Barks Blog

by Dr. Karolina Westlund

Recently there was a video post in my Facebook feed that caught my attention.

Typically, on Facebook, I’m a bit of a lurker. I’m not very active, and when I do watch videos I often don’t share, like or comment – even when perhaps I should.

This time, I watched, feeling my jaw gradually dropping in disbelief, and then I actually left a comment.

I wrote:

“I’m speechless”.

And that was it.

I know, kinda lame.

But I didn’t have time for an essay, and then I was flooded by the rest of the FB flow, so the film slipped to the back of my mind – where it’s been festering.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that I was speechless. But in the time that’s gone by, I’ve realized that I should do the opposite.

I should speak up.

I figure, if people don’t realize that using punishment in animal training has the potential of being extremely problematic, they need to be informed.

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Thanks to Dr. Karolina Westlund for giving BARKS Magazine permission to link to her original blog post.

Karolina Westlund helps pet guardians and people working professionally with animals to get happier, reasonably well-behaved animals that thrive in the care of humans. She teaches animal behavior management through blog posts, online master classes and webinars, as well as more extensive online courses. She is an associate professor of ethology at Stockholm University and sometimes publishes scientific articles related to animal enrichment, training, behavior and well-being.