Can You Trust the Information About Pets You Find Online?

Verify BEFORE You Trust

By Don Hanson, PCBC-A, BFRAP

< Updated 2025-11-30 >

< The link to this page – https://forcefreepets.com/OnlineInfo-VerifyB4Trust/ >

I first addressed this topic over ten years ago on the Green Acres Kennel Shop blog in Can You Trust Your Blogger and What You Read on the Internet? I shared how a company contacted me and offered $225 to post an article on my blog promoting their product. They even offered to write the article for me, so it addressed all the points they wanted to make. They also offered to give a $25 Amazon gift card to readers, selected by them, who shared “my” post on social media. In the fine print, they stated, “The article must include several do-follow links to informational material on our website,” ensuring more website traffic from people who they wanted to believe that I endorsed those articles. Really?

The product they wanted me to promote was a shock collar, which suggests they did not spend much time researching me or my blog. I have been writing about the dangers of shock collars since the early 2000s, and how reputable scientists have demonstrated that shock collars are not only unnecessary but also less effective than non-aversive training methods and are thus tantamount to animal abuse.

I responded to their email stating that my personal reputation and that of my business were not for sale at any price.

At the time I wrote that first article in 2015, State Farm Insurance was running a TV ad that I felt was also an excellent public service announcement, alerting people that “Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true.” That was true then, and it’s still true today.

I’m writing about this again because the internet is virtually exploding with online influencers—people who spend their days talking about “stuff” online and, in some cases, getting paid millions to do so. Online influencer is today’s version of the patent medicine man of the 1800s or the carnival con artist trying to sell you a “half-price, today only, (insert name of tool, appliance, etc.)” that often costs you more than something similar you might purchase from a reputable local vendor. I have been known to say that 50% of the information about pets online is erroneous and potentially harmful. On a discussion panel earlier this year, I was corrected by a group of my colleagues who all believe it is closer to 90% garbage.

The sad fact is that these “influencers” are successful because a large percentage of the public is susceptible. As said by many a con man, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” While these influencers may be able to sell ice at the North Pole or sand in the desert, that doesn’t mean they are ethical, reputable, knowledgeable, or really have you and your pets’ best interests at heart.