Deceptive Marketing Practices Hurt Consumers and the Industry
Dog owners are at a significant disadvantage when looking for skilled, ethical dog behaviour professionals in an unregulated industry. In the dog training industry, anyone — regardless of their education and experience — can:
- claim to be an expert,
- make up a scientific-sounding methodology,
- create a certification program or pay for a certification from a different first party certification program,
- pay for positive reviews (including AI generated reviews),
- pay to be a presenter at a “fake conference” and
- purchase impressive-sounding awards (vanity awards) that praise their business or products
This doesn’t mean that a trainer who does any of these things is unskilled or lacks knowledge. But it could mean that the trainer is exaggerating their credentials, perhaps with the intention to deceive the consumer. Certainly that would be a reasonable assumption for a trainer who knowingly purchases a vanity award for their business or products.
Many consumers are wise to these scams, but unfortunately some consumers are fooled by them. Why are companies that sell vanity awards so prolific, and why do some businesses choose to buy them? Because the fake awards sometimes succeed in fooling the consumer. The price of the award is often worth it to bring in a few additional customers. But fake awards can diminish the reputation of businesses, too.
What Is a Vanity Award?
A “vanity award” is an accolade that anyone can purchase and then use it in marketing; companies that sell these awards often will contact a business owner to congratulate them that their business been selected as highly rated. And sometimes people will fall for it and perhaps even purchase a plaque or digital sticker for their website. Some people will seek out vanity award websites with the intention of purchasing the fake award to make their business or product seem better than it is.
How to tell if it is a vanity award?
Visit the website that issued the vanity award to learn about the process. Do you pay a fee and wait for them to issue the award? Well, that’s likely not a legitimate award. If someone nominated the business or product, and the recipient has to pay to get the plaque or sticker or listing on the website? It’s highly probable it’s a vanity award. Are there awards for numerous categories on the website’s listing of “award winners”? That is a big red flag that the awards have been purchased. An easy tip is to do an internet search of the award with the search term “scam” or “vanity award” and see the search results.
The good news is that consumers seeking ethical, knowledgeable, skilled dog behaviour professionals can look for some highly reputable, legitimate certifications that are well-known within the dog training and behaviour profession on a national and international level. For example, the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers is an independent certifying organization — they use third party certification to ensure that they are unbiased when trainers are deemed to have achieved a certain level of competence. A CCPDT certification is common for many highly reputable, well-known trainers and behaviour professionals who now offer their own certification programs.
Consumers can also look for trainers who are members of reputable, national professional associations and organizations (e.g., CAPDT, APDT, IAABC, Pet Professional Guild, etc.); reputable organizations will have a robust Code of Ethics that their members are required to follow.
For more information on deceptive marketing practices in the dog training industry, read “Fake Conferences” in the Dog Training Industry.
Certified Professional Dog Training 