Jeff Gellman opponents say they've won a battle to keep him out of Australia despite his claims it’s due to the coronavirus

Opponents of a US dog trainer, said to use “archaic” training methods and who claims to be the victim of a global witch hunt, are rejoicing after he cancelled his trip

A CONTROVERSIAL American dog trainer has blamed the coronavirus outbreak for causing him to cancel his upcoming Australian seminars but his opponents believe their objections to his training methods is what really thwarted his trip.

Speaking on a live chat via YouTube on Wednesday night US time, owner of Rhode Island-based Solid K9 Training Jeff Gellman, 53, confirmed he had cancelled some international seminars for the year, including one scheduled for Brisbane in July.

“With everything happening with the flights right now we decided not to – New Zealand we have not finalised yet - but Singapore, Australia and the UK, we’ve decided not to do,” he said during the live video chat.

“We decided between like the 11th and the 15th of the month are like, you know what, things are going to change.”
“We don’t want to take a chance of things getting out of our control and getting stuck in a country, which could happen, or you fly to a country … but you have to be in quarantine for a certain amount of time before you’re allowed to walk around,” he said.

But opponents to Mr Gellman’s “balanced” training methods say they believe the more than 50,000 people that signed two change.org petitions trying to get him banned from the country is the real reason behind the cancellations.

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Mr Gellman was heavily criticised around the world after YouTube videos of him using shock collars on dogs, that yelped from the pain, as well as him hitting or “bonking” dogs with a rolled up towel went viral.

He has previously stated that the video clip snippets were taken out of context and that he had helped thousands of owners successfully train their mostly aggressive dogs.

Certified dog trainer Gayle Button, 56, who started the first petition titled Ban Abusive Dog Trainer Jeff Gellman – Australia, said they were thrilled he had cancelled his Brisbane seminar.

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“I have the best news to share. We did it!,” Mrs Button wrote on Facebook.

Lisa Shaw, 47, who started the second petition against Mr Gellman, said she was pleased to hear his announcement.

“I’ve spent months and thousands of hours trying to keep this man and his rubbish training methods out of Australia,” she wrote on Facebook.

“He will probably blame the travel bans – but we all know that’s not the case. Whoop whoop (sic).

Controversial America dog trainer Jeff Gellman. Picture: GoFundMe

Many sceptical dog lovers also pointed to a snippet from a now-deleted YouTube video by Mr Gellman on March 9, where he first mentioned he was cancelling international seminars in response to a question from a viewer about his classes in the UK.

“We’re actually not going to be doing any overseas seminars in 2020,” he said on the video.

“We’ll be announcing that next week.”

“There’s a lot of stuff going on with the training element over in the UK that’s keeping us from doing our seminars and if someone bought a ticket you’ll be getting a refund.”

The businessman – who previously owned a sex store, according to the Providence Journal – had copped backlash from animal lovers and groups from the UK to New Zealand, with several petitions protesting his visit to those countries also emerging.
In January, Mr Gellman wrote on his Facebook page that he and his family had become targets of a global witch hunt following the viral video.
“What started as a helpful video that I created to educate my followers has been edited and shared around the world to meet someone else’s agenda,” he wrote.
“Social media has allowed everyone to have a voice, and unfortunately it’s creating international witch hunts and death wishes upon me and my family.”

Jeff Gellman, owner of Rhode Island-based Solid K9 Training, hosting one of his controversial dog training courses.

Mr Gellman did not return repeated calls or emails left for him by The Courier-Mail seeking comment about his seminars, where tickets ranged in price from $600-$1000, but said in the live video chat on Tuesday that he had been an invited guest to Australia.

“Trust me, every one of these countries we were going to, we were going as invited guests,” he said.

“Meaning people want us there.”

Barbara Hodel, dog trainer and president of the Pet Professional Guild of Australia, said she was happy Mr Gellman had cancelled.

“There is no need for his outdated and abusive methods here in Australia or anywhere else in the world,” she said.

Many veterinarians, behaviourists and trainers around the world have said it was no longer recommended nor advisable to train dogs with punishment.

Experts have said positive reinforcement training has been scientifically proven over many years to be the best way.

Jeff Gellman. Picture: Facebook