The controversial US-based dog trainer known as the Dog Daddy says he cancelled his planned visit to Australia after a backlash from animal rights activists and is now taking a break from global touring.
But YouTube star Augusto Deoliveira insisted he would not be abandoning his tough approach to training. He said his techniques have worked for thousands of fans who wanted to curtail aggressive behaviour in their dogs.
Dog trainers who back positive training methods have formed a global network to counter Deoliveira’s influence. Members start petitions, hold protests and educate pet owners on alternatives.
Deoliveira said he planned to reschedule his show in Sydney after taking time to “physically and mentally prepare” for the growing criticism.
“There are a lot of people that are definitely very confused about what I do and so there’s a lot of misinformation being spread,” he said.
Deoliveira was also turned back at Sydney airport last year after failing to obtain a visa that allowed him to conduct business in Australia.
The dog trainer says he did intend to visit Australia this year after trips to the UK and Italy were cancelled earlier in September.
“This time we did get the right visa” for Australia, Deoliveira said. “There was a lawyer that was handling that for us to make sure that we have everything right.”
But Guardian Australia understands there was no visa application from Deoliveira to enter Australia in late September. He said if that was the case: “I don’t know why that would be or how that would be.”
Deoliveira has 3 million subscribers on YouTube and is known for his brightly coloured designer tracksuits and big sunglasses. He has become the centre of a niche drama playing out in the dog training world.
Deoliveira claims he helps dogs with severe aggression and anxiety after “people have tried everything else” by using aversive training such as correcting a dog’s behaviour through punishment. Training sessions usually cost about US$1,500 (A$2,300) for a private session and US$400 for a group class.
Deoliveira’s allure, said Mark Ehrman of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia (APDT), was that “he does social media, really, really well”.
“He wears flashy clothes and he’s got big tattoos and he’s dramatic and he promises quick results,” Ehrman said.
But Ehrman said his popularity was undoing years of work trying to shift the paradigm away from aversive training – which became popular in the 1950s – towards positive and rewards-based methods now backed by animal behaviour science.
“In his videos, you see a dog going from wanting to bite his face off to laying at his feet and you know, the layperson looks at it goes ‘Oh my gosh, he fixed that dog’. But as dog trainers we go … ‘The dog is now just too exhausted to do anything to fight any more and just gives up and lays down’.”
Deoliveira said in response: “My competitors don’t like that I am, at the end of the day, the most popular dog trainer.”
One of Deoliveira’s leading critics, US-based dog trainer Zak George, believes he is “a symptom of an unregulated industry”. “You would expect to have [people] like this in an unregulated industry,” George said.
Deoliveira told Guardian Australia he needed to “clarify” online the misinformation and confusion about his techniques before touring again.
“I decided to make sure that I can do that first before I put myself in situations where people are determined to bring me down and they don’t really have the full picture of what I do.”
Ehrman said the APDT urged Deoliveira to continue his education and obtain formal qualifications. “We are hopeful he can contribute to the welfare of dogs and their owners without resorting to his current aversive techniques.”
Until then, George said the backlash against the Dog Daddy’s methods was likely to continue.
“Our end game with these protests is to raise awareness, to scream out to the public there is need for licensure [in dog training] because the public are being misled,” he said.
