What is "Purely Positive" Dog Training?

So much has been written on this subject that I considered simply avoiding it all together. Frankly, I’m bored to death with this debate. It’s an emotionally charged issue and the two sides (balanced trainers vs. purely positive trainers) are about as likely to agree as any other polar opposites, like liberals vs. conservatives.   But I keep getting asked this question so I’ll answer it. 

First let me explain what I’m referring to in case you’ve never heard the terms “balanced” and “purely positive.” 

There are four quadrants in operant conditioning (i.e. the way that animals learn), first systematized by behaviorist B.F. Skinner in the early 20^th century. Animals learn from positive reinforcement (aka positive reward), negative reinforcement (aka negative reward), positive punishment (aka positive correction) and negative punishment (aka negative correction). So far, no problem - everyone agrees on what operant conditioning is. 

Where they differ is that balanced trainers use all four quadrants and purely positive trainers use mainly two: positive rewards (like a food treat), and negative corrections (like a time-out or the removal of attention). Sometimes they use the third, negative rewards, but not often. The most important difference is that they do not believe in positive correction.

My opinion – positive rewards are a great way to teach a dog what to do, but they are a bad way to teach a dog what NOT to do. When I see a bad behavior, I prefer to correct it. Correcting bad behavior reduces the likelihood of it recurring. 

When a purely positive trainer sees a bad behavior, they prefer to ignore it and reward (reinforce) the opposite behavior). Here’s a real-life example of the difference between these two dog training philosophies: If I am fostering a dog who decides to put his paws up on the top of my kitchen counter and steal food from it, I will wait for him to do it, catch him in the act, and correct him. If my correction is effective I will only have to do it once, and his counter-surfing days are over for good. But a purely positive trainer would ignore the bad behavior and reward the dog when all 4 paws are on the floor. The problem with that procedure is that counter-surfing, like many other undesirable behaviors, are self-reinforcing. The reward is built into the behavior (in this case, the fun of searching for food, and occasionally being rewarded by stealing some food).  But counter surfing can be a very dangerous – potentially life threatening – habit. If a dog snatches a bottle of medication, a large piece of chocolate, a sharp knife with meat residue on it, etc. he can be seriously injured, maybe even die.

I would rather protect the dog’s safety and hurt his feelings, than the other way around.  And I’m in good company:

Gary Wilkes, DVM, a nationally known veterinarian and advocate of balanced dog training has written extensively on this subject. I came across this recent post where he addressed this very issue:  “Positive reinforcement cannot inhibit behavior. If you choose “positive” training you cannot stop anything. The common suggestion of “teach an alternate behavior” is senseless. Learning to ride a horse doesn’t erase your knowledge of riding a bike – no matter who much you are rewarded for riding horses….The claim to be “positive” is a rhetorical tool that allows [purely positive trainers] to fool either themselves or those they wish to persuade. .. All manner of working dogs are trained to dependable performance using a balance of positive and negative…. if using “negative” training is bad, why don’t Seeing Eye dogs look terrified?”

The New York Times obituary of Arthur Haggerty (1932 - 2006), called him “The most famous dog trainer in the United States.” Haggerty had trained more than 100,000 dogs including dogs for more than 450 television commercials and more than 150 feature films. The Times article stated, “Haggerty… had little patience for the New Age dog-training methods of recent years.” In a 2003 Dog World article Haggerty said, “These methods, in which dog trainers...whisper in the dog’s ear kissy face nice and click a clicker, are almost always ineffectual.” In the article Haggerty gave an example using a dog who was nuisance barking. Instead of following complicated protocols he preferred to simply correct a dog for nuisance barking, especially in a case where a renter threatened with eviction might be forced to give up the dog. People needed fast, effective solutions. Correcting the behavior enabled the dog to remain in the home and live, rather than be surrendered to an overcrowded animal shelter and die.  

  

These are only two examples of hundreds of experienced, well known and highly respected professional dog trainers who believe in correcting bad behavior. (The most famous advocate of correction of course, is TV’s Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan. The “purely positive” crowd doesn’t like Cesar, but millions of dog owners around the world visit his website and read his best-selling books.)

So this debate is sure to continue, but I’ll stick with balanced dog training methods using all four quadrants of operant conditioning. This approach is based on science, not emotion, and it’s what I’ve seen work for thousands of clients over more than 2 decades of professional dog training experience. In contrast, I’ve retrained thousands of dogs whose owners were close to giving up on them when purely positive methods failed miserably. 

One last point: if purely positive training is so great, why aren’t service dogs trained with purely positive methods? Search dogs, military dogs, police patrol dogs and seeing-eye dogs are all trained in balanced training programs, using both rewards and correction, not in purely positive programs.

How To Become a Professional Dog Trainer

“How can I become a dog trainer” is a question I hear every day from people who love dogs and want to learn more about a career in dog training.

One option would be to attend a dog training school. There are lots of them, and these schools graduate thousands of new trainers each year. So if you’re interested in learning to train dogs as a hobby, this is one way to go about it. (Note: I would avoid the online dog training schools, and stick with an actual school where you can learn to handle dogs, not a distance learning scheme that is basically selling you some letters after your name and a certificate to hang on the wall.)  

If you want to make a full time living in the dog training field, and you are serious about becoming a dog trainer, you might want to consider buying a dog training franchise instead of spending money on any of the dog training schools out there, because the schools only teach you how to train dogs – not how to earn a living training dogs.   Owners of dog training franchises can earn 3 to 5 times as much as their non-franchised counterparts (training school graduates and independent trainers).

There are a few companies who offer dog training franchise opportunities regionally, and others who have evolved a distribution model. To avoid confusion, let’s first take a look at the difference between a dog training franchise and a dog training distributorship:

• Franchising involves a contractual relationship whereby the franchisor permits a franchisee to use its trade name, marks and brands; exercises continuing control over business operations; provides training and assistance to a franchisee and requires initial and continuing payments to the franchisor.
• Distribution is when a manufacturer or a supplier of goods appoints an independent third party – the distributor – to market its goods.  The third party purchases the goods on his own account and trades under his own name as an authorized distributor.  Their business name will have no connection with the name of the supplier of the goods nor will the supplier regulate the way in which the distributor operates his business other than to oblige the distributor to reach minimum turnover levels.

So actually, there are lots of ways that a person who wants to become a dog trainer can achieve their goal: schools for dog trainers, franchises, distributorships and independent study.

The highest paid dog trainers I’ve met are those who have followed the dog training franchise model.  Franchise Business Review conducted a survey of franchisees in a national dog training franchise and found: 

• 94% of all franchisees rated the franchisor as an "above average" business opportunity.
• 96% of franchisees believe that there is "above average" communication and support between franchisees in the system.
• 100% of franchisees said they respected the franchisor as an organization.
• 98% of franchisees stated that their schedules are flexible enough to allow them time off as needed.
• 77% of franchisees joined because they were seeking more control over their finances.   

The largest dog training franchise is Bark Busters, which has hundreds of franchises in Australia, New Zealand, USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, and Japan.  

Canine Dimensions is a U.S. company with dog training franchises  located throughout the United States. This is the company I founded back in the ‘90s.  Our mission statement was simple: to keep dogs in their homes and out of animal shelters by helping owners solve their dogs’ behavior problems.  Today our mission is the same, and we also believe that professional dog trainers should assist with education and awareness about the plight of millions of dogs in animal shelters, the vast majority of whom are there for no fault of their own.    

We advocate humane, balanced training methods and subscribe to a cynopraxic training theory – meaning we’re more concerned with results then with being in line with what’s “popular and trendy” in dog training.  “Cynopraxic” is a term coined by Stephen R. Lindsay, M.A., in  “The Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training.”  I would urge anyone who wants to become a professional dog trainer to begin by studying all three volumes of this important work: Adaptation and Learning, Etiology and Assessment, and Procedures and Protocols.

What's The Best Collar for my Dog?

What’s the Best Training Collar for My Dog?

As a professional dog trainer I am often asked, “What’s the best training collar for my dog?” People ask me that question about dogs I haven’t even met. It sounds like a reasonable question on the surface, but asking a trainer that question - before the trainer has met the dog - is like asking a professional decorator what the best color to paint your living room is before they’ve visited your home. The underlying implication is that one type of collar is best for all dogs.  This is not an accurate assumption. There is no “best collar” for all dogs, any more than there is a “best color” to paint everyone’s living room.

The training collar that you choose for your dog must be matched to:

·        Your training goals

·        Your dog’s temperament and drive

·        Your dog’s breed, physical condition and medical problems (e.g. damaged tracheas and any other physical factors that might require a harness instead of a collar)

·        Your training philosophy

Let’s start by defining what a “training collar” is. Unlike your dog’s flat collar, it is not a fashion statement. A dog can wear a flat (buckle or clip type) collar with an ID tag along with a training collar – the two are unrelated. So in the list below, we’re not going to mention flat collars (collars with a clip or a buckle that people hang an ID tag from), we’re only listing collars that are designed to help your dog learn to do something.

So the first question to ask is, “what are your training goals for the dog?” Typical dog training goals include stop pulling on leash, long distance recall, better control around the house, off leash heeling and so on.  Starting there, move down the list above and make sure you can answer each question. Once you’re done that, you are ready to start deciding what type of training collar might be a good choice for your dog. 

In this list below, I’m going to list the pros and cons of the common types of training collars, based on my 25 plus years as a professional dog trainer, having trained countless thousands of dogs. I am not endorsing the use of any of them for your dog. What you choose for your dog is up to you.  However I do have an opinion on each and I’ll share them below, along with some of the pros and cons.

Here goes: 

Choke collar – I’m listing this first because it’s the one that most trainers used at the start of, and throughout most of, the 20^th century. This was your basic training collar until it fell out of vogue in the 90s. The proper use of a choke collar is not to choke, but to alert the dog that you desire a certain behavior. Pros include its simple construction, and the fact that it’s easy to put on and take off, as long as you remember the “P” for puppy principle – if you’re going to be walking your dog at your left side, the chain should form the letter “p” when you’re holding it up in front of you before you put it on your dog. That way, a quick tug on the leash will allow it to close and then reopen quickly. If you put it on incorrectly (upside down) it will not release.   Cons include the fact that if used improperly (which is the way 99% of people use it who have not had professional assistance) it can seriously injure your dog.  (Personal opinion – I very rarely use choke collars on any dogs that I train. There are much safer and much more effective training collars than the old fashioned choke collar.)

Martingale collar – A Martingale collar is a fabric (usually nylon or cotton) collar that has a little loop at the top that allows it to snug up when needed, so that a dog cannot slip his head out of it accidentally when on leash. It is designed to be dropped over the dog’s head, and then tightened before use. Pros – it exerts pressure evenly, unlike a flat collar which can press directly against the trachea. When used properly it is safer than a flat collar, and if your dog’s an escape artist this collar is foolproof, nothing to malfunction like those plastic clips on flat collars, and IF (only IF) you remember to slide that metal part back and tighten it before you clip the leash on, it will be impossible for a dog to whip his head out of it. Cons – when new it is a little tough to slide the metal part back and forth to tighten and loosen it, so it can be a pain to put on and take off until it loosens up a bit. For safety, remember to take it off before crating your dog, especially if you attach your dog’s ID tags to it. (Personal opinion – this is my favorite “every day collar” for most dogs. Good to wear around the house, gives you instant control and the dog can’t accidentally slip out of it. But if your dog is a hard puller on leash, this type of training collar will not help much.)

Prong collar – Used properly, it is a safe, gentle way to teach hard pulling dogs how to walk nicely on leash and to help gain control over unruly dogs. Pros: works fast when used right. Much safer than choke collars. In fact a study on prong collars was done in Germany:

·        100 dogs were in the study. 50 used choke and 50 used prong.

·        The dogs were studied for their entire lives. As dogs died, autopsies were performed.

·        Of the 50 which had choke collars, 48 had injuries to the neck, trachea, or back. 2 of those were determined to be genetic. The other 46 were caused by trauma.

·        Of the 50 which had used prong collars, only 2 had injuries in the neck area, 1 was determined to be genetic. 1 was caused by trauma.

(Information about above study taken from an Anne Marie Silverton Seminar, http://www.cobankopegi.com/prong.html#AStudy)

Cons: Can cause some dogs to redirect, so not a good choice for some aggressive dogs. Not easy to put on and take off, and should not be used without professional assistance. Prongs must be positioned properly – high on the side of the neck and not over the trachea.    NEVER slip the collar over the dog’s head as you  can poke an eye. Dogs playing with  each other must NEVER wear prong collars (the other dogs can get caught in the prongs). ALWAYS remove the prong collar when the dog is not under your direct supervision. DO NOT put a dog wearing a prong collar on a tie-out or tether line. The prongs or the quick release catch can come loose when in use, so the dog should ALWAYS wear a nylon slip collar in addition to the prong collar. (Personal opinion: Should not be used without professional assistance, but when used properly can be an excellent training tool.)

Head Halter – Pros: Controls the head. Cons: More of a containment device than a training device, as the handler cannot deliver an effective correction for unwanted behavior. Therefore they are okay for control but not for training. Plus, dogs absolutely hate wearing them, in fact many dogs will completely shut down until they get used to them. Also, if not used exactly according to the manufacturer’s instructions, they can slip off at the worst possible moment. (Personal opinion – I rarely use head halters.)

Harness – I know this is not a type of collar, but have  included it here for clarity. If you want to teach a dog to pull something, or want to do some tracking, a harness is an excellent choice. But for dogs who already pull hard on the leash, it is exactly the wrong choice. Again, like the head halters that “purely positive” trainers are so fond of, harnesses are really more of a  containment device rather than a training device. (Personal opinion – not a fan. I only use them if I have no other choice, like for a dog who is likely to redirect at the handler on a  different type of training collar.)

Remote Training Collars (aka e-collars or “shock collars”) – must be used only by professional trainers who are experienced in their use. Owners who buy a remote training collar and try to use them without hiring a professional risk creating serious behavioral problems in their dogs.  (Personal opinion - They are not part of our basic obedience training program at Canine Dimensions, but they can be a valid training tool when used properly, for certain training goals, with the guidance of a professional trainer, with the right dog and under the right circumstances.)

The right collar for your dog might not be the right collar for your neighbor’s dog, it all depends on the temperament, health, breed and drive of the dog, as well as you own training goals. So if you’re in doubt about the right collar for your dog, don’t be afraid to get the help of a good professional dog trainer in your area. 

Are Dog Parks Safe or Are Dog Parks Dangerous for Dogs?

Are Dog Parks Safe or Are Dog Parks Dangerous for Dogs?

Dog parks are a relatively recent phenomenon, and they are now the fastest growing type of municipal parks. There were 571 dog parks in the largest 100 cities in the United States in 2011, which is a 33% increase over a 5 year period.

But are dog parks safe? The ASPCA has endorsed the idea of dog parks, saying that it gives owners an opportunity to provide much needed exercise for dogs, which has a positive impact on decreasing dog behavior problems. True, but at what cost?  Lots of people love taking their dogs to dog parks. But are they safe? Fights are common at dog parks, and because of the large number of dogs in a relatively small area, so are diseases.

This is an ongoing debate and there are pros and cons to be considered, but in my opinion - dog parks are a bad idea. I admit that my evidence is anecdotal, but I really believe that more harm than good has been done by dog parks - too many fights, and too many illnesses. But, you ask, “what about exercise and socialization?”

First of all, dogs can get all the exercise they need with a couple of daily walks and a good game of fetch or tug. For the more active breeds, add a pet sitter during the day, a jog, a game of flirt pole and some food toys. 

Secondly, socialization should be done carefully, with dogs you know – not with strangers’ dogs.  

I don’t know a single professional dog trainer who would take their own dogs to a dog park (unless the park was empty or they knew all of the other dogs and owners there.) One fight can change a dog’s attitude about other dogs for the rest of its life - it’s just not worth it. Also, keep in mind that true “socialization” takes place between 3 and 22 weeks of age. If your dog is not dog-friendly at 1 year of age, taking him or her to the dog park is not going to “socialize” them.

So for these two reasons - fights and illnesses  - I tell my clients to avoid dog parks. But in spite of my advice,  I know that some of my clients are enamored with dog parks – so I tell them that if they absolutely must take their dogs to dog parks, they should at least follow some common sense guidelines:

1)      Be alert. Watch your dog and the others around him. You’re not there to have coffee and chat with your neighbors – you’re there to supervise your dog.

2)      Keep weight ranges similar. Small dogs should not be matched with bog dogs and vice versa.

3)      Be extra aware of bully breeds at the park. Their play styles are more “in your face” than other breeds, and this can be frightening to more laid back dogs.

4)      Watch for avoidance behavior in your dog. If you’re not good at reading body language, you have no business taking your dog to a dog park. For example, if your dog comes running back to you and stands behind you, don’t pet him and tell him “that’s ok” - put a leash on him and take him home! He’ll recognize that you did your job and protected him from whatever was frightening him.

5)      No prong collars should be worn at the dog park, as dogs often play by grabbing each other on the neck and this can result in a serious injury if the dog gets his mouth caught in the prongs.

6)      Get to know the “trouble makers” at the dog park.  Dog parks are frequented by a lot of “regulars” and your neighbors can probably tip you off to the dogs who tend to bully the other dogs.

7)      Bring an air horn – the loud noise can break up a fight (not always - but sometimes).

8)      If you have to break up a fight, do not reach in between the fighting dogs – this is a sure recipe for a dog bite. Instead, grab the back legs and pull the dogs apart.

9)      If one of the combatants is a Pit or Rottie, they tend to hold on and sometimes it makes more sense to wait for them to re-grip before pulling apart. When fighting dogs have their mouths latched on to each other, pulling them apart at the wrong time can make injuries worse. 

Sounds like more trouble than it’s worth doesn’t it?