I am a retired, decorated, and disabled U.S. Army Veteran. I live with PTSD and I have a current and retired service dogs, Max and Fritz respectively. They help me manage my PTSD, especially out in public places. They also alert me when someone approaches my door. In 20211, Max was just a 1 year old puppy. He was very easily distracted, and reactive to strangers and other animals approaching. I had just started taking him for walks beyond our block, and with my bad back it was obvious I would need some assistance teaching him to behave properly in public.
I hired ProK9 to help me train Max. The owner, David Bessason came to my house in Winnipeg, and Max Barked at him when he arrived at our door. David's first reaction was to jump back in fear and exclaim, "That is a totally undisciplined dog!" He never asked about why my dog barked at his approach, if it was normal, and whether or not it was a desired behavior. He simply cowered before Max (again a 1 year old puppy) until I got David's attention.
When he calmed down, he said nothing but went to his vehicle. By his very deliberate and strident manner, I thought he was leaving. Instead, he retrieved a leather muzzle and a choke chain collar. Having used both in the past for different dogs, I thought these would be used in a reasonable and humane manner. I was wrong.
After I had put the muzzle on Max, David decided that it was too loose. He proceeded to tighten it until Max squealed in pain. Then David stated that a muzzle must be that tight to be effective. Which totally violates the rules of the SPCA, which stipulate that it is abusive to place a muzzle on so tightly as to cause pain to the dog.
Next he attached the choke collar. A simple slip chain that when used properly is a safe and human way to control and lead a dog. However, David was neither safe nor human with its use. Instead, he lifted Max off the ground by the collar. Effectively hanging Max. David stated that "...this is safe because off their strong neck. You can hold them like this until they relax an go limp."
A classical police choking mentality that has been repeatedly shown to cause death. There are a millions cases around the world where someone seriously choked for only a very brief period of time died due to some combination of stoppage of both venous and arterial blood flow to and from the brain, along with choking off breathing. Chocking is that dangerous, and had been demonstrated as such by multiple recent arrests that ended in death, George Floyd, etc., in major international news. In fact, this technique is explicitly cited by the SPCA as cruel, inhuman, and torturous towards all animals. There is no reasonable way David could have claimed to not be aware of the very real danger of chocking. Yet with his array of certifications, David seemed to think everything was alright while he needlessly hung and tortured my dog.
Max had not taken a single action towards David or anyone else. In fact, Max's only reaction was to try to get away from David and his brutal treatment. A most reasonable action for any animal, or person, being so attacked.
I ended the session. Horrified at the abuse I had just witnessed. It had barely been 20 minutes and this "Professional" trainer had displayed abject fear of a puppy, caused my puppy needless pain, and hung my puppy before my eyes all without any sign of regard for my puppy's safety.
As we had less than a half session, I counted out $45 and David patiently waited for the other $45. He then had the gall to ask me for a good rating on Yelp and Google. At the time, I felt I had no choice but to provide what he asked. After all, he is a former Winnipeg Police Officer, and I was concerned that he would leverage his contacts there to cause me trouble, possibly taking Max away from me if I didn't provide the BS review he requested or if I spoke out about his grossly abusive behavior. Several other trainers I have spoken with all identified David by his cruel techniques. I never had to mention his name. Each has had the same complaint from numerous owners. read more
