to walk into a bathroom without fear) that gave him deep sores and ulcers from having to sleep in his own excrement. Our dog was so instantly grateful for having a family that loved him, played with him, gave him freedom to be a dog, fed him regularly and gave him a warm place to stretch out and sleep that it sometime brought my wife to tears.
Having barely been walked in his first three years of life, Spuds looks forward to these outings for the opportunity to have the full attention of a caring human being. I want him to be able to sniff and explore, feel like he has some agency in deciding where to go and how long to stay, and experience the sheer joy of existence itself. I will not walk him on a short leash, or occupy my time walking him talking on the phone, as I see so many cruel dog-owners doing. I talk to him. My job for at least 90 minutes a day is to make my dog happy. That’s what I would want from my owner, if I were a dog.
Making a decision about how you treat an animal based on ideological or political considerations is as wrong-headed as making decisions about how you will treat human beings according to your “tribe’s” biases. Like every other ethics decision, this one starts with the facts and a careful examination of “What’s going on here?,” followed by an application of available ethics systems and values to those facts.
I’m not rejecting an electric collar to train my dog because of politics. I’m doing it because my dog has suffered enough in his life, and if it requires extra time, care and inconvenience on my part to avoid causing him any more pain, it’s worth it.
Ethics Alarms 
I am most definitely not woke, and I have also never electrocuted my dog. If she needs a negative stimulus I tell her she is a bad dog and put her in timeout in her crate. Personally, I find the idea of shocking a dog as punishment barbaric. There is nothing balanced about hurting a dog.
My wife trained working-line German Shepherds in Schutzhund (protection work) for many years. Practically everyone in that sport, including my wife, used e-collars. If you’re not familiar with dogs bred for that kind of work, you wouldn’t understand. Most pet dogs lack the courage and tenacity to stay in a fight with a determined adult male human – not chase as they run, not bite and back away, but stay and fight against somebody who can and does fight back. It’s not that they’re vicious – our old boy who passed last year would gently play with baby goats no bigger than his head – but he was about as sensitive as a pile of bricks and could teach mules about stubbornness. I’ve had one swing set and one bird house pole taken right out as they chased each other through the yard, not looking where they’re going – I don’t think they even noticed.
I think that gives some insight as to where Wittmeyer gets the idea dog training breaks down by political affiliation. There’s a particular political tribe that lives in an urban bubble, whose experience is really quite limited, and insists that what they know is either all there is, or else simply all that matters. That there might be different kinds of dogs, bred and trained for different purposes, in very different environments, simply doesn’t register. They are of The Other. If the ways of The Other are different it must be that they are not as enlightened as we are.
What immediately came to mind here was how we potty train children — do we generally not use negative feedback, scolding or punishing the child for doing the wrong thing?
And……it is effective. Toilet training is something that sticks with us, barring actual physical problems, all our life.
Of course, dogs learn proper excretion habits much faster than children.
All of our dogs have been rescue dogs. Our current rescue dog is a purebred Jack Russell Terrier — who apparently became a rescue because her previous owner never trained her to “do her business” outside. We rubber-matted the 2 corners of the house where her “accidents” seemed to be confined to, (slowly) learned how she communicated when she needed to “do her business”, and rewarded her with food treats when she “did her business” outside — and ONLY when she peed or pooped outside. No e-collars, spiked collars or other negative reinforcement, and not because we’re in any way “woke”; it’s just applying the Golden Rule to all members of our household, including the 4-footed ones.
Jacks are abandoned to shelters a lot, because the dogs are so innately mischievous, smart and energetic. We had two over a 30 year span, and a more fun, entertaining breed doesn’t exist. I miss both of them every day, because they made me laugh every day. I envy you.
The dog training world has indeed been invaded by politics, and progressive politics are particularly pervasive throughout some positive reinforcement trainers’ philosophies. When my wife and I decided to provide dog training services to clients, after years of being dog care providers, I became frustrated when researching a particular trainer or professional training group and saw things like black lives matter or progressive pride flag logos on their websites. Not because I do or don’t agree with the sentiments, but because when I’m trying to help a client with a toddler whose being bit by their beloved Australian Sheppard, the LAST thing I care about are those logos.
The author of this piece did little research on this issue and that’s okay. She wrote it for those who probably would get their training advice from Instagram or TikTok. The issue of political philosophy in R+ training is much more entrenched and complicated than the author got into. Honestly a book could and should be written about it. I hope what people really look for, in a trainer or behaviorist, is someone who puts the safety and welfare of the pet and family first, politics or no politics.
In terms of prong collars, I don’t and won’t use them as I’m not training dogs for home defense. Additionally, a dog’s skin is actually thinner than ours regardless of breed, by at least half. When I’m asked, I suggest someone start with a well-fitted no-pull harness and loose leash training. If there is reactivity, try training protocols using non-aversive methods. If someone insists on using it, I suggest they find a trainer who can show clients how to use it in the least harmful way. Most people don’t use such collar correctly and cause their dog issues from pain, sores, and bleeding to becoming more reactive, more sensitive or desensitized, thus compromising safety and connection.
I suggest jokingly sometimes that humans should try wearing a prong collar (or e-collar) for a day and every time they go too far in a direction or get curious and linger or get sassy at others, someone else should pull on the collar. I suspect at the end of a day, the human might feel differently.
Have you seen “Run Spot Run”? It’s a silly movie but fun for dog lovers, especially for former Mastiff and Jack Russell owners like me, because a Bull Mastiff and a Jack are the real stars of the film. In one scene the dumb, dog-phobic mail man who is keeping an FBI Bull Mastiff in the house (it’s hiding from the Mob) to curry favor with his kids (he’s separated), puts on an electric collar to show his children that it won’t hurt the dog. Naturally the kid get a hold of the controls and hilarity ensues as they shock their father repeatedly.
I was waiting for your comment on this post!