Hey there Bookshelvers!

A midweek podcast extra!? What’s going on? Well…we’re going off piste a little today but with good reason.

Many of you may know that there is a lot of division within the dog training industry (what’s new we hear you cry). Lately there has been a call for unity and a call for people with different training styles, ethics and core beliefs to come together and talk it out for the good of the dogs and humans. Here at PACT headquarters we thought we would record an episode talking through some of key points that are being debated and, more importantly, what we think about the question of unity and whether or not, we feel having these conversations/debates is useful.

We decided to predominantly record this for our PACT members and, of course, for anyone else that is listening that is a professional in the dog training industry, has an interest in becoming a dog trainer in the future or just loves dogs and wants what is best for them and their guardians moving forward. Having become directors of one of the training organisations that seem to be looked down upon in these discussions we thought we should go on the record and fight the good fight for animal welfare, wellbeing and ethics.

I would imagine that most of our listeners are pretty clear on where our ethical standards are. Those who listen will also have a good idea of what the science, especially welfare sciences, are informing us about the use of aversive methods on ALL individuals. So although we thought we’d discuss these topics this certainly isn’t a bridge to try to combine our ethical approach with one that we do not support. On top of that we are also individuals with different takes on different things so we really hope you enjoy this episode. Topics we cover include:

· What does regulation mean to us?

· What are ethics vs morals and how should that inform the decisions we make when interacting with animals?

· Is there an issue with a lack of practical training being offered by organisations. Is the landscape too theoretical?

· Should we have discussions between camps?

· Gish gallop & unfair debating tactics we see

· Time it takes to train purely positively

· Boundaries. Where are the lines in the sand?

· What makes an excellent trainer?

We have titled this talk “Le Chat Part un” I hope this is taken in the good hearted and tongue in cheek way it is intended and we have more to talk about so let us know if you’d be up for us recording a “Le Chat Part Deux” and we’ll get on it.