I was approached by Jennifer Berg (CDBC, CPDT-KA: Oberhund.com) and asked if I was interested in doing an interview about my crossover journey from aversive to force free training for the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers (CAPDT) newsletter.

I was honoured to be asked and agreed right away!

Jennifer Berg did an incredible job crafting my interview questions into the article below.

I wanted to be able to share the article with my audience as well, so I want to thank Jennifer and the CAPDT for consenting to me posting the article on my blog. I hope you find it interesting!

This article was originally published in the Summer 2024 issue of FORUM, the quarterly newsletter of the CAPDT (CAPDT.ca). I have not edited the text in any manner.

Stephanie with Neirah, a Corgi/Heeler mix, on a summit hike called Sulphur Skyline in Jasper National Park.

A Crossover Journey: A Conversation with Stephanie Rombough

by Jennifer Berg

I like to watch dog training videos for my own professional development, and when I find training tutorials that I feel are very helpful to non-trainers, I bookmark them so I can easily share them later on social media or with clients. Lately, several of my favourite videos are by Stephanie Rombough who runs Happy Hounds Dog Training in Edmonton, AB. You may have seen some of her training videos circulating through social media over the past year or so; that’s how I first came across her videos. I find her tutorials clear, concise, and easy for a layperson to understand and implement.

One day, while visiting Stephanie’s YouTube channel, I watched her video response to the accusation that force-free trainers are close-minded, and in it she mentions being a crossover trainer. I’m very interested in why trainers choose to move away from compulsion-based training and their experiences as they made the shift because I’m sort of a crossover trainer myself — sort of. For most of my childhood my parents (who were breeders) trained dogs, competed in dog shows, and taught classes through their local kennel club. Compulsion-based training was the norm at the time (1970s and 1980s), so that’s what they learned and what I knew until I began to look for alternatives. When I decided to become a dog trainer well into my adulthood, I made a conscious choice not to use compulsion-based methods; I never attempted to explain why to my parents — they never asked, and I knew that such a conversation would put up their defences and cause conflict. I believe that any major shift in perspective comes from within the individual and usually starts with an emotionally-based catalyst, so when I hear that someone is a crossover trainer, I’m always interested in hearing their story.

I was doubly interested in Stephanie’s story after learning that she, like me, was introduced to compulsion-based dog training in her youth by a parent.

Stephanie grew up helping to train dogs alongside her mother, a compulsion-based dog trainer. I contacted Stephanie and she generously agreed to the interview.

Stephanie describes herself as a force-free dog trainer, and defines force free training as intentionally not adding force, fear, or discomfort to teach a dog a new skill or behaviour.

As a child, Stephanie was obsessed with dogs. At around seven years old she started training dogs with her mother, and by the time she was in high school she was helping her run dog classes

“My mom was a compulsion trainer —all dogs received corrections such as leash pops, choke chains, etc.,so I was heavily indoctrinated in that world,” Stephanie explains. “Even simple skills like sit or lie down were taught with heavy corrections.”

To help illustrate the mindset underlying the training, Stephanie describes a typical graduation ceremony at dog class.

“At the end of the six to eight weeks, the humans got to celebrate with cake and the dogs got the honour of now ‘being good dogs.’”

Stephanie says she cringes when she thinks about that now, but feels it’s important to mention because it illustrates how big a shift it was for her to crossover to become a force-free trainer.

“I want to make it clear how heavily I believed compulsion training was not only acceptable, but also necessary. A common phrase I heard and believed was ‘a trained dog is a happy dog.’ Since I believed dogs needed corrections to learn, I took this phrase to mean ‘corrections make dogs happier.’”

Stephanie’s shift from compulsion-based training to force-free training was gradual, starting in university when she adopted her first dog, Burrito, who had severe behavioural issues.

“My original plan was to get a puppy, but then I met Burrito. He was a senior Corgi/Pug cross with multiple injuries and just about every behaviour issue you could think of: severe separation anxiety, resource guarding, extreme leash reactivity, zero obedience training. The shelter was going to euthanize him, but I fell in love and begged to adopt him. Eventually they relented and let me. Without knowing it at the time, Burrito would become the first catalyst to my crossover journey.”

As an experienced trainer, Stephanie assumed she had the skills to fix all of Burrito’s behaviour issues, but she found herself unwilling to use them.

“The little dog instantly had my heart, and I wasn’t willing to inflict high enough levels of discomfort that I believed were needed to ‘fix’ his unwanted behaviours.”

So Stephanie tried a different approach. She sought professional help for Burrito’s separation anxiety — something she says she had no idea how to address at the time. And as for Burrito’s other behavioural issues, she primarily used management.

“It would be a few more years before I’d hear the term force free training, so at that point I still thought heavy corrections were the only answer for his leash reactivity and resource guarding. Since I wasn’t willing to inflict that, I primarily used management techniques (despite not knowing that term yet) for his remaining behaviours. Our few short years together were amazing despite never fully ‘fixing’ him.”

The next big step in Stephanie’s crossover journey happened when she got Neirah, a Corgi/Heller puppy.

“She was such a cute, happy puppy and I didn’t want to do anything to wreck that. However, I also wanted a really well-trained dog that I could take to places Burrito wouldn’t tolerate, such as patios, dog parks, and hiking. I still wasn’t convinced a dog could be trained without corrections, but I began looking for resources anyway. Zak George was my first introduction to the term force free and I slowly learned how to teach basics such as sit and lie down without force. I also noticed that I felt better training that way and that Neirah was excited for our sessions.”

Stephanie struggled to find resources for certain issues, for example, Neirah had an intense prey drive, but the fact that she couldn’t find the force-free resources she wanted didn’t cause Stephanie to stop trying. When she couldn’t find a resource for training something without using compulsion/corrections, she tried to figure it out on her own and found that the challenge reinvigorated her love of dog training.

By this time in her crossover process, Stephanie fully believed force-free worked for puppies but not for more difficult behaviours such as reactivity or aggression. That final shift in belief would come a bit later.

One major reason for Stephanie’s shift towards force-free training was her experiences while studying the science of nutrition in university and later working as a licensed professional in pediatric healthcare. During this time she learned how to read scientific studies, question her own beliefs, and make recommendations based on evidence and supported by scientific research.

“I was a licensed professional making decisions that impacted children’s health,” Stephanie explains. “As such, I couldn’t just recommend interventions based on my own beliefs or opinions.”

Stephanie eventually left the healthcare field to pursue her passion for dog training, and this is when she made the final leap to crossover to force-free training.

“I strongly value the term professional so I vowed to myself that I would not take paid clients until I felt worthy of calling myself a professional dog trainer. I registered for a six month in-class and hands-on dog training course called Dog Behaviour and Training Methodology (DBTMc) at the Edmonton Humane Society. A trainer named Katie Whitebone was my instructor and she was the final puzzle piece in my crossover journey. Through her non-judgemental teachings, I learned how and why a force-free approach is effective for all behaviours including aggression and reactivity.”

After getting her DBTMc, Stephanie wanted to learn everything she could about working force-free with so-called difficult behaviours. She took numerous courses, including Michael Shikashio’s Master Aggression course and a reactivity course with Kristina Spaulding via the IAABC Foundation. Stephanie plans to continue to learn.

“As long as I’m in this industry I’ll continue taking courses and searching for new resources to learn from because I feel like the field is constantly evolving as we learn more.”

Crossover trainers often face a lot of obstacles and pushback, which could be why some compulsion trainers are reluctant to make the switch. I asked Stephanie about what she has experienced in this regard.

“Part of my goal when I created Happy Hounds Dog Training was to provide free, easy to follow tutorials online. I was particularly interested in YouTube since it allowed for more in-depth teachings. That platform also appealed to me since it seemed more skewed towards compulsion training (based on the subscriber count for compulsion trainers compared to force free ones). I hoped I could help make an impact there and change how dogs are treated if I showed how effective force free training can be. I expected some online trolling, but wasn’t prepared for how much I would quickly receive. It turns out that promoting kind treatment of dogs heavily triggers some people! I had to grow a thick skin to stay on YouTube, but it’s been worth it. I also remain grateful for all of the kind comments I get on my videos because they help temper the vitriol.”

Another big obstacle is the negative emotions many crossover trainers feel when they recall their past training experiences.

“I also received pushback from myself,” explains Stephanie. “When it truly sunk in that dogs don’t require scary or painful corrections to learn, I felt awful for how I’d trained dogs in the past. That internal shame can be a difficult thing to walk through and can certainly make you want to keep blinders on! However, I accepted that I can only do the best with what I know at the time. My motto became ‘Do your best while continually learning how to do even better.’ As hard as it felt to talk about my crossover journey and shame publicly, I found it helped in the long run to hear that many other people struggled with the same thing.”

As anyone who has spent any time on social media knows, the dog training industry is very polarized, even within the positive-reinforcement community. I firmly believe that our industry, our clients, and all dogs would be better served if we trainers/behaviour professionals focused on opening a dialogue rather than opposing each other. To begin an open dialogue we could focus on beliefs that dog trainers have in common, rather than where our opinions differ. I figured Stephanie’s insight as a crossover trainer would be valuable, so I asked her if she could think of one statement about dog training that all trainers and behaviour professionals could agree on.

“Unfortunately, I feel the main focus in the industry seems to be with what we disagree about, so this question is difficult! I think one thing we can all agree on is that the vast majority of dog guardians truly love their dogs, regardless of what training method they’re currently using. Even when I used corrections during dog training, I absolutely adored those dogs. It had nothing to do with wanting to inflict discomfort and everything to do with not knowing better. I feel it’s important to remember that everyone is in a different place on their journey, and we should use positive reinforcement and kindness with people as well.”

In addition to offering private dog training services to help clients train their own dogs, Stephanie creates a lot of free social media content, mostly tutorials showing how to train specific skills with un-trained dogs. She has two main reasons for this.

“First, I do believe that for many people seeing is believing. I can’t fault people for doubting whether force free training can work for ‘difficult dogs’ because, as admitted, I had those same doubts. I felt if I could show truly transformational videos, more people would be encouraged to try kind techniques with their own dog. I saw a silly research study years ago where they were trying to encourage kids to walk at a slower pace on a slippery pool deck; saying ‘walk please’ rather than ‘don’t run’ was way more effective at changing their behaviour. Unfortunately I find a lot of force free content on social media focuses on telling dog guardians what’s ‘bad’ such as tool use, corrections, etc without offering a viable alternative.”

Stephanie’s second main reason for creating free online resources is because she knows from personal experience that not everyone can afford private training.

“My life is comfortable now, but it wasn’t always this way. I grew up without much money and things were not easy. I in no way want to undervalue the work that trainers do, but I also recognize that not everybody can afford private training rates. For most of my life, despite how much I loved my dogs, I personally wouldn’t have been able to afford the private training rates that I now charge. I believe that gatekeeping all information behind high hourly rates can hurt dogs because it leaves guardians with less information and fewer choices. Unfortunately, there is a vast amount of free online tutorials that will show you how to correct and suppress your dog with harsh methods. If that’s what’s easily found and what most people see, it’s likely going to be what they use. Even though my YouTube tutorials are an exceptional amount of work to create, since I film them with untrained dogs, I hope watching a dog genuinely learn the skill or work through the behaviour on camera can help dog guardians follow along at home. If more force free content means more people will choose kind training methods, I want to be part of that!”

I have hope as our industry shifts towards more humane and evidence-based methodology, and I’m very thankful for trainers like Stephanie who post excellent content to help educate dog guardians. I asked Stephanie if there Is something happening in the dog training/behaviour industry that she sees as exciting, or hopeful, or a topic that she feels trainers should look into. 

“One of the things that excites me the most is how many dog guardians are starting to look at their dogs holistically. I feel like the focus is shifting from simply ‘How can I stop this particular behaviour that I dislike?’ to ‘Why is my dog exhibiting this behaviour?’. With my private client work I primarily work with reactivity and aggression. Many of my clients are willing and excited to learn how enrichment, pain, proper exercise, sleep and more all impact their dogs’ behaviour. I feel like we’re trending away from simply blaming dogs for what we deem ‘bad behaviour’ and instead trying to understand what might be causing dogs to exhibit those behaviours in the first place.”

I like to promote Canadian trainers/behaviour professionals who are noteworthy, leaders, or need their voices amplified, so to end our interview, I asked Stephanie if any names came to her mind.

“There’s a trainer in BC named Emily Priestley (her Instagram handle is @wildatheartdogs) that I find fantastic and really respect! We haven’t met in person, but we have had many online conversations. Her primary focus is herding breeds, so her account is obviously relevant to my own dog.”

Thanks again to Jennifer and the CAPDT for letting me share that article! If you want to learn more about my Youtube channel, click here. I also have low-cost, step-by-step training plans that you can learn more about here.

Happy training!