When people in the US first started taking their dogs to dog training classes, the vast majority of the knowledge of dog training came from training dogs for the military. This meant that they used aggressive methods designed to train the dogs as quickly as possible with a high rate of failure. These methods were developed using a limited set of breeds. Those dogs were viewed as tools, not as pets or companions.
Most of us are here because we want to have a companion in our house that is a joy to live with. As healthy social creatures we don’t feel happiness when we use force or violence. We all prefer to have choices, just like our dogs, and how much better do we feel when we see someone we love making a decision out of love? When compulsion is used we take away the opportunity for the dog to make decisions because any action other than the expected behavior results in pain. Some dogs can be trained very effectively with these methods. The problems lie with the dogs that are too small to safely use these methods, dogs with sensitive personalities and people who want to have an enjoyable experience training their dog. For those who wish to go beyond there are some tricks you just can’t train using fear of pain. Continue reading Why Positive Training?
