You're great, Andrew!
I don't get why people still think it's necessary to nurture an adversarial relationship with dogs. I worked for a trainer once that did her best to scare, hurt, and otherwise bully dogs into doing what she said. I took them back to their kennels when she was done with them, and sat in there and held them for a long time. I felt SO awful for them! We would sit in the kennel and they would shake while we listened to her torment her next charge (victim). The dogs would actually try to escape the facility rather than go to "class". Even then I knew they weren't learning anything. They did what she told them because they were afraid of her. What kind of relationship is that to have? I want my dogs to do what I ask them to do because they want to do it, not because I bully them into it. And frankly, I think my way is better because instead of trying to escape, my doggy students always run toward me with big smiles when it's training time!
If there are two ways to do something--as there are in dog training--and one way is clearly easier, kinder, and more fun, why doesn't everyone go with it? I just don't get it. I always tell my clients, "Don't pay someone to do to your dog what you would have them arrested for doing to your child." Why, in this "enlightened" age (although we're obviously slipping backward in that regard in my country), are dogs still second-class citizens?
I'll quit preaching now. I just get so frustrated in this business, not with the dogs or the owners, but with the other trainers! I think we ought to put shock collars on them!