Just for old time's sake, figured I'd start a potentially heated thread. I always was good at that.
Saw this video on another forum. This guy, Patrick Keil, was not permitted to participate in the FCI IPO this year due to the abuse in this video. He's beating this dog with a cattle prod. It's not easy to watch, fair warning. I didn't watch the entire thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 88438wCNds
Now, obviously none of us here would condone that "training." But where is the line drawn? There's a local trainer by me who is one of the banes of my existence. He throws prongs and e-collars on all the dogs, including the therapy dogs in training, no matter the age. People who live close to his business have heard dogs screaming for minutes on end.
Now I'm 99.9% positive none of us would condone that kind of "training" either. So where is the line drawn? If a dog vocalizes in pain, is that training or abuse? What about if it yelps in fear or cowers from the trainer? Training or abuse? When does physical touch on a dog turn to abuse? Is it Cesar's "bite"? His "taps" to the dog's belly? A smack on the nose or spank on the butt?
I'd ideally like to keep equipment out of the discussion as much as possible. Obviously I don't use prongs/chokes/e-collars, but I know that all users of them are NOT abusive. Dogs can be abused on flat collars, head collars, harnesses, etc.
So what's the line? I don't even know if there is a black and white answer to this. I have a feeling there isn't. But I still think it can be an interesting discussion.