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MY BELIEFS & PHILOSOPHY ON CORRECT DOG TRAINING AND BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION.

Totally Positive Reward Based Training V's Training using your dogs natural learning instincts.

Firstly, I want to state that I do believe "Totally Positive Reinforcement" training methods have their place, and I, depending on what I am trying to achieve with a certain dog, do use these methods on occassion. I however do not believe they work on all dogs for all situations. I have had too many dog owners come to me over the years stating they started with these methods, however the method either wasn't working for their particular dog, or circumstance. We need a more balanced approach to dog training and behaviour modification, and not get caught up saying this or that method is the only way to train a dog. They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

I do however feel that the totally positive reinforcement training methods, have many failings in their methods, that I believe proponents of this method keep a blind eye to. Below I have tried to point out a few of these areas. I will over the coming months probably write more on where I feel these training methods are not useful, and quote you a few examples of dog owners that have come to me, after trying these methods, but have found that they weren't suitable, and in some cases even made the unwanted behaviour worse.

 All training should be primarily positive. However for our dogs to understand our rules, and to set a reliable standard of obedience and discipline, we need to not only reinforce positive behaviour, but we also must at times correct unwanted behaviour.

Secondly, that discipline always comes before affection. Why? One of the most important things to understand about your dog. Whenever you show affection to your dog, with either, voice, touch, toys, food, play, etc, you are reinforcing your dogs current state of mind and current behaviour. We NEVER want to reinforce assertive behaviour in our dogs

With over 28 years experience as a professional in dog behaviour & training, and an indepth understanding of canine psychology, I believe that to base all of your dogs training and behaviour modification only on 'totally positive reward based training' methods, will not instil in a dog a high level of reliable and consistent obedience nor correct a number of unwanted behaviours.

Positive Reinforcement - is when the trainer or dogs owner encourages desired behaviour with a positive reward, such as food, toy or praise etc. This method is effective in teaching the dog to do something, but not so effective in teaching the dog not to do something.

Although food is definitely a good motivator for many dogs, it can also in many instances reward a wrong state of mind (How many people reward their dog with a treat or food when the dog is intently looking at the food or treat, and displaying assertive body language?). I always make sure my dog is in an acceptable state of mind and displaying correct behaviour before giving any positive reward. I must read in the dog that he is being subservient to me, before receiving any positive reinforcement or reward. The dog must see the food or toy as mine, and the play only commences when I initiate it, not when the dog wants too.

Negative Reinforcement - is correcting unwanted behaviour with a negative action such as a correction, voice tone, stern eye contact and assertive body language or touch, etc. This is an effective method in discouraging unwanted behaviour, or enforcing a command the dog already knows but refuses to carry out. But not so good in teaching or reinforcing positive behaviour. We correct for refusing, we reward for complying.

Some unwanted behaviours can be corrected by ignoring the behaviour, then reinforcing a correct response. Each situation is different, and training methods and reinforcement methods should be adapted to each unique situation, and dependent on what we are trying to achieve.

It is obvious that correct training should incorporate both positive and negative reinforcement if we wish to have a well balanced training system or method. But they must be used correctly to be effective.

In my professional opinion training goes far beyond just understanding negative and positive reinforcement methods. Much has to do with the trainers body language, voice tone, psychological attitude during training, and what he is projecting at a much deeper level. Also it's about being able to read your dog correctly, and understanding what your dog is actually trying to tell you in his own language. Not understanding your dog and reading him correctly can and will affect the training ability of the trainer, and most definitely confuse your dog.

There are important reasons why professional and specialist trainers, such as:

• Police
• Military
  
• Guide Dogs
  
• Customs
  
• Quarantine
  
• Security, etc
  

don’t base their training methods soley on  ‘Totally Positive Reward Based Training Methods’. The main reasons are because the dogs handler/trainer needs to be sure that no matter what distraction is before the dog, the dog will respond appropriately to the handlers commands, and that the dog maintains consistent, reliable and high levels of obedience and discipline. They require a high standard of obedience and discipline not possible by using totally positive reward based methods.These dogs must deal with real life, and in some cases life threatening situations. A dog that is required to maintain a high standard of obedience and discipline, must learn to understand that there are always consequenses to any decision it makes, whether positive or negative. There needs to be a high level of respect and trust between dog and handler that cannot be created with just Totally Positive Reward Based Training methods. These professional handlers need to develop a very strong bond with their dogs, and this can only be achieved if the dog respects the handler as its leader. All leaders set rules, and there are always consquences for either adhering to or breaking known rules. A good leader is one that is consistent at maintaining these rules.

Yet Totally Positive Trainers will falsely inform you that the above professionals base their training methods on the Totally Positive methods which is entirely false. Yes some parts of training uses totally positive methods such as detection work, where the dog is rewarded for finding a toy. However obedience and other areas of training use a mixture of positive and negative reinforcement methods.

Having a well behaved and disciplined dog is not about teaching tricks (which I consider totally positive reward based training is, in most cases), its about having consistent rules, rewarding desired behaviour, setting bounderies for certain behaviour, and correcting undesireable behaviour if required. Our society is based on negative and positive reinforcement. We are rewarded at times for good behaviour, but we are also corrected or punished for undesireable behaviour. The animal world, uses negative reinforcement and avoidance behaviour to learn from and set rules for surviving within packs. They all have rules for survival, and do very well when left to the natural instincts that mother nature provided them.

Always remember when with your dog. Whenever you are showing your dog affection or praise, you are reinforcing your dogs state of mind at that very moment.

Understanding your dog and communicating in a way your dog understands is so important to establishing the correct relationship, and ensuring acceptable behaviour.

Obedience training is about motivating your dog to work and be obedient for you. Proper dog obedience training is about working with a dogs temperament, natural instincts and drives, to develop a relationship based on respect, trust, and the dogs natural instinct to be a pack member. It's about communicating in a way your dog understands, consistent rules, and setting boundaries for unacceptable behaviour. It's about always rewarding good behaviour, and at times correcting unwanted behaviour. It's all about LEADERSHIP, and with correct and consistent leadership comes respect.

Correct training is about using correct voice inflection, body language, timing and touch. If your dog respects and trusts you, he/she will want to please you.

People that call themselves 'Totally Positive Reward Based Trainers' tend to get caught up in scientific studies and journals on operant and classical conditioning (which ALL training is based on, whether you use totally positive methods or not), however they seem to have totally forgotten the most important  information, and that is the dog is instinctively a social pack animal that has inherited natural instincts and drives that has helped him survive for 1,000's of years. The dog doesn’t live in a laboratory cage like pavlov’s dog. But has to deal with real life and real life situations. So many 'Positive Reward Based Trainers' tell me all exotic animals are trained with totally positive reinforcement, so that proves it works. Of course they are, and 99% of them live in a cage! Very sterile environments.. It is so easy to condition an animal if you please it while it's confined in a sterile environment (even humans). A classic example are dolphins in a marine park. Kept in sterile pools with no outlet, mentally or physically for them, until the trainer comes out to feed it. I to would jump, catch ball, and do crazy tricks if I was kept so removed from reality. I to would look forward to my trainer coming out to feed me, at least my stomach gets full again, and I get some mental and physical stimulation…. I guarantee any animal kept in those conditions will train almost 100% with totally positive reinforcement. Try training the same dolphin out in the ocean where there is so much more to distract it both physically and mentally. Would totally positive reward based training work 100% of the time then? Of course not. Being kept in a sterile environment like a pool, cage, laboratory or tank is not true life reality. These dolphins are not obedience trained, they are performing tricks. Our dogs have to adjust and survive in an open world, full of distractions, and owners need to know that they can control their dog no matter what the situation or distraction. Remember we are working on instilling obedience in our dogs, not training for tricks.

I also believe that totally positive reward based training, or totally positive training is a misnomer anyway. No training is totally 100% positive. Delta Trainers advertise themselves as using 'Positive Reward Based Training Methods. Yet they do use punishment such as, 'time outs', halties, food refusal, etc. Dolphin trainers will say they only use positive methods, yet the dolphin is ONLY fed for working. If the dolphin refuses to work, it's not fed.

• You can never gain respect from your dog or the willingness to work for you if your training isn't primarily positive.
  
• Training your dog correctly is about motivating him to work for you, not work out of fear. Fear NEVER creates respect!
  

Dogs are a social pack animal, always have been and always will be. Yes they have over 1,000's of years bonded with humans. But no amount of breeding can breed these natural instincts out of a dog. Your dog does everything by instinct; socialise, play, submit, dominate, hunt, bond, defend, fight/flight, learn, avoid, chase, hunt, dig, etc, etc. Most behavioural problems develop because some dog owners don't recognise these instincts, and put human values on their dog such as equality. Nothing confuses a dog more than inconsistent rules, placing human values on it, and/or trying to treat it as an equal member of the family.

Maintaining that you can create a respectful bond with your dog by basing all of your training on 'only' positive reinforcement (food reward) to me is proposterous. Sure there are situations that it is successful. I use it many times myself, and find it successful on a number of occassions for modifying certain types of behaviour. But not ALL dogs 100% of the time. You should never limit yourself to this type of training. Obedience training is all about developing respect and a strong and lasting bond with your dog, based on his or her temperament, natural instincts and drives.The dog is an intelligent and living creature that lives in a world full of distractions and inconsistancies. In obedience training we are not trying to train our dogs to do tricks, we are establishing a relationship based on respect, a social hierarchical structure based on the dogs natural instinct of belonging to a structured pack, and obedience. We need to set rules and boundaries, if we are to be assured of owning a well behaved, well balanced and socially accepted dog.

Dogs are much happier and feel more secure, when they can predict with 100% certainty the consquences of their actions, are given proper leadership and companionship. Dogs also do respect bounderies when shown. If they don't, then how do packs even survive? We as leaders for our dogs should set bounderies and show leadership and be 100% consistent with our rules. Training methods should be tailored to each individual dog based on its temperament, its instincts and drives.

One example I like to give is a dog trained to stay with only positive reinforcement. If for example you base your dogs training on only rewarding the stay, but ignoring when your dog breaks from the stay, your dog will never learn it is not OK to break from the stay. Now put a dog trained with this method, out in a park. You give the command stay and walk out from your dog. Now if this dogs desire to go investigate scents its picking up or socialise with other people or dogs, or chase a cat is stronger than its desire for the food treat (its main focus at this very moment)... Say goodbye to your dog. As the dog has never been taught what the consequences are for breaking a stay, only rewarded for staying. A dog that can predict it will be corrected by its owner for breaking a stay, will stay no matter what the destraction is, as long as the owners training is consistant. This philososphy of never correcting your dog during training is crazy in my opinion.

Many Totally Positive Trainers infer that anyone that uses corrections in training or when modifying behaviour are cruel and/or inhumane. I have yet to hear them say a mother is cruel to its pup when she corrects it with a nip on the neck, or a dog that corrects another dog by biting and holding the other dog down until it submits. These are basic instincts a dog lives by, yet do they consider these methods cruel?

Dogs have a conscience, instincts, drives, a love of life, they are inquisitive creatures that love to run, hunt, dominate (if it has dominant characteristics), play and socialise, and get distracted easily. They focus on what interests them the most at the time.. and its not always for that piece of food or toy.. sometimes other things in their life are more important.

So when considering who to trust your dogs training to, look at what methods they preach and ask this trainer if he or she is willing to adjust training methods to suit your particular dog, if their prefered method doesn't work. What's most important is that a training method or trainer doesn't damage your relationship with your dog but enhances it, and is willing to adjust methods that are not working. Don't allow someone to try and convince you that there is only one true or humane way train a dog.. Its just not true.

Do I believe totally positive methods have their place? I most certainly do. However to sugest that we can be successful in modifying all behaviour, and teaching all dogs a high level of obedience and discpiline by only using these methods, is incorrect, and missleading in my opinion. There must be a balance in all training methods.