Graeme Hall Dogfather

[DdyDaisyDaresYou]

Can someone tell me why he's such a bad trainer?

I've seem him get heat on social media before but no reasons why, just that he uses outdated & harmful techniques. But I'm watching dogs behaving badly and I'm not seeing anything that I know to be bad training techniques??

No use of force or negative reinforcement, no "pack hierarchy" thinking...

Thoughts?

From my perspective, some of the things he does remove choice for the dog. In doing so, the dog will learn to hide its natural response, so you end up either with a lack of warning before something stronger happens, or a dog that displaces a behaviour to somewhere else.

For example, in one episode, he pushes a jumping labrador off balance. This is something the dog doesn't like (as pointed out in the episode), so has the potential to teach the dog that visitors are a bad thing which is the opposite of the desired outcome.

That kind of positive punishment (not positive in the sense that it is good, but positive in that it introduces something the dog doesn't like) has been scientifically proved to be detrimental to training.

I can't find any evidence that he has any qualification from a recognised agency. He may well have, but I couldn't find one if he has.

The other thing is that it appears to be promoting "quick fixes". To be fair to Graeme, this may well be the editing, however in my experience, there are no "quick fixes". Dog training takes time, effort and consistency.

I havent watched this weeks but he's useless. Totally ineffective. He loves to just shut them out of a room and expect them to magically know whats going on.

He used a air pressure spray the other week! Plus lots of ignoring and shutting dogs away until they behave. He thinks most bad behaviour is attention seeking.

Agree with PPs.

He’s the less snazzy/hip version of the US guy called the ‘Dog Daddy.’

People who know nothing about dogs and rely on social media to make them famous resulting in more owners taking advice from them (‘oh he’s famous he must be right’) and more problems dogs.

Oh heavens. Dog Daddy is way worse.

He's not actually a qualified trainer.

What annoys me about Graeme is that I've never heard him mention the exercise needs of the 'problem' dogs he's called to.
There have been many high energy breeds featured, eg collies, that have fixations or other behaviour, and there is no mention of how much exercise the dog gets. It may be that it gets loads of exercise and is still exhibiting worrying behaviour, but the audience don't even hear a mention of it. I think he should be pushing that aspect of dog ownership.
To my mind, other aspects of what he does are up for debate and (while I haven't watched every episode!) I haven't spotted anything I would consider cruel.

There was an episode from the last series (I think) that was pulled because it got so much criticism.

There was a clearly arthritic dog - I think a labrador - who no longer wanted to walk on hard surfaces. No mention was made of a bet check or checking for pain - instead - she was just called a diva and basically forced to walk on floors that made her scared and uncomfortable.

The poor thing clearly needed medication and support - things like runners or carpets to help her grip, not being called a diva and forced to walk by some stranger.

I don't think he's intentionally horrible but I do think he's not particularly knowledgable about many things. Hence why a lot of the "updates" at the end see the owners still struggling!

It is one of the unfortunate things about TV today. These type programmes are more about entertainment than they are about the subject.

He never takes on 'serious' cases like severe SA, predatory aggression, cat chasing etc. Always the easy ones which usually can be solved with some thought and positive reinforcement. He almost always chooses dogs and breeds he can bully - very few terriers for example who will just stick their fingers up at you unless you make it worth their while (I know, I train them!)

He labels 90% of cases attention seeking and doesn't look at why they are causing issues (diet, exercise, mental stimulation).

He recreates stressful and dangerous situations - no trainer would ever do that.

No mention of vet checks - there are some dogs I have seen very obviously in pain.

He just uses no scientific methods and doesn't seem to understand management as a means of creating environments so dogs are forced to make the correct choices (and be rewarded for them hence wanting to repeat the right choices). A good trainer always looks at the 'why' before looking at the 'how' and to do that they need both qualifications and experience of multiple types of dog.

I think I watched 2 or 3 episodes.

One episode I watched he actually walked away admitting he couldn't fix the problem. 2 female dogs absolutely hating each other. No explanation or understanding for the dogs behaviour for a fairly common issue! (If you are in the dog world of training and breeding you come across this time and time again) That was it for me!

I also don't like his quick fix and one size fits all approach. I'm no expert, but I can confidently say I know more about dogs than him.

In order to fix issues long term, you first need to get to know the owner and the dog. How they interact - or not, as often is the case. In all fairness this might be heavily edited.

This. Last I heard he was not registered with ABDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) nor with ABTC (the Animal Behaviour and Training Council) where all reputable dog trainers are registered. https://apdt.co.uk/

Nor is he registered with ASAB (Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour) which is similar but for behaviourists. He seems to regularly blur the line between "trainer" and "behaviourist".

Unfortunately anyone can set up as a dog trainer and there's no enforcement to being properly registered :(

This is an absolutely excellent explanation.

Is it just me or are they saying at the end of the show more often "despite Graeme best effort Fido is still scared of the bus/hosepipe/visitors abc it's a work in progress".

Thanks all this is illuminating...My dog was so easy to train that we didn't have to enlist any help so I've not much experience here!

Although...what's wrong with the pet corrector (compressed air spray?!) Used it successfully to get my dogs attention when he started barking outside and I wasn't cruel 😟

Although...what's wrong with the pet corrector (compressed air spray?!) Used it successfully to get my dogs attention when he started barking outside and I wasn't cruel 😟

I'm not sure. Not a Dog Trainer, just a couple of idiots with a DDog but we've had better results with just the treats, no air compressor needed, and I thought the DDog who was barking at passers by looked incredibly sad once they started using the air compressor?

Although...what's wrong with the pet corrector (compressed air spray?!) Used it successfully to get my dogs attention when he started barking outside and I wasn't cruel

It's a punishment.

Most barking is fear related - imagine being terrified of something and every time you saw it and screamed, you heard a really unpleasant noise.

Would the noise stop you from being scared, or would it just teach you to stop screaming?

I was absolutely furious about that episode. In our old house we purposely put in floors that were non slip purely for the dog when we renovated. So in my kitchen I had stone floor but it was that ridged stuff you get for a patio rather than polished stone.

The new house we live in now has only laminate wood floors and a shiny slippery tile in the kitchen, our dog would just slip and slide all over the place so we have put down loads of rugs so she has a clear walking space room to room. Doesn't look that pretty but she is safe and that's all the matters.

I knew a lady who put a new floor down in her hallway which was slippery and the dog was really affected by it (in it's joints etc) so she put rugs down.

Can The air spray just be a distraction to break the dog’s focus?
I occasionally withdraw attention from my dog by putting him outside the room. The door is ajar so he can get straight back in, I just usher him out when I don’t like what he is doing. It’s proved effective.

The things I don’t like are him standing in front of me barking for attention/my warm seat/food, and him biting the back of my slipper when I’m trying to do an exercise class.
It doesn’t seem to have dented his self esteem.

We had a foster that didn’t like hard floors- not elderly or in pain, but perhaps inexperienced. We put spot mat routes throughout the downstairs so she could get everywhere. She eventually lost her suspicions and stopped being so picky.

I haven't seen it but that sounds truly awful, poor dog!!!

Entertainment over animal welfare.

I believe he has no actual dog training qualifications and was chosen for having good media skills.

Quite. 100% ageee.

IMO it’s the lazy owners solution to ‘curing’ bad behaviour. Except it doesn’t. It hides it. Which is worse.

Dog owners should work on their dogs behavioural issues with the dogs - reward and recognition. Not forcibly correct their behaviour. If you have to rely on methods like that then you’re not a good dog owner tbh.

There are a few other threads about this if you look through doghouse category.
I feel like it's very formulaic and never really addresses the actual issues like dogs obviously seriously under stimulated/exercised.
It's always a very quick fix and then a vague update 'oh it's all ok now'.
I like him as a person but I think it's irresponsible not to have the uncomfortable elephant in the room conversations with owners.

Can The air spray just be a distraction to break the dog’s focus?

Well, yes, but lots of much nicer things can also work as a distraction too. A squeaky toy, a ball, a treat, praise, fuss all work just as well (if not better) and don't risk the dog becoming even more fearful of whatever it's barking at.

IMO there's no place in modern dog training for scaring your dog into submission. We know better so we should be doing better.

You can use a positive interruptor to break focus - no scaring. Say dogs name. Treat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Then name becomes a break in focus. Works extremely well and builds a great bond with your dog.

Well now I feel TERRIBLE and I'm going to cuddle him silly