Professional (and personal) Position Statement
Vivian Zottola, MSc, CBCC | 617-721-8025
Vivian Zottola, MSc CBCC, CPDT-KA does not use nor condone the use of force or pain including the use of averse equipment on dogs or other animals. She maintains Dr. Susan Friedman's Human Hierarchy of behavior change and adheres to the IAABC/CCPDT/APDT joint standard of practice.
A joint standard of practice based in ABA and first presented by Dr. Friedman was announced 2019 by and between the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC.org), The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT.org) , and Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT.com), see here. The AVSAB has published their updated Position Statement also advocating only reward based training be used when teaching/training dogs (all animals) and their people. See statement and download to the right. Also at www.avsab.org A large body of evidence provided by the scientific and veterinary community supports averse equipment used with animals including dogs produce poor welfare, learned helplessness and increased aggression. In additional to psychological trauma, other physiological damage may also include collapsed trachea, damaged esophagus, and potential damage to neck, spinal cord and soft tissue. Read Dr. Sophia Yin Blog on Equipment here. Read the UK Study done on use of Electronic Collars. From a Behavior Training perspective the pet dog generalizes behavior learning negative associations, fear aggression and re-activity toward any individual it perceives to be a threat (dog, child, man, old person walking with a cane). Dogs become more anxious and depressed with prolonged use use of averse equipment or harsh methods and may experience phobias and other conditions known as Learned Helplessness, where the animal understands it can do nothing about changing the pain and shuts down. Use of punitive discipline for prolonged time has been linked to depression and physical illness. My choice is to teach the public, kind methods and positive reinforcement techniques rooted in science. My philosophy when working with dogs and their guardians is to incorporate animal science and principals of learning theory, behavior analysis, and cognition to help understand, evaluate and then provide a realistic training plan. Each dog is an individual deserving of a personalized resolution to their behavior problem. The more we understand how dogs and other animals experience the world the better we will be at treating and cohabiting with them on a daily bases. |
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