Redlisting dog trainers: Bunny edition

I have spent too much time watching dog training videos on Youtube and Facebook. And then I spent too much time testing their ideas on my dog. Therefore, here a quick guide to reject dog trainers out of hand, without further experiments. Check the following ten criteria, if more than three of them apply, go find a different trainer.

1. The dogfight teaser: The trainer makes videos with titles that contain the words ‘dangerous’, ‘aggression’, ‘dominant’. The videos shows in the first thirty seconds a vicious, attacking dog.
2. The quick solution: The trainer promises to solve a behavioural problem in a very short amount of time, say, one hour, or ten minutes, or one minute.
3. Being the boss: The trainer uses language or methods that imply that you have to be the boss of your dog. Alternative: You have to dominate your dog. You have to be the alpha person. You have to be the leader, all the time. You have to make all decisions.
4. Speaking of the Alpha Male: Dog trainer is a man with a very manly figure, who uses very manly language.
5. The horror toolbox: The trainer uses prong collars, choke collars, slip leads, e-collars, or head halters as a matter of course, routinely. Occasional use might be okay (but somehow that never happens).
6. Comparing with Others: The trainer spends a lot of time bashing and insulting other trainers. Usually not specific ones, but entire philosophies. Usually by inventing a strawman.
7. Being an asshole: The trainer claims to be the best, or among the best of dog trainers. Or at least very good at what they do.
8. The anti-science stance: The trainer openly discredits any recent scientific work on dog training or dog behaviour. Alternatively, the trainer is proudly ignoring the science and insists that experience is more important.
9. The wild animal: The trainer talks a lot about what wolves do, or more in general, what large apex predators do.
10. Ignoring the dog: The trainer only talks about solving the problems a human has with the dog, like pulling, or jumping, or barking. Never about the problems that a dog has, i.e. why the dog is pulling, jumping, barking. The dog’s problems are irrelevant. What the dog feels is not a part of the discussion.