A detailed look into Positive Training
Is positive training good or bad? Does it mean that you’re being 100% positive all the time? Is it the same with being permissive? Can you be a leader for you dog while training using positive methods? What is the traditional / old school dog training community thinking? For answers to these questions and more, take a look below.
Positive training is a general term that describes that us, as trainers, emphasize the use of positive reinforcement (or reward based training) and avoid the use of intimidation, physical punishment or fear. However, that does not mean that we are 100% positive by being permissive with any behavior the dog is offering. We are simply looking for a humane and safe way to address the cause of the problem instead of a quick fix done by punishing the dog when the behavior is occurring.
Positive reinforcement has been universally endorsed by the behavioral scientific community as the most effective, long lasting, humane and safest method in dog training. When we are using positive reinforcement, we are rewarding a behavior that we like, thus increasing the chance of that behavior being repeated.
Positive training is using as its core the positive reinforcement combined with negative punishment (it’s a scientific term that doesn’t mean something aversive to the dog), which means the removal of something that the dog really likes (food, attention, toys, human contact) or a vocal interrupter to redirect negative behavior into a wanted behavior and to guide a dog to make the right choices. Additionally, scientific studies have shown that the use of confrontational, punishing training techniques (like hitting the dog, intimidating it, restraining it with the “alpha roll” or using shock/e-collars) will work on stopping a behavior at that moment, but they do not work long term and actually exacerbates aggressive response and makes already aggressive dogs even more aggressive.
Leadership or the lack of it
Most of the traditional, old school trainers will argue that using positive training shows lack of leadership in front of the dog. However, I am 100% promoting the human-dog leadership by making substantial changes in the environment and changing critical daily routines, not by demanding the leadership by force. Even at a human workplace, a leader who is yelling or threatening employees is never respected by them, when a leader who is guiding the employees and his team to make the right choices and makes them feel valued for their work is always appreciated.
The bottom line
The bottom line is that positive training is so much more than the use of rewards in dog training. It’s a mix of interrelated philosophies that share a belief that it is much safer, effective and humane to teach animals using the concept of rewarding a behavior you like in order to get that behavior repeated. At the same time, by interrupting, redirecting or ignoring a behavior you don’t like, that behavior will have more chances to decrease and eventually become extinct.