Note: We at the BarkPost are by no means pupfessional trainers. If you have any behaviors you wish to work through with your pup, we strongly urge you to consult with a pawfessional animal behaviorist!
We all want pups who sit, stay, heel and maybe even jump through hoops on command. But some of us have no idea how to get our dogs to perform these tasks – and some of us have very clear opinions on how to do it.
Whatever your view, we wanted to give you the facts about the two most prominent methods of training, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Both of these rely on the process of operant conditioning to teach your dog how to behave and live in our human world. Your dog learns how to act appropriately based on repeated results and experiences.
With positive reinforcement, you give something, like a treat, to your dog when they do something good. On the flip-side, negative reinforcement is when you take something away from your dog, like a toy, when they do something bad. You can also introduce an undesired stimulus into the environment, like a loud noise, to discourage the behavior.
To put it in hooman terms, positive reinforcement would be like letting your child have ice cream if they did their homework. Negative reinforcement would be like taking away their computer time if they failed a test.
Let’s look at these two methods a bit more closely.
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is also called reward-based training. Even though this method is all about praise, you need to be a firm and confident trainer.
The biggest misconception about positive reinforcement is that results in a spoiled canine, not a respectful pooch with boundaries and proper behaviors.
Positive reinforcement should be about showing your dog which behaviors are right. For instance, if you walk in on your dog chewing on your shoe, you say a firm no and remove the shoe. Then, you give the dog a bone or a chew toy.
You’re not reinforcing the bad behavior of shoe chewing. You’re showing your dog what it should chew on instead.
You encourage correct behaviors by repeating the command and giving something positive once your dog obeys.
Using food as a reward is tricky. You don’t want to use the food as a bribe, but sometimes you need it as a lure. Keep the food out of sight for things like sit and stay. Your dog learns that the behavior doesn’t depend on the treat, rather it depends on the acknowledgement of doing good.
However, you may need to use food as a lure to teach your pup things like recall. The trainers at Ahimsa Dog Training of Seattle say that it’s crucial to phase out the lure as soon as possible.
It’s important to only reward your pet when they perform the proper behavior, not when they give you the big ol’ eyes. You also don’t want to say “good girl” if you’re not getting the behavior you want. You may think this is encouraging them to perform the task, but it’s really encouraging them to misbehave.
Both this method and negative reinforcement are about consistency. However, that doesn’t mean that you consistently reward good behaviors with treats. You should shake up your rewards and sometimes respond with a simple “You did it! Yay!”
According to the Shiba Shake,
“We do not want to reward our dog too frequently, or he may learn to expect a reward every time, and not be motivated to give his best effort.”
The goal is to get your dog to perform the desired behavior on command and without the expectation of a treat.
Reward with a treat only after you’ve given the verbal reward. You want your dog to respond to your praise first. Remember, this is all about getting them to listen to you, not getting them to listen to food.
Speaking of treats, weight gain is a potential risk of positive training. Dog treats don’t often list serving sizes or calories on the package. Plus, a lot of people use highly valued food, like cheese, as a motivator. Cheese is packed with fat.
Here are some things to think about if you are going to reward with food:
- Use treats specifically labeled as “training treats.”
- Use a small portion of food from their regular meal allotment as a reward.
- Use low calorie human food, like carrots and apples. Boiled chicken is good too.
- Alternate between food and praise.
Also, make sure that exercise and play are a part of your training sessions. This will help keep their weight in check!
Negative Reinforcement
Before we dig into what negative reinforcement is, let’s clear up some misconceptions and talk about what it is not.
Negative reinforcement is NOT:
- Yelling at your dog.
- Hitting or kicking your dog.
- Causing lasting pain to your dog.
- Terrifying your dog.
Talking about negative reinforcement is often an emotionally charged discussion. That’s because the term “negative” is, well, negative. It implies that you’re doing something bad or damaging to your dog. That is never what it should be.
Unfortunately, this method is frequently misunderstood. Dog owners often act aggressively or angrily to their dogs, assuming that this is the appropriate negative stimuli. It’s not. In fact, it will have the opposite reaction and may even cause your dog’s behavior to worsen and might lead to biting and other violent behavior.
The University of Pennsylvania reports that a study published in a 2009 issue of Applied Animal Behavior Science found that aggressive owners tend to have aggressive dogs. It shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us that a dog who is hit or kicked might become violent in order to defend itself. The aggressive owners believed their methods were part of the negative reinforcement technique.
However, many advocates of this method are quick to note that negative reinforcement shouldn’t be confrontational or abusive.
Many people prefer to call negative reinforcement “aversion training,” instead. It better describes the purpose of the training, which is to train your dog to become averse to bad behaviors, not terrified of you.
In many ways, negative reinforcement is still reward-based, but instead of giving a reward, you’re removing it, according to Ahimsa Dog Training.
Here are some ways to do that:
- Ignoring your dog when they constantly bark for attention.
- Time outs.
- Taking away toys.
- Denying treats.
To be clear, ignoring your dog does not mean that you ignore them for days. It simply means that you don’t give into their cries for attention. Likewise, a time out might be to put them in a different room to reduce begging during mealtime or if they destroyed the toilet paper (again!).
Now onto the controversial stuff:
There are aspects of aversion training that might seem potentially harmful. Instead of removing a reward, they involve introducing an unpleasant stimulus when bad behavior occurs.
The first level of this method includes things like shaking a bottle of coins when a dog barks or gently stepping on a leash to teach your dog to heel. DogTime mentions that even using a gentle leader harness is an example of negative reinforcement because it self-corrects an undesired behavior.
But there is another level of applying an unpleasant stimulus can come with a lot of drawbacks. This level includes:
- Shock collars and electric fences.
- “Alpha rolls.”
- Prong collars
- Applying slight pressure to a dog’s neck, simulating a mama dog grabbing her pup’s scruff.
None of these tools are designed to harm your dog. Unfortunately, many people do not understand how to implement them. Prong collars can be especially dangerous if you do not know how to use it properly. Likewise, shock collars can be set too high. If you are going to employ any of these techniques, you should seek out a professional trainer so that you know how to use these methods correctly.
Additionally, when it comes to any training, but ESPECIALLY with aversion training, be certain you are in a positive state of mind. If you are agitated for any reason, especially if you’re frustrated with your pup, it’s time to take a break from training for the day.
Even if you use negative/aversion training techniques, your dog needs to feel good about the overall learning process. If you’re angry or anxious, your dog will recognize those emotions and start to feel anxious, or even scared, himself.
This is because dogs use something called social referencing, which is also practiced by very young hoomans, to help them understand how to react to certain situations. According to Psychology Today, if your dog is confused about a new situation, which often happens during training, she’ll scope out your emotional state and use that as an indicator for how she should react:
“In the case where the owner expresses displeasure about the stimulus the dogs tend to pretty much freeze in space, then stop moving around and hold their place.” – Stanley Coren, Ph.D.
You can see how this would interrupt the training process.
Remember that not every dog responds the same to either one of these methods. A lot of this has to do with personality. Some dogs are not food or praise motivated, so reward-based training will likely have little effect on them. Likewise, professional dog trainer Sarah Hodgson tells the Huffington Post,
“While [shaking] a coin bottle might work wonders for other dogs, it will instill fear with a sensitive dog.”
Karen Pryor says that the negative impact of a stimulus can only be judged by the recipient. Since dogs don’t communicate in the same way that we do, it can be difficult to know how your methods are affecting your pup.
Just as your dog will look to you for emotional cues, you need to look to him to see how he’s reacting to certain stimulus. Figuring out what’s driving the bad behavior may help you determine which method of training is best.
Also remember that you may need to try both methods, and even mix them together, to find what works for you and your dog.
No matter what form of training you use, approach it from the perspective of fun and love, not stress and frustration. The most important thing is that you and your pup build a loving and trusting bond.
Featured Image via Positive Pet Technique.
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