A controversial dog trainer who advocates the use of shock collars says he has abandoned an upcoming seminar in Perthshire.
Jeff Gellman was due to travel from the US to host the two-day event in Braco this summer.
In January, the Scottish SPCA urged dog owners to boycott the £750-per-head show, claiming Mr Gellman’s “cowardly” methods inflicted pain on animals.
More than 160,000 people signed a petition calling for an end to Mr Gellman’s “abuse”.
The Rhode Island-based trainer, who runs Solid K-9 Training, has told followers he will not be coming to Scotland this year.
In a video posted online, he said: “We won’t be doing any overseas seminars in 2020, 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.”
Video of one of Mr Gellman’s controversial methods is above this article
The clip was shared by social media group Dog Friendly Perthshire. A spokeswoman said: “We have always made it quite clear what our stance is on some training methods in the dog world and that they are not what I believe in, or will associate Dog Friendly Perthshire with in anyway.
“I know this is backed by many dog trainers, dog friendly businesses, dog owners and countless other animal lovers out there.
“This is why we are extremely happy to find out that Jeff Gellman has announced himself that he is no longer coming to England and Scotland for his seminars this summer.
“We do not support his ‘training’ methods in the slightest, and I’m glad to see he realises he is not welcome here.”
