Positive Dog Training may not be what you think

The phrase”Positive dog training” is a marketing catchphrase used by nearly every dog training website on the internet. The phrase is used both deceptively and in utter ignorance of what it means in the context of behavior science.

There are an awful lot of dog trainers out there who are touting their dog training methods as positive as a means to pull in a bigger share of the market in the competitive, unregulated dog training industry. Most dog owners just want to get a well-behaved dog by using the most humane training methods. Too many are learning the hard way that the methods some dog trainers and self-titled “dog behaviorists” use can cause long-term damage to their poor dog’s ability to cope with life.

Don’t be duped into thinking that, just because a trainer’s website contains all the catchphrases about being positive, the trainers use NO punishment or even know what they are doing! 

Amy Pike, DVM, DACVB; Animal Behavior Wellness Center, Centreville, VA, 

What is Positive Dog Training?

Positive reinforcement training is very simple. There is no magic to it. The dog does something the trainer likes and the behaviour gets reinforced with a reinforcement marker (praise, or a click) followed by something the dog likes. During training, the dog is always prevented from finding his own environmental reinforcers through management (such as a leash to prevent wandering off and doing his own thing) until he is likely to succeed even in the presence of the distraction. When the dog doesn’t perform in the way the trainer wants, the dog gets nothing. No correction. No punishment. Nada.

Positive reinforcement training focuses on what the trainer wants the dog to do and not on what the trainer doesn’t want from the dog. It always sets the dog up for success. At no time is the dog physically or verbally corrected. Positive training is low-stress and happens very fast when there is no threat of correction. Positive reinforcement training builds a strong bond with the dog, who then seeks positive ways to be reinforced by the trainer and actually starts offering learned behaviors in hopes of being reinforced. To the dog, it’s always fun.

To make it easier to tell which dog trainers use positive methods, we researched and found the top 5 myths about positive dog training methods

Myth #1 You Don’t Need To Use Food

Positive dog training always requires the use of food at the beginning. Some dog trainers who claim to use positive methods (and don’t) say that food is a bribe. For this reason alone they don’t use food to reinforce behaviour they want. Instead, they only reward the dog with praise and affection or life rewards .

The problem with this is that it’s a very slow way to get a dog to understand and want to comply with what you want him to do. The truth is food rewards work to reinforce behavior for one reason and one reason only. It’s because food meets a very primal and universal need. It provides great pleasure to the dog. The dog then associates that great pleasure with the action he just did.

After just a few rewarded repetitions the dog begins to love doing whatever that action is. He starts to do it eagerly because the action itself becomes rewarding. Praise and affection are often accepted by dogs, but they mean nothing to a dog until we give them meaning. Often when a trainer uses only praise to reward the dog, it may work because the dog eventually learns that praise is a cue that something unpleasant is finally going to stop. This isn’t exactly the way to get willing behavior from a joyful partner.

Myth #2 Food Rewards are Bribes

In positive dog training, food is never used to bribe the dog. A bribe is when we try to convince the dog that the food is better than an environmental reinforcer he was about to reinforce himself with. It promises that if the dog does something we want, he can have a snack. That’s not how real positive dog trainers use food reinforcers. Instead, we use food rewards to reinforce working, much like a paycheck reinforces you working.

It works like this: First we set the dog up for success by preventing the behavior we don’t want more of from happening. Then we focus on teaching the dog a goal behavior, working in small successive increments where he is highly likely to succeed. Positive dog trainers give the food reinforcer immediately after the marker for the behavior we want occurs, and only for a set number of repetitions.

Food Rewards Don’t Last Forever

We reward each repetition until it’s learned by rote. Then we add a little more challenge and reward each success at that increment. We continue until the dog reaches the goal behaviour and repeats it. The use of food is systematically faded as the dog has to work harder and harder to get the reinforcer. Soon, a favorite trick or a quick game of fetch or tug may take the place of the food. By then he loves doing the behavior because it’s so much fun for him.

Positive dog trainers give the food reinforcer immediately after the marker for the behavior we want occurs, and only for a set number of repetitions. The food is pay for a job well done. The use of food is systematically faded as the dog has to work harder and harder to get the reinforcer. Soon, a favorite trick or a quick game of fetch or tug may take the place of the food.

Myth #3. Positive Training Uses Corrections

Positive dog trainers don’t physically or verbally correct dogs. They know that corrections cause stress in dogs. And they know that stressed dogs just don’t learn as fast or as well as relaxed and engaged dogs. Positive dog trainers watch the dog carefully for signs of stress. They always reassess their training plan if the dog starts to show signs of stress. Imagine trying to learn anything if someone physically corrected you every time you made an error.

Dogs learn faster and more reliably without verbal or physical corrections. Dog trainers who yell at dogs or correct them with shake cans, throw chains or weird loud noises like “TCH” or “Bah!” are not training with positive dog training methods. These methods scare dogs. Similarly, dog trainers who use choke, pinch, or shock collars are not using positive methods. Trainers who put dogs on the ground until they are “calm submissive” are not using positive training methods.

Myth #4 Positive Dog Training Uses Physical Manipulation

Positive dog trainers never push, pull or drag dogs into position. Why not? For one thing, doing any of these things causes stress in dogs and stressed dogs don’t learn fast or well. Another Important reason positive dog trainers don’t use these methods is because they create (at least) momentary resistance in the dog. Dogs push into pressure. This is called the oppositional reflex.

For instance, when someone pushes his rear into a sitting position, the dog pushes upward against the hand pushing down on him. This opposition can quickly become a reinforced habit and the dog has learned to resist training. Trainers who use physical manipulation identify these dogs as stubborn dogs, Alpha dogs, and Dominant dogs, and yet they simply inadvertently reinforce the dog for pushing back.

Myth #5 Positive Dog Trainers use terms like Alpha, Dominant, Pack Leader

Positive dog trainers don’t use terms like “Alpha” because they aren’t logical or behaviorally scientific. The reality is that your 14-week-old puppy is not out to dominate you. It turns out that no dog has a hidden agenda of trying to dominate you. Much like you, your dog does everything he does to get something he wants. Sometimes it might be to avoid something he doesn’t want.

In actuality, to desire a “pack leader” position, a dog would have to first imagine the advantages of becoming the pack leader. Then he’d have to plan his ascent to the coveted pack leader role. Seriously, there just isn’t any scientific evidence that dogs are capable of either of these complex behaviors.

However, there’s lots of science-backed evidence that dogs are capable of doing what they need to to get and keep resources. With this in mind, any dog can figure out ways to use a whole slew of different behaviors to get us to feed them or interact with them. Dogs will also use defensive vocalizations and physical displays to communicate very clearly when they don’t want you to take a valued item away. However, when a dog does this, they aren’t doing it as a part of a much greater plan for dominance.

A Good Reason To Avoid Letting A Trainer Use Correction-Based Training WIth Your Dog

The thing it boils down to is that every dog is born with a set of instincts and reflexes that make him a perfect dog. His social behavior is all learned from other dogs or the humans that adopted him into their family. In other words, a dog has to learn everything about how to function in a human family from humans. If a dog’s trainer doesn’t provide clear information to him, the dog will improvise and do what works to get the things he wants. If the humans the dog normally interacts with are physically rough or confusing to him, the dog learns rough behavior. He also learns physical defensive strategies that make humans stop being rough. Dogs trained with correction-based methods can become increasingly challenging and defensive. The biggest tragedy is when dogs escalate to the point where they unexpectedly bite someone.

If a dog trainer calls a himself positive trainer but bandies about the word “Alpha”, or “Dominant” to describe any dog, he is not using positive training methods. He might even cause real harm to your dog.