"Why Positive Puppy Training is Miles Ahead of Punishment-Based Methods"
By Jill Rose
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"Walk a mile in my shoes"... I'm sure you have heard this saying. How does it apply to training your puppy? It's very simply this: in order to train your little rascal, you should first put yourself in your puppy's place.
What would you think if you were peacefully snoozing after a lively chewing experience, and suddenly your human storms up to you waving his arms and yelling at you? Would you be frightened?
The next thing your person does is to drag you to the kitchen, plop you down in front of the kitchen table and begin yelling again. Would your reaction be to slink away and be a little afraid of him? Or, would you learn, as your human hopes, not to chew on the kitchen chair since that is the spot he took you to?
What do you think? The next time you felt an urge to chew, would you know that you shouldn't chew the kitchen chair? My guess is no.
Traditional dog training relies on punishing your pup's bad behaviors, like yelling "no" and using various forceful techniques like choke collars and rolled up newspapers to get him to obey. Most likely you've been doing these things yourself, and they haven't worked for you, and that's why you're reading this article right now.
Let's take another example, teaching your puppy to sit, and look at it from your little one's perspective and you'll see why positive training is so much better...
Under the old punishment-based system:
Your human mommy tells you to "sit." You, being a puppy, have no idea what she's telling you. Suddenly, you feel her hand forcing your rump down to the floor while at the same time her other hand jerks up your head. The next day, same thing. After several weeks of this, you finally figure out that when your mommy says "sit," you'd better put your rear on the floor or else!
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Under the new, positive reinforcement system:
Your human mommy holds a treat by your nose. She says "sit" and then raises the treat. As you raise your nose up to follow the treat, you put your rump on the floor. As soon as you do, your mommy gives you a treat. It doesn't take long until you learn that when you hear "sit" and you get into the right position, good things can happen!
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Can you see now why positive reinforcement training is much more effective, much nicer to your puppy, and results in a better relationship with him because now he enjoys being with you? It will also make your pup enthusiastic to learn more tricks because it's so much fun for him (and for you)! Positive reinforcement works because it is based on rewarding your puppy's good behavior, which then causes him to perform that good behavior more often in the future, because he associates good things with it. By the way, another huge advantage of positive training is that anybody can use it. Using punishment-based methods, you need physical strength to keep your dog on a controlled leash and a powerful voice to assert your dominance with a fear-invoking shout of "no!". Once you know the right methods, even a child (under your watch of course) can train a dog.
Read about Jill Rose's guide, Painless & Positive Puppy Training, here!
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