How To Train Your Dog With Love + Science - Dog Training with Annie Grossman + Anamarie Johnson PhD (Formerly known as School For The Dogs Podcast) · Annie Grossman

Professional dog trainers are really mad at each other! Also: Book Launch, Miniconference, and... New Co-Host!

·1 hr 2 min·4 clips

Anamarie Johnson says there are no scientific studies that look at prong collars.

Annie Grossman is back after a bit away and starts with a pair of announcements. Her book, How to Train Your Dog with Love and Science, comes out September 10; pre-orders are live wherever books are sold; more details are at schoolforthedogs.com/book; and anyone who uploads a receipt can get a sticker that says “don’t be a dick to your dog.” She also points listeners to a September 7 mini-conference with School for the Dogs. Sarah Matters of Training Matters Training in Vermont is hosting Training with Love and Science, an Essentials of Applied Behavior Analysis for Dog Professionals event at School for the Dogs in New York City and online, running from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The talks include Mary Hunter of the University of North Texas and Gab Lon of Karen Pryor Academy. From there, the conversation moves into the bigger training debate. Grossman and the discussion get into how professional dog trainers argue about aversive methods, how people read the literature differently, and how easy it is for each side to think the other is cherry-picking. The episode keeps circling back to the gap between trainers who have actually looked at the research and trainers who mostly repeat what their camp already believes. Grossman uses “aversive” deliberately and treats “balanced” as a euphemism, while also noting that positive reinforcement is hard to avoid entirely in dog training. The episode closes by pointing listeners to the School for the Dogs collective, which is meant to take some of the hardest parts out of running a dog training business so trainers can focus on the work they do best. Listeners are directed to schoolforthedogs.com/collective for resources, curriculum, and the report builder, and to schoolforthedogs.com/Anamarie for a free consult. Grossman thanks the guest for putting up with the chaos, and the episode ends on that same candid, in-motion note.

As heard by us

A blunt dog-training debate that pairs announcements with a useful, science-minded argument.

This episode stays locked on a dog-training fight over aversives, evidence, and what counts as science. The host leaves the disagreement in place, which gives the discussion some edge.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You get a no-holds-barred aversive-vs-non-aversive training debate, plus the book launch and mini-conference news, in one listen.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from How To Train Your Dog With Love + Science - Dog Training with Annie Grossman + Anamarie Johnson PhD (Formerly known as School For The Dogs Podcast)