Fallacious or Veracious? An interactive fallacy-identifying webinar Presented by Kristi Benson

Fallacious or Veracious? An interactive fallacy-identifying webinar

Presented by Kristi Benson

CEUs: PPAB 1, CCPDT 1, KPA 1, PMCT 1, and IAABC 1

Logical fallacies are extremely common in human communication. We’re all using them all the time, and so are our colleagues, friends, and even (perhaps especially) those who wish to continue to use aversive tools or other harmful techniques on dogs.

Fallacies can sound good when we hear them—if they weren’t compelling, we wouldn’t use them, and they wouldn’t be classified as logical fallacies! For this reason, the fallacies that are the most commonly trotted out in dog training rhetoric are those that tend to convince people the most easily of the arguer’s righteousness, despite there being issues—sometimes big, important issues—with the arguer’s position.

Since fallacies can obfuscate the truth while remaining compelling, we need to be able to identify them, rather than being convinced by them. Quite simply, we need to notice logical fallacies so we can adequately assess the arguments that are put forward by our colleagues and other experts in the field. Pointing out a fallacy can be an effective way to counter these fallacies.

In this webinar, the presenter will review what logical fallacies are and use clear and relevant dog training examples to explain some of the most common and important logical fallacies that we see in the dog training world. Then, she’ll use an interactive format with audience participation to review some other examples of logical fallacies to help identify the error in a suite of example statements about dogs and dog training based on real-world arguments, advertisements, and education

Learning Objectives

• What logical fallacies are and why humans fall prey to them
• How to identify logical fallacies
• How logical fallacies affect our understanding of dogs and dog training in important ways
• How to avoid logical fallacies in our own communications
• Some of the logical fallacies that are commonly seen in the dog behaviour world

Your Presenter

Kristi Benson

Kristi Benson is a student coach, mentor, and handles special projects at the Academy for Dog Trainers, where she helps to shape the next generation of canine behaviour professionals. She is an honours graduate of the Academy and holds the PCBC-A credential as well. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, Canada, with her six dogs. She has an online school of classes aimed at dog guardians, to help them with a variety of issues: house training, jumping up, barking, and grooming. Kristi writes extensively about dogs, for her own blog and the Academy for Dog Trainers’ blog. She is also a Special Correspondent for Companion Animal Psychology, the blog published by Dr. Zazie Todd.

You can contact Kristi through her website [www.kristibenson.com], and check out her blog [http://www.kristibenson.com/blog] and Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/KristiBensonDogTraining] for training tips, articles about dogs and training, and more.