This blog is meant to piss you off. Dog owners, you got full right to be angry when you understand what’s been done to you by “dog trainers”. Now, let me piss you off. This is going to be a long blog, but if you as a dog owner – especially one that has behaviorally euthanised a dog can get through it? You will understand why I’m angry, and you should be angry too.
Dog trainers are nothing more than social media influencers. And if people would really listen to what they say, you would understand that they have no clue about what they are selling. 20 years ago, dog trainers sold out dog owners to corporations. To top that off – all they do is layer on the fear. They need you afraid of your dog and afraid of what your dog is going to do. That’s called a trauma bond. Then it’s “hire a trainer” because you can’t possibly do it on your own. They make you afraid – and make money off that fear. Isn’t that called extortion?
What dog trainers like Cabral call “science based dog trainers” are people like me. The problem for him – I’m the fly in his ointment – I’m bringing the real science of B.F Skinner and others back into the dog world. But according to him, we are a cult of “Positive Only” or “Purely Positive”. He calls us liars, he ridicules people like me – but he’s right about one thing… I am dangerous to the entire system of dog training – because I’m exposing the lies that dog trainers tell. They are fully admitting what they did – they brag about building this “Pet Care Conglomerate” – or what others call the “Pet Industrial Complex”. Lets begin.
And for the dog trainers reading – you deserve the full brunt of the accountability that is going to come from dog owners at some point. You keep pushing this war in dog training? Oh, there is a war coming and I think you know it. Millions of dogs have been executed behaviorally because of dog trainers – and they cant and won’t define the very word behavior. Listen to Robert Cabral trying to give the definition of the word “Behavior” the old college try. Robert Cabral – the behavioral expert in the behavior field for 20 years – can’t define the word behavior. Excuse me while I go puke. But I’m the lying asshole – right Robert? Thank you Glock23 for getting him to expose himself.
And millions of dog owners lives have been destroyed because of the lies you tell. And it’s not just Cabral – it’s Balabanov, it’s Zak George and his “scientific consensus”, it’s Larry Krohn, Haz Othman and many others that are outright lying to you for money. I’ve spoken over zoom with a couple of Ivan’s Balabanov’s former clients that were looking for help. Ivan too blames B.F Skinner, but his clients get a book and it’s not Skinner – it’s a book by Konrad Most. It’s interesting. This is called “Extortion” ladies and gentlemen. That’s why I’m dangerous. That’s why they are trying to silence me.
This is the very science that dog trainers don’t want you to know. This is the “science that has no place in dog training”. The very science of behavior – and the father of Operant Conditioning – B.F Skinner and Psychology. They couldn’t even get the definition of Operant Conditioning right.
Mr. Cabral – I’m using your own words from your video. If you want to keep calling that slander and libel? Go for it! You put yourself in front of the world – but people need to hear some criticism
There are 4 huge whoppers of lies in this 30 seconds worth of video from Robert Cabral’s live chat posted on Dec 10, 2023 called Why I said “SCIENCE has No Place in Dog Training” and why many dog trainers agree. Feel free to listen to exactly what he says on his own video. I didn’t change his words. Go to Robert’s channel on youtube, search for that title – he says it at the 10:43 mark.
First whopper – “There is very little science to this science based dog training”. Holy Fawk, I can’t believe he said that. In this same 30 seconds, you’ll hear him blame B.F Skinner for the quadrants. B.F Skinner would call Cabral a blatant liar – Skinner railed AGAINST the use of punishment – because punishment is ineffective. Why? That’s not how a behavior works. I’ll get into that further down.
Second whopper – Robert doesn’t like the word Punishment – he likes the word “correction”. Funny how that word has gone through all of dog training? Positive Reinforcement, balanced, IGP and even Dog Daddy – it’s all correction. Just correct the dog – well, replace correction with punishment the next time you watch a dog trainer. Does that change your view on what that trainer is doing. Even Zak George uses the word correction. Why is this happening? They have been trying to hide their years worth of lies – they are now trying to hide their “Quadrants of dog training”. Why would they do that? I’ve seen the Quadrants of dog training now being sold and pushed as the “motivation matrix”. Trainers say that Skinner is so yesterday? We’ve moved beyond Skinner. Skinner means nothing?
Third whopper. B.F Skinner and the Quadrants – that’s the biggest lie in dog training. People don’t know where the quadrants came from. Let me tell you where they came from. Robert Cabral is an IGP dog trainer. What is IGP? The dog training sport of Obedience, Tracking And Protection. IGP dog training was formerly known as IPO. And IPO was formerly known as Schutzhund. And just who is the father of Schutzhund? A fellow by the name of Konrad Most – he was a Colonel in the German military back in world war 2. He trained German Shepherd’s ONLY by hook or by crook using “Inducements and Compulsions” for the war effort. Konrad had no formal education – but Skinner did. This is what is being called dog training today. Can we as a demographic step back and ask ourselves – are we doing right by our dogs? Because what people have normalized doing to a sentient animal called the dog in the last 15 years scares me.
Primary and Secondary Inducements – primary and secondary compulsive inducements. There is your real Quadrants of Dog Training. The 4 Quadrants of IGP/Schutzhund dog training – again, the dog training sport of Obedience, Tracking and Protection. And to add to that – all of the treats, the prongs, the e-collars, the muzzles, the crates and whatever else is out there? These are all tools of IGP dog training – they don’t belong in pet stores. They don’t belong in your hands or in your home. What you know as “Positive Reinforcement” is in reality “Primary Inducements” – look those words up. Food and affection – Konrad Most. And Zak George is fully aware of all this – but he lies about it. What you know as Positive Reinforcement” is a complete lack of understanding of what Positive Reinforcement really is.
What is being sold to you as “Positive Reinforcement” is in reality Primary Inducements. There is no such thing as a “Positive Reinforcement” trainer. They are in reality “Primary Inducement” trainers – and Primary Inducement is ONE Quadrant of the 4 Quadrants Of IGP Dog Training. Yes, Zak George is one of the leaders in this disgusting game. Everyone starts off in Positive Reinforcement right? Hey, it’s the good one right? When it fails to work on your dogs behaviors – you’re off to balanced dog training. How much money have you spent on dog training? How much return did you get? Onto Balanced Training; Do you not think it’s funny how you have to bring the primary inducements called treats with you? In Balanced Training you are completing the system of quadrants i.e. all 4 quadrants get used. Positive Reinforcement is a springboard into IGP/balanced dog training. When you teach your dog obedience – you are teaching using IGP dog training.
Fourth big whopper – and I quote – “Punishment is an effective way of extinguishing behavior”. Bullshit. And again – B.F Skinner would call you a blatant liar.
I loved when Larry Krohn put out his book. His message, buy an e-collar and train your dog to recall. This is IGP dog training – he’s not talking about the book that it came from. He doesn’t want to talk about that book. Yay Skinner.
Lets define the very word “behavior” – the very word that scares dog trainers. People ask me why I harp on about the definition of behavior all the time. It’s because that is the very word that the entire system of dog training comes down to. Lots of behavioral experts out there – and experts in Behavioral Euthanasia? Yeah, I’m talking about you Michael Shikashio. They are claiming to be experts on when you should kill your dog.
B.F Skinner was a brilliant pioneer in the field of Psychology – the very study of the mind and behavior. And for what he did – he never once declared himself an expert in anything. The first line of the introduction of his book “About Behaviorism” – Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior – it is the philosophy of that science. What is philosophy but a quest for knowledge? Yet, Cabral couldn’t give enough of a shit about the dog to open a dictionary and define the word behavior. Go ask your dog trainer, or your behaviorist, or your vet or your vet behaviorist to define the very word behavior? All I ever get is dumb looks – but they are the first in line to tell you to kill your dog? Some vets actually have the nerve to demand that a dog owner euthanize their dog – they try to make an appointment. Can you say Zak George and his “scientific consensus”?
To define behavior properly, we shall listen to one minute of B.F Skinner himself – the man that Cabral blames for the Punishment quadrants talk about the word that he can’t define. Skinner talking about behavior and free will. You as a human animal cannot help your behaviors – neither can the dog. You do not have “Free Will” when it comes to your behaviors. You have “Free Will” in your mind – but your mind has no control over your behaviors. Your brain controls your behaviors – and they are generally in response to your emotional state. More further down.
Now, what is a behavior? It’s simply your body’s response to something in the environment – that’s it, that’s all. In order to understand the field of Psychology – we need to separate the mind from the brain and treat them as separate entities. All of your will, your desires, your wants, your needs – your choices – they are in your mind – that’s where you have all the Free Will. Your brain controls everything you do, it’s your brain that decides any actions you take. Everything outside of the brain is an external environment – including your body. If your nose is itchy, your brain sends signals all around your body – to get your body to reach up and scratch your nose. People don’t smile for no reason – there is a external (to the brain) reason for it. Maybe you’re proud of something in the environment. Or something in the environment triggers a memory – and you smile as a result? It’s every move you make. There is a reason for everything you do. Even talking is a behavior.
B.F Skinner did experiments on dogs, rats, pigeons etc in a laboratory to understand human behavior – we were the target of his research. It wouldn’t go over so well if he locked a child in the box and started extracting their Positive Reinforcement. Yes – the human animal was target of his research. Skinner proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that the very causes of your behavior are no different from the causes of your dogs behavior.
It’s your brain, not your mind, that controls your emotions – and emotions are your instincts that drive your behavior. It’s no different for the dog. Fear is a powerful base emotion that drives your behaviors of fight and flight – just like the dog. When the human animal faces something new in the environment that they are unsure of – the animal brain based on your emotions of fear or anxiety will send signals to your adrenal glands to up the cortisol and adrenaline levels. This increase in hormones is due to your unsurety – and it is putting you on the precipice of “Fight – Aggression” or “Flight – Avoidance”. Do you need to fight for your life – or escape? But the dog trainers are telling you to intervene and reward and/or punish your dog for a hormonal response to the environment. Again – what is a behavior? Aggression and reactivity are caused by cortisol and adrenaline – that’s why Skinner understood that Punishment doesn’t work. That’s not the way behaviors work in the first place – you cannot “fix” a behavior. You cannot fix a symptom – the outcome of a problem. But you can suppress it – and that is downright stupid and dangerous – especially as it pertains to aggression.
If you don’t fix the cause – then suppression is going to make things far worse. The cause will grow heads – it will find a way to express itself – but punish the dog more right? Punishment is temporarily effective at best – that’s why you have to keep punishing. That’s why you have to keep hitting the remote on the e-collar or crank and yank on that prong. There is always the threat of punishment. But take the tools off the dog – and put that dog into their natural environment. Say a dog park, lots of distractions. What happens when the dog realizes that you’re not in control? They will run away – because they don’t want to be your friend. If your dog were human – would that human want to be your friend? Or would they run away? Now you have to train recall – punish a dog that doesn’t want to be with you. Make that make sense!
Rationalization – that’s another big whopper. Dog trainers will tell you that dogs can’t rationalize – and in their definition they are right. But again, they threw all of the science of behavior into the garbage. There is a Psychological definition of Rationalization that most people aren’t aware of.
So, there is something in the environment that you’re not sure of. Your brain sends the signals to put you on the precipice of “Fight or Flight”. But there is a third option. Becoming “Indifferent” – Rationalizing through the fear. You have the power to stand there and come to the realization that this thing isn’t a big deal. That Negative Consequence is becoming one of Positive Consequence. This thing isn’t going to harm me, I don’t need to be scared – you make it “not a big deal”.
Under the quadrants training system, the dog isn’t allowed to rationalize, so dogs most never get to learn to rationalize. It’s being taken away by trainers – you as a dog owner are told to step in and intervene with treats or punishments before there is any possibility of your dog learning to make scary things in the environment – “not a big deal” by thinking the situation through. And by the way – when the entire environment is “Not a big deal” — that’s called socialized. When everything in the environment is “not a big deal” – you’re in a calm state. No negatives to react to. You cannot obtain social skills in a dog that is not socialized – sorry, but that’s reality.
You are told that while your dog is having a cortisol and adrenaline response to something in the environment – and by the way – like you – they can’t help their behavior – You are being told to take away that ability to learn how to rationalize. And that ladies and gentlemen is the biggest form of punishment and abuse that you can do to any animal. Try that with your human child – reward and/or punish their fear states and see the outcome. Because it’s no different.
And that basic fact is why dog trainers fear the very science of behavior. They get away with blaming B.F Skinner – cause they know that dog owners like you won’t verify. And it allows the dog trainers to preach Skinner – but hide the real father of their beloved quadrants – Konrad Most. More about him further down. When Cabral talks about discomfort belonging in dog training? That’s not Skinner, that’s Konrad Most. Why? Ask yourselves why?
Which leads me to really pissing you off. Skinner said something very important at the end of that video. The very object of the science of behavior is discovering its’ causes. That’s called diagnosis and what’s being sold to you as “dog training” is really just a non-workable solution to a problem that hasn’t been diagnosed. Dog trainers don’t care about the cause of the behaviors – and that means they threw the entire field of Psychology in the garbage. Welcome to the cash cow.
Causality – we are slaves to it. Cause and effect. What pisses you off? What makes you “aggressive”? If you and I met in a bar, and you slapped me – what caused you to slap me? That would be my question to you – you slapped me – that’s an aggressive response to something that I did or said. Why did you slap me? Lets diagnose it. Why did the dog growl? Why did the dog lunge? Why did the dog bite? That’s very important stuff to understand. When I was a kid and we got bit by a dog? We were blamed, what did we do to deserve it? Today, it’s a death sentence to the dog. What happened? How did we get here? When is the first, last or anytime you were asked that question? Why is your dog acting this way? The dog isn’t broken – not yet anyways but we are going to “fix” it until it is.
Trainers don’t want to discuss the cause – they want you to focus on the symptoms – the outcome of a problem. Why? Cause when you really understand the cause of your dogs behaviors? You will never “hire a trainer” ever again – because you are going to realize that YOU are the only one that can build that relationship with your dog. You are the only one that can fix your dog – despite the fact that you’ve been convinced otherwise.
Dog trainers very quickly diagnose a dog to be “aggressive” or “reactive”. But neither aggression or reactivity is a diagnosis – they are effects. Cause and effect remember? Aggression and reactivity are only symptoms – the outcome of a problem. Oh but they are scary words eh? Fear aggression is all the rage. But what if I told you the dog in reality is showing aggression and reactivity because they are afraid. It’s a natural hormonal response due to the instinct of fear. You would be the same put in an identical situation – but that’s not going to make dog trainers any money. Would you appreciate someone stuffing food in your face or yanking on your neck when you’re in a fear state, and then getting frustrated and angry at you when it doesn’t help?
20 years ago, dog trainers like Robert Cabral and Larry Krohn got out of their lane called IGP – and they jumped into the behavior ring and they brought all their treats and tools and containment with them. Larry fully admits on his facebook that he’s been manipulating “Pet Dog Trainers” into seeing the genius of IGP dog training for years now. Larry is an IGP dog trainer too, bear that in mind.
I’ve been watching this shit show for 15 years or so now, helpless to stop it but it’s been going on for at least 20 years. 15 years ago, treats were a tool of last resort – use the tool to train the dog – then lose it. Here we are 15 years later – always have a treat bag on your person – never take it off. Why? 15 years ago, ecollars and prongs were a tool of last resort. Use the tool, train the dog, and get rid of it. Here we are 15 years on, and now “always leave it on – why bother taking it off”? 15 years of calling these things “training tools”? If they were training tools, you wouldn’t need to use them as an insurance policy. It took only 15 years to turn these tools of IGP into insurance policies. It’s just in case!!!
Larry Krohn – IGP dog trainer – doesn’t hide this fact. He freely admits publicly on his facebook page what he and other trainers did over the last 15 to 20 years. Read it for yourself…
https://www.facebook.com/larry.krohn.9/posts/pfbid02oACzwdpBj6vD4pR6JrNrdxA9XWKD2hCBgkGBRbpLqLGxE5B8Yj5j4ijXXRWhDTJ8l
Dog trainers talk about Negative Reinforcement as a quadrant. Listen to David Tirpak over at Miracle K9 talking about Negative Reinforcement. This is the bullshit that dog trainers learn – they learn all “about” Skinner – and what they are taught in reality is what Zak George called “Scientific Consensus” – it’s science by vote. If there was any science to any of this garbage – they would just call it “Science”. Negative means removing things right? Wrong. Very wrong. At some point, you need to look at the world through your dogs eyes – from your dogs point of view.
And Again – they blame B.F Skinner for all this nonsense called dog training. Here is a quote from Skinners’ book “About Behaviorism” – how does Skinner himself define “Negative Reinforcement”? Might surprise you…
Dog trainers are trying to remove behaviors from the animals repertoire – this is called Punishment – not Negative Reinforcement.
When I enter a dogs back yard – I am a Negative Reinforcement – I am generating behaviors from the dog – called “Fight and Flight”. I am a huge force – that’s why the term “Force Free” is absolute garbage terminology. I don’t care about the behaviors, I can see that from any dog. Why is the dog like this? There is no such thing as a “Force Free” trainer. There is always force – it’s just not always physical. Lets keep going…
Another quote from B.F Skinner’s book About Behaviorism. And bear in mind – this is the very man that Cabral stated live on camera as saying “punishment is indeed effective”. Again, Skinner would call Cabral a liar.
Spanking a child – punishment – don’t do it again – and there will always be the threat of punishment to keep the child in line. It doesn’t take away the intent – remember – intent is in your mind. Punishment doesn’t change your mind. Understand that. It doesn’t take away the desire. Lets keep going.
Train the dog for “Incompatible Behaviors” – where have you heard that before? Isn’t the real science interesting? And that only comes through the use and infliction of punishment. Backed up with the constant threat of punishment. Right? Isn’t Psychology fun? And oh – but we aren’t done yet.
Intentions, desires, inclinations, wants, needs – these are all part of your mind – not the brain. You are controlling the animal brain – not the mind. Again, punishment doesn’t take away the desire to repeat what earned the punishment in the first place. And do take note – he avoids punishment by doing something else instead – sometimes it’s stubbornly doing nothing. Think about that when your dog stubbornly does nothing for a task or something that you punished them for in the past? Punishment always comes with the threat of punishment – and that does some weird things to animals. And lets end the blog with one final quote from Skinner.
Positive Reinforcement in reality is your desires for the good things in life, your wants, your needs – but it’s also your desire to remain safe. When you show aggression or reactivity – that’s your positive reinforcement – that’s you trying to remove the “negative reinforcement” in your life.
If you’re scared of spiders, then spiders are a negative reinforcement to you – and the spider is punishing you. It’s generating your behavior to fight or flight. The spider is removing your positive reinforcement – your state of calm. What is your response? Cortisol increases and you go into fight and/or flight – just like the dog. You can kill the spider or throw it outside – that in reality is your positive reinforcement – the removal of negative reinforcement. You can run away from the spider – remove yourself from the negative reinforcement. Or you can choose to understand spiders, make them “not a big deal”. Does that make a little more sense than adding things?
Operant Conditioning isn’t a method of Behavioral Modification using reward and punishment. Operant Conditioning is about survival of the animal and the species. It’s the lessons you learn – good and bad – from the decisions/actions you take when meeting new things in the environment.
And I rest my case.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.