Movie about "cine handlers"

What's wrong with the Ronald Center, where dogs are tortured

On February 4, social networks were shocked by a video posted by a former employee of the Ronald dog training center in St. Petersburg, in which two dog handlers mock a husky dog. Throughout almost the entire video, the dog whines in pain, it is wearing a tight muzzle, a strict metal collar, on which the center's specialist hangs the dog. When the dog refuses to obey commands, it is beaten with a metal collar with spikes so that it stops stepping on its paw, and the second assistant sprays water into the muzzle from a spray bottle.

18+ Video contains animal cruelty scenes

According to an employee of the center, Eduard Rogozin, he was engaged in “re-educating an aggressive dog, which the owners sent to the center for training.

Eduard told media representatives that he was not a knacker, as angry users of social networks dubbed him, but a dog handler.

And that he acted strictly according to the instructions of his superiors: a senior specialist of the center conducted training with him via Skype.

The video causes horror in any sane person, and in a professional dog handler it causes a fit of rage: we are not dealing with training, but with a crime. In the video, an emaciated animal is beaten, which is required to execute commands, or rather, just words that, most likely, mean nothing to a dog. Because instead of teaching and reinforcing the desired behavior, a person engages in bullying. The worst thing in this video is not even the suffering of the husky Sky, but the fact that these people believe that they are cynologists and take money for their services. And dog owners trust their pets to such “professionals”.

If you go to the website of the "Federation of Military Dog Breeding", also called the "Ronald School of Professional Training", you can find a price list that presents a wide variety of services: from classes "in all types of training", including a few years ago, the abolished standard " Schutzhund”, to services for the selection of a puppy and the sale of trained bodyguard dogs, rescue dogs, guide dogs, shepherd dogs. Given that the only center in Russia involved in the training of shepherd dogs is located in the Serpukhov district of the Moscow region, and two official training schools for guide dogs are located in Kupavna and Balashikha, also in the Moscow region, it would be very interesting to look at the documents of the St. Petersburg center "Ronald", which would confirm such a broad specialization. However, not a single license or certificate of cynological education of employees, an official diploma of at least one of the dogs trained in the center is presented on the site.

But the Federation of Military Dog Breeding has an online school (“an innovative form of training that allows you to master the material as quickly and efficiently as possible, to get trained at the most convenient time for you with minimal interruptions from your main activity”). Apparently, this particular service was used by Eduard Rogozin, who was sure that by beating the dog, he was engaged in its “training and re-education”.

In the social network "Vkontakte" there is a group "Caution, the Federation of Military Dog Breeding", it has more than 3,000 members, including former employees of the organization. The group is filled with negative reviews about the work of the center, whose activities, in their opinion, are only aimed at obtaining money from the owners. It also contains other videos that testify to animal cruelty. Also published are the stories of former employees about how dogs in the center were starved for several days, including four-month-old puppies, and the food provided by the owners was dumped so that the owners would not find out about the bullying of their pets.

Former employees of the center say that there were cases of death of animals from exhaustion and beatings. In this case, the owners were informed that the dog had run away, and simply returned the money for the training course.

Meanwhile, the method of animal training with the help of positive reinforcement has been practiced all over the world for several decades, that is, work with encouragement for the behavior the trainer needs - a treat, a toy or praise - without using any violence or coercion to the animal.

Turning to a cynologist for help, make sure of his qualifications, get feedback on his work and attend classes.

The author is a cynologist-instructor, a judge for the working qualities of dogs, a master of cynological sports of international class.