Am I the only one who doesn’t like using the term balanced trainer?

[orlando_wcbc]

@gineke But the other guy was saying that the tools are fundamentally aversives and that's correct. Sure, you can create a niche use where they're not, but it's misleading at best to try to categorize them differently on the basis of that niche. Here's another example: I could say I use e-collars and it turns out that I just toss them and my dog fetches them for me. At that point, I have no business saying I "use e-collars" because it's outside the scope of what everyone else thinks you're saying, you know?

 

[gineke]

@orlando_wcbc And in my comment I said “they don’t (always) have to be aversive”. Didn’t say that they weren’t completely so why are we still going on about this lol

 

[ocdgal46]

@gineke If it wasn't aversive, your dog wouldn't pay attention to it and the collar would be useless. Aversives don't have to equal strong punishment. The level you're using with your dog is nagging, which is fine. But still aversive. It would be the same as if someone was tapping on your shoulder to get your attention. It's not painful, but it can be annoying.

 

[mew]

@ocdgal46 honestly though, I think this is where a lot of confusion comes in. It would be nice to have a different word for different levels of aversive. Same thing about the association from the word "punishment." People immediately think "abuse" when in reality it's just enough pressure to mitigate the behavior. If that's a firm "no" then that's also grouped in with punishment, but no one jumps to that example when they hear the word.

 

[ocdgal46]

@mew That's why it's important for responsible dog trainers to educated people who don't really know the difference. There's a wide spectrum of balanced trainers and not all of them are quite the same.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@gineke I just say holistic based dog training, which is true im treating the dog as a whole, foundations up from the root and not just isolating and "fixing" the "issue", which usually isnt the actual issue. I usually give a free consultation to new clients where we dive deeper into theory, methods and philosophies. "Balanced" has ugly connotations and theres alot of trainers (most tbh) i want no part of being lumped into the same category with just because of training tools

 

[kreke]

@imagebeastmarkbeast If someone would call himself holistic I would run away as fast as I can. It may be my part of the world but this term here is highly accociated with people who deny sience and are stuck in some esoteric whole they dig for themselves.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@kreke Not the definition though

 

[orlando_wcbc]

@imagebeastmarkbeast But you were worried about connotations. "Holistic" has a very strong connotation of woo and 'alternative' medicine and so forth.

 

[fearey]

@kreke Mhmmmmm, take your time.

 

[gineke]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Holistic is a nice term. I will definitely consider that

 

[kamienzen]

@gineke No I don't like it at all to be honest