During the last two months of our No-Choke Challenge, we’ve seen hundreds of guardians bring their dogs in to our shelter to exchange their prong, choke or shock collars for a free no-pull harness. We are thrilled with the response to the campaign and love seeing the instantaneous results as each of these 400 dogs left our building with a humane training tool. We are so grateful to everyone who has donated funds to help us continue to provide the free harnesses.
This campaign is the result of many discussions about how we want to educate people about the positive benefits of our training philosophies and influence change around some of the choices guardians make when addressing behavioral issues with their dogs. We said from the beginning this is not about people being right or wrong but rather focusing on the tools available and demonstrating the effectiveness and relationship impacts of those tools. At the end of the day, the cornerstone of our mission is healthy relationships between pets and people. So as we provide people solutions and resources, we attempt to do two things: resolve the behavior issue AND positively impact the relationship between the person and their pet. This is why we love the no-pull harness over other tools – it achieves both goals.
There are many training philosophies out there and in practice, and as we have seen with the response to the recent Daily Camera article about this campaign, there are differences of opinion about each technique. While we may agree to disagree, we don’t want to create adversarial relationships with people and organizations that are all trying to do the same thing – save animals. Our goal is to continue giving people information so they understand what their pet needs, is experiencing, and what benefits or consequences each training technique creates. We know that with this knowledge, people will make educated decisions that work for them and their pets.
It’s all about having the conversations and providing options and education. For HSBV this includes providing the kind of advice that promotes healthy relationships between pets and people. It is our belief that our positive training techniques and tools benefit that relationship and, as a result, enrich the life of both the pet and the guardian.
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