Dog Training Blogs & the Rise of the Robot Writer

Spot AI generated dog training advice and why real, qualified support from an ABTC registered Animal Training Instructor in Shipley matters

You've got a problem with your dog, so you decide to Google it.
The results might show some smart-looking blog posts, neat bullet points, even icons and stars scattered through the advice. But here’s something you might not know: a lot of that content could have been written by Artificial Intelligence. A robot writer churning out general advice at lightning speed.

I Use AI Too, But With Caution.

Don’t get me wrong, I use AI too, and I’m not at all anti-AI. In fact, I use it a lot, to be honest. It’s even helping me to write this post. I use AI because I’m dyslexic, and I find it helps me to organise my thoughts, shape ideas, and most importantly, check for missing words and rubbish spelling.

But I don’t just copy and paste what it gives me. I rewrite, adjust, and rethink. Then rewrite and adjust again. Then rethink some more. In fact, come to think of it, it probably takes me just as long to compose something all by myself!

But here’s what I’ve learnt about AI: it gets things wrong. A lot. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve told my AI buddy, “WRONG.”

Why AI Gets Dog Training Advice Wrong

AI repeats things that are popular online, whether or not they’re accurate. It mixes together advice from loads of different sources without knowing which bits are useful, outdated, or just plain dodgy. It can also miss out crucial information.

Whether or not the AI-generated post is any good really depends on two things:
1) The person behind the screen knowing the subject they’re posting about

AND

2) Their AI script-writing skills, not just clicking ‘generate’ and posting the first thing it spits out

Without that combination, you end up with blog posts that sound helpful but might be vague, misleading, or even completely wrong. That’s why blindly trusting AI-written advice can lead to confusion, or worse, set you and your dog back.

But how do you know if it's AI-generated in the first place?

How to Spot AI-Generated Dog Training Blogs

Once you know what to look for, you start to spot them a mile off.

Here are a few common signs:

1) There’s LOADS of words! Literally the blog goes on FOREVER and you start to lose the will to live.

2) It doesn't sound like the person who wrote it. It’s too polished, with bold subheadings (ahem!), perfectly spaced bullet points, and tonnes of icons everywhere💡 ✅ ⭐📣🚀🐾 🐶🦴

3) Loads of long dashes: like this—breaking up sentences—all over the place—for dramatic effect. (This is my AI’s favourite thing!)

4) My pet hate: advice like “reward calm behaviour” with no detail on what that actually looks like.

5) Repetitive phrases: the same tip said three different ways, or recycled across multiple blogs.

6) Formulaic tone: it feels like a robot with a template, if you ever meant the person you know they just don't talk or think like that.

7) Blogging frequency: They blog a lot. Blogging helps the Google spiders get interested, so it can be tempting to churn out daily blogs just to get attention. [A word to the wise – more doesn’t always mean better].

8) The biggest giveaway: The post doesn’t really say anything. You get to the end and feel like you’ve read a lot of words… but haven’t actually learned anything useful.

So Why Did I Write This Little Blog?

Really just to give folks the heads up and I'm probably just a little fed up of reading garbage advice.

Often when something is presented in a written format it can seem more credible. The reality is that's not always the case.

So, if you've got to the end of a very long post just ask yourself: did you actually learn anything useful? Or was it just a self-promotion tool?

Before you act on that advice:

A good rule of thumb is:
🐾 Trainers train skills (look for ABTC).
🐾 Behaviourists assess and modify behaviour (look for ABTC registered behaviourists).

There's a list here: ABTC Practitioner Register

And if you're ever unsure what’s right for your dog – you’re always welcome to ask me.

Pippa x

Categories: : adolescent dog training, adult dog training, puppy training, rescue dog training