Well do I correct my dog or constantly reward my dog !!
During my career as a dog trainer the most asked question is “how do I stop my dog from barking ?,” but the second most asked question is, can I punish my dog when its doing something wrong or do I use just ignore it and use positive training ?. Let’s visit both forms of training and then draw a logical conclusion based on informed information. What ever the style of dog training, obedience dog training, security dog training or pet therapy training, the same principles apply.
Positive reinforcement is when the trainer encourages desired behaviour with a positive reward, such as food treat or praise etc. This method is effective in teaching the dog to do something, but is appears not so effective in teaching the dog not to do something. Negative reinforcement is correcting the unwanted behaviour with a negative action such as a leash correction etc. This is an effective method in discouraging unwanted behaviour but appears not so good in teaching or reinforcing behavior such as in obedience training.
So it stands to reason that a mixture of both of these would be the ideal way to train a dog. This is what is known as a balanced reward based training, and this is what you will find all of K9 Australia training methods are based upon during all levels of obedience traininig.
There has been a clear increase in dog obediance trainers who claim their methods are purely reward based and im sure they do gain results in low drive animals that are trained in sterile environments with little or no stimulation. It appears however; when these animals are placed in a level of distraction there compliance becomes challenged and in a high number of dogs there skills disappears, as this form of training has no way of correcting unwanted behaviours. Dogs that are highly strung, problematic, high drive etc often fall out of reach of positive trainers.
I personally have no problem with what type of reinforcement a dog trainer may choose, it becomes a problem when dog trainers proclaim to have found the new way and as I have personally witnessed and make claims of being driven by moralistic responsibility, or when the dog owner is made to feel guilty for choosing other methods other than 100 % positive reinforcement.
The type of reinforcement used in training is a small part of the training system not the training method. For example the way the rewards are introduced, delivered & the dog interprets them, is of far greater importance than the type of reinforcement used. There appears to be a swing in the international dog training world towards a more balanced approach to training, as many positive trainers are realizing mistakes are being made.
There is not anywhere in the world where police or service dogs have been trained using purely positive training methods, These dogs all need a high level of obedience even under extreme amounts of distraction. If it’s good enough for these dogs, I find it a hard argument not to supply and deliver the same methodology in a balanced reward based training program for residential type dogs.
