Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Calling Out the Bullshitters, Liars, and Ignorants
When I say I have asked e-collar demonizers to post a picture of the collar and remote they own* and they have NEVER done so, they are folks like Nick Benger.
To his credit, Nick Benger now admits he had NO IDEA what he was talking about. He writes on a post from two days ago:
“I spent over 12 years as a “positive trainer”, and for most of that time I strongly believed e-collars were cruel.“Despite doing a bunch of qualifications, I’d never been taught how they were used. I’d never even held one. I imagined the sensation was like touching a livestock fence. Very painful!“For years I thought e-collar training was simply electrocuting a dog when they didn’t do what you asked. It’s not hard to see why someone would find that horrendous, or even advocate for banning them.“Eventually, I got the chance to try one myself.“I put it against my skin and hesitated for what felt like forever before finally pressing the button…“My first thought? ‘Is that it?’“Since then, I’ve watched dozens of people have exactly the same reaction.“I started learning how experienced trainers actually used them, and discovered something far more sophisticated and nuanced than simply lighting dogs up for non-compliance.”
Read the whole thing >>
https://www.facebook.com/share/1DK3uJgb1H/?mibextid=wwXIfr
And, if you are looking for an excellent book on e-collar training from a real dog trainer, I suggest Marc Goldberg’s book, reviewed here >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-best-book-on-e-collar-training.html?
———
* Photographed next to a sponge, to avoid the cut and paste liars.
Cottonwood Pass, Colorado
Drove up to Cottonwood Pass from Buena Vista, Colorado, which is a small town at 7,965 feel elevation.
At 12,126 feet, Cottonwood Pass is the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide in the U.S.
Buena Vista is surrounded by the highest concentration of peaks over 14,000 feet high in the US. Known as the “Collegiate Peaks”, they include Mount Harvard (14,420 ft), Mount Princeton (14,197 ft / 14,204 ft), Mount Yale (14,196 ft), Mount Columbia (14,072 ft), Mount Oxford (14,156 ft), and Mount Belford (14,203 ft). Mount Belford is not named after a college or university, but after James Burns Belford, Colorado’s first Congressman.
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Monday, October 12, 2026
Mule Deer Monarch
One of two Mule Deer bucks with identical racks spotted today, along with about a half dozen does a few miles away.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Gas Chambers and Gilded Thrones
THE CREMATION OVENS OF WWII had barely cooled before before America’s wealthy turned back to the precipitating idea, that people could learn from the world of dogs, and that mass sterilization and gas chambers might yet forge a “master race”.
While direct killing and mass sterilization of “inferior” people was now off the table, dogs were still on it.
And so, in 1940s Maine, a group of scientists built a massive facility to breed a "super-dog".
The facility was the brain child of Alan Gregg, director of the Rockefeller Foundation's Division of Medical Science, who was in charge of allocating the Foundation’s philanthropic funds.
As the BBC notes, “What he viewed as wasted expenditure on education was of particular concern to Gregg.”
See >> https://bbc.in/3TMIc0i
Right.
From the perspective of those sitting on gilded thrones in ivory towers, putting money into education of the poor made as much sense as teaching a pig to ice skate.
What’s next, civil rights?
Improving the status of women?
Good Lord man, get a grip!
The roots of this kind of thinking are deep and have always been well fertilized by the deep pockets of the rich who, surveying a world of hunger, pestilence, violence, oppression, and exploitation, always seem to deem taxation of the wealthy to be the world’s greatest evil.
As I note in “American Working Terriers,” the Reverend Thomas Malthus’ epistle on population was a push back on increasing taxes to fund schools and poor houses.
Malthus instead suggested that the poor be pushed closer together and that villages be built next to stagnant pools so that the plague and other pestilence might return to kill off the poor.
Some 135 years later, veterinarian, prolific dog author, and AKC darling Leon F. Whitney was corresponding with Adolph Hitler about Whitney’s proposal to forcibly sterilize 10 million Americans in order to get rid of those Whitney referred to, dismissively, as “morons”.
Two years later Hitler came to power, and two years after that Alexis Carrell, the French scientist who had won the 1912 Nobel Prize for medicine, published his best-selling book ‘L'Homme, Cet Inconnu’ (Man, The Unknown) which took Whitney's ideas one step further, advocating a forced eugenics system to be controlled by the state and facilitated by gas chambers -- an idea he acknowledged he got from the world of dogs.
————-
END NOTES for those who want to read more:
▪️The Eugenics Man and the Kennel Club >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2008/12/eugenics-man-at-kennel-club.html?
▪️The Francis Galton Dog Show >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/09/francis-galton-dog-show.html?
▪️From Bassets to Auschwitz in 50 Years >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/11/from-bassetts-to-auschwitz-in-50-years.html?
▪️Gas Chambers for Dogs… and People >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2022/03/gas-chambers-for-dogs-and-people.html?
▪️On Eugenics and Dogs, Circa 1942 >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2011/06/on-eugenics-and-dogs-circa-1942.html?
▪️Charles Galton Darwin >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/02/charles-galton-darwin.html?
▪️The Oldest and Most Important Debate >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2010/01/oldest-and-most-important-debate.html?
▪️American Working Terriers >> https://a.co/d/0hDidOpa
Friday, October 09, 2026
Perfect Pairs
I’ve always thought FUBAR and SNAFU were great names for a pair of terriers, but YOLO and FAFO are not terrible either.
How To Dog Train Trolls
How do you stop bad behavior NOW?
On the Internet, silence and instant bans are the best way to handle trolls.
Threads and BlueSky have shown the way: Never engage and instantly ban.
It’s dog training for humans: Never reward bad behavior and make sure consequences are quick, consistent, and predictable.
AND YES, I will bang you on the head and send you out the airlock.
Problem solved, and never a worry given. Goodbye and good luck.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
A Stampede of Fools and a Congress of Cowards
The Animal Collective:
a herd of antelopean army of antsa shrewdness of apesa culture of bacteriaa cete of badgersa sleuth of bearsa lodge of beaversa flight of beesa flock of birdsa sedge of bitternsa sounder of boara chain of bobolinksa clash of bucksa herd of buffaloa rabble of butterfliesa wake of buzzardsa flock of camelsan army of caterpillarsa clutter of catsa herd of cattlea flock of chickensa cartload of chimpanzeesa herd of chinchillasa bed of clamsa quiver of cobrasa rag of coltsa bury of coniesa cover of cootsa flight of cormorantsa band of coyotesa siege of cranesa float of crocodilesa murder of crowsa herd of deera pack of dogsa pod of dolphinsa drove of donkeysa bevy of dovesa paddling of ducksan aerie of eaglesa swarm of eelsa herd of elephantsa gang of elka mob of emusa business of ferretsa charm of finchesa school of fisha swarm of fliesa skulk of foxesa colony of frogsa gaggle of geesea horde of gerbilsa corps of giraffesa cloud of gnatsa herd of gnusa drove of goatsa charm of goldfinchesa band of gorillasa skein of goslingsa leash of greyhoundsa covey of grousea colony of gullsa group of guinea pigsa husk of haresa kettle of hawksa prickle of hedgehogsa brood of hensa shoal of herringsa crash of hippopotamia drift of hogsa nest of hornetsa herd of horsesa cry of houndsa charm of hummingbirdsa clan of hyenasa band of jaysa smack of jellyfisha mob of kangaroosa deceit of lapwingsan exaltation of larksa leap of leopardsa pride of lionsa lounge of lizardsa herd of llamasa plague of locustsa tiding of magpiesa sord of mallardsa richness of martensa nest of micea labor of molesa troop of monkeysa herd of moosea pack of mulesa watch of nightingalesa family of ottera parliament of owlsa drove of oxena bed of oystersa company of parrotsa covey of partridgesa muster of peacocksa colony of penguinsa bouquet of pheasantsa flock of pigeonsa farrow of pigletsa wing of ploversa chine of polecatsa pod of porpoisesa passel of possuma coterie of prairie dogsa covey of quaila bury of rabbitsa gaze of raccoonsa colony of ratsa rhumba of rattlesnakesan unkindness of ravensa crash of rhinocerousesa clamor of rooksa run of salmona pod of sealsa school of sharka flock of sheepa den of snakesa walk of snipesa host of sparrowsa dray of squirrelsa murmuration of starlingsa muster of storksa flight of swallowsa bevy of swansa flock of swiftsa drift of swinea spring of tealsan ambush of tigersa knot of toadsa hover of trouta flock of turkeysa nest of vipersa colony of vulturesa mob of wallabeesa herd of walrusesa pack of weaselsa pod of whalesa pack of wolvesa warren of wombatsa fall of woodcocksa descent of woodpeckersa herd of yaks, anda zeal of zebras
All Hail Our Robot Overlords!
Have you ever noticed that there’s no outrage or global movement to ban electric fences, despite the fact that these fences pump out 5,000 to 10,000 volts?
Why is that?
I explored that idea back in 2015 at a conference put out by the International Association of Canine Professionals, as well as what it meant for the future of dog training.
Back then, almostvno one was talking about artificial intelligence, and the language of dog trainers — and the frames they presented to the public — were pretty uneven, incomplete, or nonexistent.
They still are.
Towards the end of my presentation, I noted that it was my belief that a lot of people carried around with them the trauma of inconsistent signals sent by bad parents and rotten bosses.
The frame of those who demonize modern e-collars is partially built on ignorance (both simple and willful), but also the belief that people cannot be trusted.
That’s the frame of the “pure positive” and “force free” crowd.
It has nothing to do with dogs; it’s a belief or frame that says people are cruel, stupid, and inconsistent monsters who cannot be trusted.
There’s a lot of internalized trauma in that frame.
But a robot with proven consistency?
No problem.
Folks generally trust machines, and we put our lives on the line every day with elevators, cars, stoves, and airplanes.
Machines are consistent, and so no one has any trouble with electric fences, despite the fact they have high voltage and deliver a real ZAP, and not a gentle tap, as does a modern e-collar.
I noted that:
“Because the electric fence is a ROBOT of sorts -- devoid of human input or decision, entirely mechanical in its application — everyone seems to be OK with it, even when the shock is FAR, far more intense than what is normally delivered by an e-collar.“Ditto with an Invisible Fence pet containment system. Because Invisible Fence and electric fences are CONSISTENT and uniform and perfectly-timed, and NO HUMAN IS INVOLVED, even folks with “bad parenting scars” are far more likely to be OK with it.“No human?“No problem!“In short, it’s NOT ABOUT THE COLLAR.“Which brings me to where I think we may be going in the world of ALL dog training — Skinner Boxes on wheels.“The Skinner Box was not a food-only system.“Yes, food was how you TRAINED a trick, but to proof it, or to stop self-rewarding behavior, Skinner Boxes also had an electrical floor built inside them.“Clicker trainers forget that Skinner was a BALANCED TRAINER.“For the record, I think dog training ROBOTS are the wave of the future. They will be:▪️Attentive▪️Communicative▪️Consistent, and;▪️Positive consequences will dominate (food rewards), with e-collar corrections for proofing and attention-getting.“How far away are robotic dog trainers?“Less than a decade I think.“Motion-tracking cameras, combined with artificial intelligence, GPS locators and vibration-tone-and-stim collars, paired with a SEGWAY-like machine that rolls around on a field with a treat-dispensing box, could be built NOW.“And at the prices charged by Board-and-Train facilities I think such a machine might be built before long, and least as a laboratory experiment in mechanics and artificial intelligence.“Will it work perfectly right out of the box?“Of course not.“It will be a mess first time out, and then it will be demonized, and then it will be improved on multiple times before it is universally accepted.“That’s what happened with MOST technology, by the way, from cars to E-collars, but the intervals between ‘bad’ and ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ are getting shorter and shorter. The world of tech is speeding up at an amazing rate!”
The Falsity of “Truthiness”
A “factoid” is not a fact; it’s an invented bit of trivia believed to be true because it appears in print.
It’s like “planetoid” — it’s NOT a planet.
I was thinking about that, and was reminded of Tim Minchin who asked:
“Do you know what alternative medicine that works is called? …. Medicine.”
That got me thinking about the use of adjectives and qualifiers.
A “People’s Republic” is one where they shoot the people.
A “Democratic Republic” is one in which there are no honest elections.
So what are the adjectives and modifiers used in the world of dogs, and what do they really mean?
“Ethical breeder”
“Holistic”
“Human grade”
“Force-free”
“Science-based”
“Homeopathic”
“Preservation breeder”
“Chemical-free”
“Species appropriate”
“Natural”
“Super-premium”
“Lifestyle”’
Right. It’s all marketing.
In the wonderful libretto of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, there is a pretty good line:
🎼🎶“Things are seldom what they seem,skim milk masquerades as cream,Highlows pass as patent leathers;Jackdaws strut in peacock's feathers.”🎼🎶
Right. Factoids trying to pass themselves off as facts, same as “Working Families for Walmart” was about working families, or the “Save Our Species Alliance” was about saving species.
What hollow terms am I missing?
A few, I am sure. Have at if in the comments.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Darwin’s Taxidermy Teacher
John Edmonstone (1790?–1842?) was born a slave on a forest plantation in Demerara in present-day Guyana, South America.
He was given the surname of his owner-enslaver, Charles Edmonstone, who owned the Guyanese forest plantation as well as the Cardross Park estate near Dumbarton in Scotland.
Around 1812 the forest plantation was visited by slave plantation overseer and naturalist Charles Waterton, who taught John Edmonstone taxidermy, then called “bird stuffing”. Waterton was Charles Edmonstone’s nephew.
When Charles Edmonstone moved back to Scotland in 1817, he brought John with him, perhaps to become a servant to the Edmonstone family at Cardross Park.
Now free in Scotland (where owning slaves has been banned since 1778), John Edmonstone worked as a taxidermy teacher at Edinburgh University, where he taught the skill and trade to his neighbor, a young Charles Darwin, over the course of two months in 1826.
Darwin, then around 17 years old, was fascinated by John Edmonstone’s accounts of the tropical rain forests of South America. These account may have been part of Darwin’s inspiration to join the HMS Beagle expedition to South America in 1831.
Without a doubt, it was Darwin’s taxidermy skills which helped him preserve specimens collected on the five-year voyage, and it was those specimen’s that helped him flesh out his general theory of evolution.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
The Autoped of 1918
Finding a Lost
I had never heard of Andrea Gibson until 15 minutes ago, and then marveling, and still giddy with discovery, I learned she died in 2025, at age 49, from cancer. Fuck cancer. But damn Andrea, you are still something. Passing this on, like a diamond from a relative you never met.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)