ADVOCACY
Dog Owners Appreciative of Gear Swap
Kathy Reilly, president of the Force-Free Alliance of Charlotte Trainers, reports on initiatives
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she and colleagues have made in North Carolina to promote force-free training
ince a group of professional dog trainers, including myself, got together to form Force-Free Alliance of Charlotte Trainers (FACT) three years ago, force-free training is getting more and more attention in North Carolina. FACT currently comprises 19 trainers, each with their own dog-related business. Our goal is to promote force-free training in Charlotte, where shock collar franchises, unfortunately, have a stronghold. For the most part, we support each other and share clients so all of us can focus on our individual training strengths. We also get together twice annually for a weekend of fun and learning, and we like to participate in two or three local events every year by setting up a booth and handing out force-free training tips. In April, we participated in Pet Palooza, a local event which was sponsored by the Charlotte Humane Society. For this year’s Pet Palooza, we wanted to do more than usual, so we held raffles for snuffle mats and interactive toys, and set up a play yard with fun toys for the dogs to enjoy. In order to attract people to our booth and really begin to change their minds about aversive training devices, however, we planned a trade-in program. Much like PPG’s gear switch program, Project Trade, www.petprofessionalguild.com/Project-Trade, we offered free harnesses to anyone that would trade in their shock, prong, or choke collar. The result was amazing. We had purchased 15 Freedom Harnesses in advance, and had given them all away just three hours into the event. Our booth was always packed with people and dogs. If a dog passed our booth wearing a shock, prong or choke collar, we would approach (with harness in hand) and ask if the owner
Jill Bietel (left) fits a dog with his new harness
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BARKS from the Guild/July 2017
At the Pet Palooza in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ForceFree Alliance of Charlotte Trainers offered a trade-in program for aversive training equipment
The Force-Free Alliance of Charlotte Trainers gave pet owners free harnesses if they agreed to switch their choke, prong and shock collars