Tasneem Paghdiwala’s April 6 Reader article about Doggie Do Right and my approach to dog training [“Who Should You Trust to Train Your Dog?”] was slanted, biased, poorly researched, and amateurish. In my 10 years as a professional dog trainer, not 12 as reported by Tasneem, which illustrates her inability to report real facts accurately, I have successfully helped thousands of dog owners and their pets. It is unfortunate that Tasneem did not interview any of these satisfied customers and chose instead to write a biased and untrue story based on a small, disgruntled, ignorant, group of animal rights sympathizers, who I will refer to henceforth as the West Loop Wackos.
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The tapper system equipment I use is akin to the feeling a cell phone makes when it vibrates. The electric stimulation is much like a tickle or tingle, not a shock. Shocks hurt; tickles or tingles feel good. The tickle or tingle gets your attention, but it causes no pain and no harm, it is a true dog-friendly training method. Indeed, there is ongoing research that seems to indicate that low levels of electric stimulation actually help the body heal (isrvma.org/article/57_1_7.htm).
It is my practice to always offer any doubting human the opportunity to feel the collars on themselves so that they can experience the same feeling as does the dog. Tasneem’s West Loop Wackos’ histrionic accounts are wildly exaggerated, contradicting, deliberately misleading, and potentially libelous.
And finally, in the state of Illinois, there is a gigantic underground cottage industry of dog trainers, dog sitters, and in-home doggie day care providers that operate out of their homes, without the legal approval of their local townships or the Illinois state department of agriculture. Tasneem brings this up when she mentions my dog training business in Lake Forest.
Doggie Do Right 911
Marc Goldberg may require a license to train or board dogs out of his home; according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture he doesn’t have one.
