What is Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement. I say this word in excess when I tell people how I train dogs and that is because it is very important! So what exactly is it pertaining to dog training?

Well first off, there are two types of reinforcements. Positive and negative.

Negative reinforcement means that the dog will work to avoid something he finds unpleasant

 a few examples of negative reinforcement are

Water squirt to face, raising your voice, citronella spray, shaker can, being ignored, removing a food treat, pinch collar corrections, shock collars, choke chain, losing his play mate, removing toy

(Im going to group dominance rolls, stare downs and all other pack leader forms in here. I dont use them and personally dont think any other trainer should either but it happens.)

On the other end of the line with positive reinforcement the dog works to get something he likes. When you give your dog positive reinforcement after he does a desirable behavior he is more likely to repeat that behavior again.

a few things that could be used as positive reinforcement are
walks, attention, petting, treats, car rides, going outside, playing with their favorite toy, playing with other dogs

All trainers use different pieces of both positive and negative reinforcements in their training styles.
 

Negative reinforcements are imperative for dog training. For instance, if your dog isnt understanding a cue you can simply turn your back and ignore him which is kind of like a refresh so the dog can understand he is not doing correctly what you had asked of him. Ignoring him confuses him and makes the dog have time to take a small break from training. My style of training excludes most of the negative reinforcements that fall under positive punishment.

Now what is positive punishment?
Well, there are also two types of punishment and they BOTH involve negative reinforcements.

Positive punishment involves giving a negative consequence for an undesirable behavior the moment the dog does said undesirable behavior.

Negative punishment is the when you take away something the dog likes the moment he does an undesirable behavior.

To break that down for you, let me take all the examples from the negative reinforcement list and group them into positive punishment and negative punishment categories.

 

Positive Punishment

Water squirt to face, pinch collar correction, shock collar correction, choke chain correction, shaker can, raised voice, pack leader dominance rolls and stare downs etc.

 

Negative punishment

removal of food treat, losing play mate, taking away a toy, ignoring the dog

Earlier I said I exclude *most* of the negative reinforcements that are grouped into positive punishment. By this I am saying there are some times when you have exhausted every other option, you may find that positive punishments are all you have left to try. I dont believe, however, that they are the first things trainers should try when working with dogs.

Let me get into choke and prong collars real quick.
I cringe whenever I walk by people who have no clue what theyre doing when it comes to using prong or choke collars. If you want to use these there is absolutely a right and wrong way of using them, so find someone who can show you the correct way so you are not harming your dog by the use of them. Also they are meant solely for training. Do not let your dog loose with them around the house or yard because they could potentially get caught on something and choke your dog to death. I do know the proper use but how about I give you an alternative instead! If your dog is having problems with training or learning how to walk on a loose leash look into head collars instead! They are a great tool with almost instant results!

Please click here to go to my blog page about head collars  if you would like to learn more.

Pro Tip: If you have a strong "no" cue with your dog you may be able to avoid using positive punishments altogether!

In summary, my training style is based off of Positive reinforcements and Negative Punishments. This training style has proven to be very successful because dogs learn by association! When your doggy is living life earning things he likes by doing good things it keeps you, the owner, happy and also keeps your dog happy! This type of training also builds a very confident dog because they will not live in fear of getting corrective punishments if they do not listen to you. 

 

My biased opinion says if you are looking for a trainer in your area try finding a trainer who bases their techniques off  positive reinforcements so your dog too can live a happy and confident lifestyle!

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