Why I Am A Balanced Trainer
In a world where everything is taught off of good and bad, it’s impractical and unfair to teach dogs with “positive only” practices. The very same goes with “negative only” practices.
In the world we live in today, positive only has become a trend with parenting, raising dogs, and much of everything else.
The finicky thing with positive only practices is that people try to make it a good experience for the dog. They don’t remember or haven’t learned the four modes or facets to dog training. Positive Reinforcement, which people tend to associate with positive only training. This adds in a object or food item the dog finds valuable when they do something good or that you like. An example of this is when a puppy sits, then because you want to mark the behavior with positive association, they get a treat. In this context, positive reinforcement is the key to helping the dog understand. Then you have Negative Reinforcement. This simply means to take something away.
Let’s understand what negative reinforcement is in a specific context. Let’s say you’re working on an extended “sit” command and your dog gets up or is not following the command. Assuming that the dog does understand the command thoroughly and has followed it to a T in the past. If they come to ignore you when you give the command, apply upward leash pressure using a slip lead, martingale collar, or a Herm Sprenger Prong Collar. Adding this leash pressure is a example of positive punishment. When they do sit, that pressure is released and the positive punishment is turned into negative reinforcement.
Just as with children, there is a punishment side to training and communication. We have to remember that dogs have a different line of communication than people. Their communication lies within their physical body, attitude, and at times with other dogs, physical contact such as a head over the shoulder to assert dominance, nips, lunges, and bites to the neck or “scruff.” Just as reinforcement has positive and negative aspects to it, so does punishment.
I feel the need to reiterate that positive punishment is adding in something such as leash pressure, correction with a slip lead, martingale collar, or Herm Sprenger Prong Collar to draw a clear and concise line of communication to your dog that they can understand more easily than the english language.
In reactive dogs, such as my own Black Mouth Cur, Arlo, when he begins to build tension on a person, animal, or object, I will give a “leave it” or “lets go” command and if the command is ignored, I give a rapid, yet sharp correction or a series of corrections within 2-3 seconds with the Herm Sprenger Prong Collar for my dog’s ignoring me, not for the fixation. In a situation where my dog may be over threshold and barking or hyper-fixated on something, and I have his Dogtra 280C e-collar on him, I will use the pager (vibrate) to get his attention and break his fixation. At that same moment, I will also use a “leave it” or “let’s go” command to allow him to recognize that he now has a job to do and that is to listen to me. These are forms of positive punishment. You punish a specific behavior by adding in a corrective stimulus.
Just as with negative reinforcement, negative punishment requires you to take something away. This can often be used in training for example. Let’s say you’re training a dog that is toy motivated. They love to play tug, chase a ball, or play with a squeaky stuffed animal. You’re simply playing with them, then your dog decides that your hands are a better toy than what they were originally interested in. If you ever raised a puppy, you know all too well how common this can be. There is a positive correction to this that can be used in younger or smaller dogs. That would be a “TSS” noise and a poke to the butt. This will help them understand that it isn’t acceptable. As you do this, drop the toy and pull your hands up. If you have to stand up, do so. Once they stop or re-engage with something that is appropriate to play with, greet them with an excited “yes!” and play with them more. Repeat as needed until they learn what is okay and not.
Examples of positive reinforcement in our lives: Earning that allowance, being rewarded for that good grade, earning that promotion.
Examples of negative reinforcement in our lives: Seatbelt Alarms, a dripping sink that isn’t turned off all the way.
Examples of negative punishment in our lives: being grounded,
Examples of positive punishment in our lives: being burned by the hot stove as a kid.
