What’s the Reality of Reality Dog Training?
The recent popularity of dog training reality shows has impacted the dog training industry in several ways. The most important and deceptive component of most dog training tv shows is how quickly behavior problems are resolved. Good dog training takes patience, consistency and commitment. Like any new skill, learning needs instruction, practice and more practice. The skill has to be learned, practiced in several environments, proofed for consistency and then integrated into everyday life. This does not and cannot happen in 60 minutes. As stated on the APDT website, “You’ll see many TV dog training programs where very intense problems are seemingly ‘cured’ in just a few minutes by the change of body posture on the part of the owner or by uttering a particular syllable in a certain way. But in reality, long-term training and behavior problems are just not going to go away in minutes!”
