I agree. I was watching something this morning and cannot get "we judge a society by the way they treat their animals" out of my head - it seems rather true..

I don't know enough Americans to generalise about a country with such a huge population.I have seen breeds competing in high level obedience and agility in America that you'd be laughed out of training classes for walking in with in the UK.I doubt you would get a saluki or a greyhound to work to that standard with aversive training techniques so I'd guess that an awful lot of Americans are aware of the best training methods.

Its funny
When I was researching getting a dog it was an american forum I was on
I learnt about positive training from them

I went back a while ago and there seems to be less positive people and more punishment based training
really sad

But the good positive trainers are AMAZING

I can only say as I have found, having living both sides of the Atlantic, and having dogs both sides. I do think the UK is more positive, when I first moved here, I could not believe some of the contraptions I would see in animal shops for training, such as shock collars, prongs, that instead of fencing gardens, people put up electric invisible fences, that shock the dog if it goes over the boundary. I see an awful lot of dogs walked on prong collars, or have a collar with a box attached

Invisible fences are popular here too (I've said before I'm not proud of my country's standard of animal treatment)They don't work very well.A lot of dogs work out ways to get past them or charge through them or the owners forget to check the collar battery..Prong collars are available too (shudder)Aren't they banned in the UK?

No they aren't banned, but they are probably harder to buy in the UK , in somewhere like P@H. That's my main problem, that all these quick fixes, are so easy to buy to the general public over here

I can honestly say, it was very rare for me to see a prong collar on a dog in the UK, I see them daily here

I agree, good and bad are on every continent, and it can be as small as the town you live in that changes in their treatment of dogs, and even then there are difference of ideas.
No it is not an American thing, it is a human thing

I hope I haven't offended any Americans with my comments,wasn't my intention, I also think it's a culture difference. I see some things here through European eyes, so sometimes I find things odd and strange.

Like I said originally, there are some lovely positive trainers, and of course a lot of positive training owners in the US. Good and bad, as in any country.

Brilliant Emma! Well said!

Well it`s heartening to know that positive methods are used in the US. Maybe the positive people are less vociferous?