Making Excellent Choices

Positive training is very much about choices. Good choices yield desired rewards and bad choices warrant negative punishment, which is the removal of a pleasant stimulus.  Allowing your dog to make choices creates new behaviors and lets you see what your dog is really capable of. It's about teaching the dog to chose the right behavior and that behavior is then praised.

Not only do good choices show you how smart your canine partner can really be, they're also much more effective than forcing a dog to do something. If we use force to teach a dog, the desired behavior or action may very well be achieved, but we have to think if the dog really learned anything. Can the dog perform the behavior on his own? An example would be teaching the trick, "wave". How would you go about teaching this to a dog using force? By allowing the dog to realize that using his paw gets him a yummy treat, you've taught him to offer that. Along with this, because it's his choice to lift his paw, he's learned something and feels that it's fun because cookies are involved. If I chose instead to simply lift is paw he would likely be very confused and not understand what I was asking of him. Here's an example of Vengeance learning his new trick. The "say hi" cue has been added because when waiting for him to offer an action, it is almost guaranteed that he will lift his paw. This way he can begin associating the behavior with the words that accompany it. The main point is, it's his choice and he enjoys doing this. He's alert, focused and relaxed. This is the wonder that goes along with shaping behaviors.

 

 "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -J.K. Rowling 

With that being said, force does work. I won't deny and I won't argue it. But, would you train without force if you could? If you could allow your dog to make excellent choices and see them love to learn, would you? What choice would YOU make if you could allow your dog to experience sheer joy and happiness while interacting with you? These are the questions you, and only you, can answer for yourself. You can chose to intimidate and scare your dog into behaving and listening or you can form an incredible relationship based on trust and understanding. Everyone has to make a choice. Just as your dog will chose to make excellent choices when given the freedom to do so, you must make the choice whether to build a relationship on fear or trust. The choice is up to you.