Author: Karolina Westlund, PhD

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Animal Training Ethics

From balanced to force-free

The dog training world is currently extremely polarized.

On the one hand, we have trainers who don’t hesitate to use aversive techniques to train their dogs (in other words, they will sometimes inflict pain or discomfort). On the other, we have trainers who will jump through hoops to avoid aversives – or won’t use it at all.

For simplicity, I will call the trainers-who-don’t-think-twice-about-sometimes-using-aversives balanced, and trainers-who-avoid-aversives-at-all-costs force free.

Yes, I know, I know – that’s an oversimplification. There are many different training approaches out there and some people may be affronted by being unceremoniously grouped like this.

If that’s you, I’m so sorry – no offense intended. I’m painting with big strokes here, and the details aren’t that important for the purpose of this blog post. I hope towards the end, you’ll agree.

I recently ran a poll in the Do No Harm Dog Training group on Facebook, curious to know the backgrounds of the members – had they transitioned from balanced to force-free trainers? And their comments were revealing.

The ongoing evolution in the dog training world.

Here’s my take on what’s been going on:

Over time, people immersed in a culture where balanced* techniques are the norm (black) have started experimenting with force-free** methods (white dots). As they’ve developed their skills, they have started converting others. Once there’s enough people practicing force-free methods in one area, some newcomers join them without ever being exposed to, or trying, balanced methods. *, ** – remember those definitions? In this blog, trainers-who-don’t-think-twice-about-sometimes-using-aversives are defined as balanced, and trainers-who-avoid-aversives-at-all-costs are defined as force-free.
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Categories
Animal Emotions Applied Ethology Weathering scepticism

Dominance, weaning and socialization

I was recently invited for an interview for Radio Tacoma’s series Ain’t Misbehaving with Dr Louisa Beal, a veterinarian with a special interest in behaviour.

In this discussion, we talk about:

  • how people interested in dogs might still learn something from someone who’s not a dog owner (though I cover this paradox in more detail here)
  • the difference between jealousy and resource guarding
  • how people often misunderstand the dominance concept
  • my thoughts on how we go about weaning our pets
  • do we need to do any “socialization” at all?
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Categories
Animal Training How we learn Weathering scepticism

Dog training is like brain surgery

I’m not a dog trainer.

And so, many dog guardians – or dog trainers – don’t think that I have anything to teach them.

And they tell me so often enough to warrant an explanation as to why in the world I think it’s a good idea for me to teach about dog training even though I’m *not* a dog trainer.

Actually, I’m also not a horse trainer, but the horse guardians and horse trainers that I come across don’t voice that particular concern – at least not to my face 😉 … but this applies equally to them. And yes, the same also goes for all the other animal species out there.

This blog post could be named Animal training is like brain surgery, and everything that I discuss here is equally relevant to other species too.

Just replace the word “dog” in everything that follows with your preferred species..!  

I think that the mistake that people make is that they think that dog training is sort of like driving a car.

And naturally, if you want to learn how to drive, you should learn from an experienced driver. They don’t have to be a mechanic or understand what’s going on underneath the hood, but your driving teacher needs to have personal experience in driving, and that’s simply non-negotiable. Anything else would just be preposterous.

And I totally agree! That makes total sense – when it comes to learning how to drive.

But here’s the thing.

I think that dog training is more like brain surgery than it is like driving a car.

Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, dog training has a lot in common with brain surgery.
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Categories
Animal Emotions Dealing with fear Problem Solving

Dogs and fireworks (30+ proven techniques to eliminate noise phobia)

Is your dog afraid of fireworks? How about thunder?

Keep reading, this blog post contains everything you need to know. This post is updated and all the links are double-checked about twice a year, last on June 12th, 2025 – look for the “revised” signs in the post to find the latest changes.

Is your dog not fearful of fireworks, thunder or other loud noise?

Keep reading anyway. That may change, and you should be prepared.

fearful dogs fireworks
It’s the combination of different techniques that produce the best effect (Crowell-Davis et al., 2003: 93%). Nobody’s tried using all the techniques suggested in this blog post, as far as I know.
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Categories
Applied Ethology Weathering scepticism

An applied ethologist’s take on how we care for dogs

I was invited to revisit one of my favorite online conferences, KIENO.

If that sounds like Japanese to you, know that it’s an acronym for Kindness Is Essential, Not Optional.  

I thought I’d share the discussion I had with Holly Tett, the organizer, on the topic of How an Applied Ethologist Looks At How We Care  For Dogs.

In our 40-minute talk, we discussed the following:

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Categories
Animal Emotions

Brains and bodies

What follows below is a chapter from my full course Animal Emotions.

To be quite transparent, it’s one of the chapters that has the least practical application when it comes to caring for captive animals, but it is also, hands down, the one chapter in all my online courses that leaves students the most flabbergasted.

And given how the subject of gender identity has become politicized in the last few years, I thought that maybe sharing some very basic facts would be a way to contribute.

Continue reading “Brains and bodies”