Customers Defend Dog Trainer Seen Yelling At And Striking Dog
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ENNIS, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Customers are defending an Ennis dog trainer who is seen in a video recently released that shows him yelling at and striking a dog.
The seven-second video first surfaced on Thursday. It depicts trainer Jeffrey Schultz, who works at Landmark Retrievers, shouting at and slapping a dog he was training.
"When I first saw it, I probably felt the same way everyone else did," said Gary, who does not want his last name used in the story.
Gary and his wife Adrienne feel the seven-second video is not a fair depiction of the trainer who they know.
"I guess it makes me feel bad for him knowing that they don't know the whole story," said Adrienne.
The couple said their lab "Indy," just completed an 8-week program. Each time they visited Schultz and the training facility, they always felt Indy was in good hands.
Schultz previously said the dog in the video had snapped at him while he was teaching the dog a "force fetch."
"I'm queasy. It makes me angry," said Karen Deeds, a certified dog trainer and behavioral consultant in Fort Worth.
Deeds said it does not matter if a person is training a dog for hunting, obedience or search and rescue, striking a dog is ineffective.
"I don't think there's any justification for that. There's absolutely no reason in my mind that you'd ever do that to a dog, especially a dog that has snapped," said Deeds.
Physical force is an outdated practice according to Deeds. She said it is now best to positively reinforce commands or break them down into smaller steps for the animal.
Gary and Adrienne said if the dog in the video was their pet, it would bother them. But they would want context and an explanation.
"Absolutely it'd bother me. But what would bother me more is if my dog bit some child at a park and then at some point it's euthanized," said Gary.
The Ellis County Sheriff's Office said the case remains under investigation.
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