The star of It’s Me or the Canine has warned that viral movies can disguise worry and emotional shutdown as obedience, placing canines and their households in danger.
TV canine professional Victoria Stilwell has spoken out in regards to the risks of unqualified social media trainers selling punishment, intimidation and supposed “fast fixes” to struggling pet homeowners.
The Licensed Canine Behaviour Guide and host of worldwide TV sensation It’s Me or the Canine warned that a big on-line following ought to by no means be mistaken for skilled experience.
Britain’s dog-training trade stays unregulated, which means anybody can legally describe themselves as a coach or behaviourist, no matter their {qualifications}, expertise or understanding of animal welfare.
Specialists worry this lack of oversight has created fertile floor for self-styled trainers to share dramatic transformation movies with out revealing the impact their strategies have had on a canine’s emotional wellbeing.
Victoria Stilwell, Licensed Canine Behaviour Guide and host of It’s Me or the Canine, stated: “Social media is usually a great place to study, but it surely has additionally given a platform to self-proclaimed specialists who’ve little understanding of canine behaviour.
“A big following just isn’t a qualification, and a dramatic transformation captured in a 30-second video tells you nothing about how that canine is feeling.
“Earlier than following recommendation, ask who’s giving it, what schooling they’ve and whether or not their strategies are supported by trendy behavioural science.”
Victoria stated some of the troubling on-line traits was the presentation of frightened or emotionally shut-down canines as calm and obedient.
She stated: “One of many biggest risks on-line is that worry and emotional shutdown are being offered as obedience.
“A canine who abruptly turns into nonetheless after being frightened, bodily restrained or punished has not essentially realized something optimistic. They might merely be too scared to reply.
“Suppressing behaviour would possibly make a powerful before-and-after video, but it surely doesn’t handle why the behaviour was occurring and may make the underlying drawback a lot worse.”
The warning comes as thousands and thousands of households throughout Britain wrestle with their canines’ behaviour.
Current estimates of the UK canine inhabitants differ, with Canines Belief analysis suggesting there are round 13 million canines, whereas UK Pet Meals’s 2026 survey put the determine as excessive as 15.5 million.
In keeping with the Canines Belief Nationwide Canine Survey 2025, 90 per cent of householders skilled at the very least one behavioural drawback with their canine in the course of the earlier yr.
Widespread difficulties included pulling on the lead, poor recall, barking, worry, reactivity and misery when left alone.
However individuals looking on-line for assist can encounter a bewildering combination of conflicting recommendation, typically offered by people whose data and sensible abilities have by no means been independently assessed.
Victoria warned that recommendation which seems to have labored for one animal may very well be totally unsuitable for one more.
She stated: “There isn’t a common coaching hack that can work for each canine. Behaviour is communication, and the identical outward drawback might be brought on by worry, ache, frustration, anxiousness or an unmet want.
“Making use of recommendation from a video with out understanding the person canine is a bit like taking anyone else’s prescription medication: it is likely to be utterly inappropriate and will trigger actual hurt.
“If an issue is critical, search assist from a certified, optimistic coach or veterinary behaviour skilled.”
The Animal Behaviour and Coaching Council has beforehand warned Parliament that incompetent behaviour work may cause psychological struggling and make present issues worse.
The Blue Cross has additionally cautioned that inexperienced trainers are more and more utilizing social media to unfold dangerous and doubtlessly harmful recommendation.
Victoria urged homeowners to be significantly cautious of trainers who declare canines have to be dominated or frightened into submission.
She stated: “If a web based coach tells you that you should dominate your canine, change into the ‘alpha’, frighten them or trigger discomfort to realize respect, that may be a large pink flag.
“Canines don’t have to be bullied into behaving. Efficient coaching teaches them what we wish them to do whereas
constructing confidence, belief and emotional stability.
“Kindness just isn’t weak spot, and there may be merely no excuse for utilizing ache, worry or intimidation within the title of coaching.”
Behavioural difficulties are among the many main causes canines are relinquished to rescue organisations, with some animals dropping their properties after households really feel they’ve exhausted each possibility.
Specialists consider a lot of these relationships is likely to be saved if guardians obtain acceptable, evidence-led assist earlier than issues escalate right into a disaster.
Pet Treatment and Companion Animal Wellness have launched Ask the Skilled, a service giving canine and cat guardians inexpensive entry to skilled, certified behaviour professionals who provide humane, welfare-centred steering.
The service is meant to chop by way of the confusion surrounding on-line recommendation and assist households perceive what their animals are speaking.
Andrew Hale, emotional wellbeing professional at Pet Treatment, stated: “When persons are nervous about their animals, they want compassionate, particular person steering moderately than a viral coaching method which takes no account of the animal in entrance of them.
“Behaviour doesn’t occur in isolation. We have to take into account the animal’s emotional expertise, bodily well being, surroundings, relationships and unmet wants earlier than deciding how finest to assist them.
“That’s the reason providers akin to Ask the Skilled are so essential. They offer guardians entry to skilled, certified professionals who will hear with out judgement and provide humane, welfare-centred steering earlier than difficulties attain disaster level.
“Searching for assist ought to by no means really feel like an admission of failure. It is without doubt one of the most accountable and caring issues a guardian can do.”
Junior Hudson, of Companion Animal Wellness, stated: “Guardians are being bombarded with confident-sounding recommendation, however confidence on digital camera just isn’t the identical as competence.
“A guardian could observe a viral video believing they’re doing the correct factor, solely to see their canine change into extra fearful, defensive or shut down. Recommendation ought to at all times be given, and brought, with the person canine in thoughts. By the point they attain an skilled, certified skilled, each the canine and the household could also be in disaster.
“No canine ought to lose their residence as a result of their guardian was unable to differentiate credible assist from dangerous on-line opinion. We urgently want greater requirements, larger accountability and far clearer course for guardians on accessing assist they’ll belief.”
The UK Canine Behaviour and Coaching Constitution, supported by each Companion Animal Wellness and Pet Treatment, has additionally highlighted the difficulties homeowners face when looking for appropriately accredited professionals.
The Constitution brings collectively main behaviour and coaching membership organisations below a shared code of conduct, ethics and methodology.
Its signatories decide to trendy, science-led and optimistic approaches, alongside clear complaints procedures {and professional} accountability.
Concern about deceptive recommendation comes because the RSPCA’s Kindness Index 2026 discovered animal welfare was Britain’s second most essential trigger, with virtually a 3rd of individuals putting it amongst their three biggest considerations.
