08/13/2026
One of the field’s most credible scientific organizations, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB), now explicitly lists “balanced training” as a red flag alongside shock collars, prong collars, leash jerks, intimidation, and punishment 🚩🚩🚩
This arrives as dog training conferences continually try to repackage outdated methods as “hearing different points of view.” But there are not two equally legitimate sides to whether professionals should use fear and pain on dogs.
When the evidence says that these methods are unnecessary and unethical, “hearing both sides” is how institutions keep discredited practices respectable. And if you see those positioning themselves as industry leaders doing this, call them out when you see it.
So enough with the pretense that unequivocally opposing aversives is “divisive,” or that professionals who are being held accountable are somehow being “bullied,” while accommodating harmful methods is treated as the reasonable professional middle ground.
That era is dead and this is your final notice. Fence-sitting makes you part of the exact industry problem this statement was written to confront.
To anyone new to this conversation: “balanced” dog training is “cop culture” applied to dogs. Dogs are treated as prisoners in custody rather than sentient partners in our lives. Their life is treated as belonging completely to us for our own purposes, regardless of the dog’s welfare.
As a professional or a member of the public, here are your choices:
1️⃣ Listen to the collective expertise of animal-behavior science, or
2️⃣ Listen to self-appointed alpha-bro influencers who market personal certainty as superior to accumulated evidence.
Those are not equally credible positions, and we will not pretend they are.
If you are a professional, consider withholding your money from any conference that attempts to legitimize these violent methods towards dogs.
Read American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior - AVSAB’s new “How to Choose a Dog Trainer” position statement here:https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/How-to-Choose-a-Trainer-final-final.pdf
Related sources here: https://zakgeorge.com/sources/
Learn more about the global consensus against the use of punishment-based training methods: https://zakgeorge.com/global-consensus/
