Conflict, labels, and conditioned emotional responses

I constantly find myself in a state of emotional conflict. Dog training is an emotional and opinion fuelled area, particularly on social media. Labels about types of training, tools, and methodology are thrown around, and things go in and out of fashion. This has come at a time where labels are being thrown around constantly, and we're also starting to have some great discussions about it! 

Like dogs, we humans can have conditioned emotional responses to words, ideas, and places. For example here's some of mine (putting myself out on a limb here, and yes I'm being super stereotypical! 😕): 

• Reinforcement = rewards and goodness
• Slip chain = punishment, old-school training, damaging
• Obedience = boring but actually super hard to train
• Agility = exciting fun
• Shock collar = the devil
• Balanced trainer = wants to still use punishment but sound 'new school' about it
• Fear free = trying really hard to not use punishment ever! 

But it can be hard for us at times to understand that other's conditioned emotional response, and understanding of these terms or ideas can be different. We humans aren't so good at that! Being open minded is hard. It's ok to label ourselves if we want to, but it's also ok to be fear-free and still do other things also! It's also ok to not label yourself as a trainer. How about instead of labeling yourself, state what your opinion is? 

So here's what I propose: 

1. Keep it Sciencey. What has science proven to be best practice? 
2. Be clear on when you are giving your opinion. And be ok with others opinions being different.  
3. Do what is best for the dog, in the given situation. 
4. Be ethical. In your treatment of dogs, and in how you interact with people. 

Happy training! Kelly.