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Real Training for Really Great Results
What is positive reinforcement training? Whether teaching your child, co-worker or your puppy, positive reinforcement training means that you reward what you want, and withhold a reward or ignore what you don’t want. If your child does the dishes without you asking, you reward that with a special movie. That’s positive reinforcement. If your normally lax spouse caps the toothpaste and puts it away in the cabinet, you praise him or her. That’s positive reinforcement. If your jumping puppy sits when you come into the room, you praise and toss the ball for her. That’s positive reinforcement.
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Positive reinforcement training is based on motivation and reward, rather than coercion and force. A knowledgeable positive reinforcement trainer knows how to get a puppy (or any other animal) to offer a behavior rather than needing to force a behavior.
Positive reinforcement training creates an environment of trust and collaboration with your puppy who then becomes a willing and enthusiastic member in the learning process.
Positive reinforcement is one of the most powerful learning tools available to teach your puppy the behaviors you want.
Positive reinforcement training gives you the know-how to work with your puppy’s natural instincts using a range of productive techniques while stressing your role of leadership, yet never putting you or your puppy in any physical harm or tension.
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Training your puppy should be fun! Teaching and learning should not be confrontational, and there is never any reason for your household to be a battle zone with your puppy. Positive reinforcement trainers don’t use choke chains, prong collars, shock collars, water sprayers, rolled-up papers, strangleholds, muzzle holds, alpha rolls, hanging, scruff shakes, dunking, pinching, lip pulls, leash pops, bags of chains, yelling, hissing, growling flicking or hitting. With what animal behaviorists know today about the science of why and how our dogs learn, these tools of intimidation are simply unnecessary. The common thread in all of these tools and techniques, though, is that they use fear, force or intimidation to teach your puppy that there is no choice but to comply. Your puppy then reacts to the fear of the technique, rather than learning the correct behavior. To avoid the consequence, your puppy simply shuts down and does nothing at all. Your puppy suppresses all behavior, and people interpret that lack of behavior as good behavior. Suppressing behavior doesn’t mean your puppy has learned wanted behavior; it means only that she is not performing any behavior! Scientific studies have shown that using force-based teaching methods results in your puppy (and humans, too) doing only as much as needed in order to avoid the consequences. The side effects of force-based techniques can result in increased anxiety, avoidance, escape, aggression, and general fear of things associated with the consequences such as the person issuing the consequence, sounds and/or sights during the consequence, the area of the consequence.
Side Effects of Force
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Increased Anxiety
Avoidance
Escape
Aggression
Fear
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On the other hand, the side effects of positive reinforcement training is a puppy who trusts you, wants to learn from you, be near you, do what you ask and work harder for you! Teaching and learning should be a pleasant and rewarding experience for both you and your puppy, and positive reinforcement training is the conduit to enjoyable bonding and interaction, with successfully learned life skills!
Side Effects of Positive Reinforcement
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Trust
Learning
Bonding
Works harder for you
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