Truth is, while many are ashamed to say they used to use correction based or dominance based training, I find that if someone has the courage to admit there might be a better way of doing something – that they were wrong, it should not be something to be ashamed of.
In case there are some that are reading and are curious as to what “crossover” trainers are: Crossover trainers are dog trainers who used to use and were taught dominance based or correction based training but have decided for whatever reason to which to positive methods of training – no corrections or positive punishment.
In the USA, in the world, there is an unspoken war going on between dominance based/correction based/electric collar trainers and positive reinforcement trainers. Both sides say they are right, both are convinced the other is crazy for training that way. There is not much common ground other than they are all in it to create better behaved dogs. Their approaches are completely different. That is why many dog owners are usually completely confused as to which trainer they should choose for their dog and family. There are big names that support both sides. Hopefully in this blog I will be able to clarify a bit more about the differences and help confused dog owners choose the right method for them. I also hope to encourage dominance based dog trainers who have become curious of “the other side,” as I was, to transition to a more modern approach to dog training.
This little guy is what my dog looked like when he was a puppy. I adopted him when he was 3.5years old and he has changed my life. He is the one who started my whole transition. More details to come!