Trainers and Methods on my Mind

There’s been a lively discussion on Facebook lately that started with someone posting that we, the positive reinforcement proponents, ought to be as positive with people as we are with dogs, and not say anything if we have nothing nice to say. It was an interesting thread and packed with, as it is typically the case in dog circles, polarized opinions. Some feel that if we don’t point out what compulsive and punitive treatment does to dogs, we become collaborators, enablers and facilitators. Others argue that we can accomplish more with educating instead of criticizing, and that we should keep the communication lines open. One person even questioned how credible a positive reinforcement trainer one is if she doesn’t extend those values to humans?

That one rang a bell. It’s true. Not all dog pros, and regardless what philosophy they follow, are pleasant with people. But when positive reinforcement trainers aren’t, there is a bigger contrast between how they treat dogs and how they treat humans, and the lack of people social skills becomes more obvious.

I pride myself in being my very best whenever I am with clients. My mission is that no dog should experience force, pain or intimidation at the hands of humans. I know, a lofty goal, but I am über-passionate about it anyway. Education trumps, and I am as patient, positive and gentle with people and their offspring as I am with their pooch, and don’t lay blame for mistakes they made in the past, because in all likelihood they followed somebody’s advice.

When I encounter colleagues who feel that I might have something to offer, I never hesitate to share what I know. And I do it nicely. I answer emails, return phone calls, meet for coffee and am welcoming when they attend my public speaking events.

That changes when folks try to convince me that dogs can’t be trained without corrections, discomfort and pain. No thank you. I’d be wasting my time, and theirs.

I have no interest in discussing their punitive and coercive ways, and I will also not stay silent. Why? Because I believe that punitive trainers cause, or contribute, to behavioral problems, violate the dog’s sense of emotional safety in his home, and do little to strengthen the relationship between dog and his people.

I am not alone. Scientific studies, published in Applied Animal Behavior Science, showed that aggression is a possible consequence of confrontational methods, both traditional - Koehler style, and hierarchical pack dominance – the stuff Millan does. Let’s have a detailed look:

With choke or prong collar corrections, 6% of dogs became aggressive.

Removing something forcefully from a dog’s mouth 15%; pinning, the alpha roll, 11%; hitting or kicking 12%, and I wonder if the “attention touch” with a foot or hand, the “bonker” with a rolled up towel or newspaper, and the “tap” with the flyswatter is included in that.

Millan’s famous tsst-sound that announces a correction unless the dog gets it together right away, 2% reacted to, and I suppose it might be the same with the warning tone that precedes a shock.

The stare-down was 16%; spray bottle 10%, and I suggest you quiz your dog’s daycare provider about that; yelling “no” 18%. Maybe it’s 18% with the shock collar tone as well, not 2%, or maybe somewhere in the middle.

The forced dominance down, which is when a leashed dog, typically on a choke or prong collar, is forced to lie and remain in that position for a set period of time, made 7% aggressive. The same with grabbing the jowls or scruff, and growling in the dog’s face was 9%.

Here is an interesting tidbit: During a 3-year field study in which a group of feral dogs was observed, the researchers noted that only 2% of hostility was directed against social group members. That indicates that aggression against someone the dog lives with is not normal dog behavior. Believe me that I meet many dogs that lash out against the people they live with; the adult male if the dog is confident enough, but more often aggression is directed toward the female owner, children, or other animals in the family.

Above study gives you a possible, I say probable, explanation. Dogs can become aggressive when confronted with intimidation and pain, and if they can avoid it with aggression, then aggression is powerfully reinforced. And keep in mind that only aggression was studied, not other anxiety expressions like emotional coma, hyperactivity and obsessive behaviors, inhibited learning and avoidance. Also note that you can’t predict the outcome accurately when you begin training.

Jim Ha, Research Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington, and one of only a few handful of Ph.D. Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists in the US, states that certain individual dogs of certain breeds develop no anxiety with aversive training, provided it is done by an experienced trainer who applies the right amount of punishment at the right time. Those people, according to Ha, are highly skilled professionals often found in the assistance dog and K9 fields. They select the appropriate dog for their needs, and reject all others, which are the majority; the assistance dog facility Dr. Ha visited rejects about 70% of their already intentionally, for the job, bred puppies.

Is your neighborhood traditional, hierarchical, balanced or shock collar trainer that qualified and skilled? Do you have the right individual dog who can handle aversive training? Are you savvy enough to select the appropriate dog for your needs?

My hunch is: No, No and No. Some trainers are very skilled handlers, but based on my experience, not one rejects a dog, but accepts everyone in his group class or for private training. They accept every dog because they have to make a living. It’s about money.

Ha argues, and most behaviorists agree, that in unskilled hands, which are almost all dog owners, aversive methods are disasters in the making.

One more thing: The highest level of anxiety was observed with dogs that were trained and handled with the punishment/reward combination, which is the way of “balanced” trainers: traditional ones that jumped on the bandwagon of increasingly more popular clicker training. Can’t say that I am surprised. If you needed to be on guard to gauge which of your partner or boss’s side you have to deal with at any given day or moment, you’d be stressed out too.

I am sure there’ll be more studies like these in the future that prove that correcting, intimidating, startling on purpose, and applying force and pain does harm to dogs, and people by extension – the ones the dog lives with and society at large.

Intentionally inflicting discomfort is unpopular with many people. Dog owners rather not punish their canine companion, and I opine that trainers know that, and therefore often don’t lay all the cards on the table for you. They are not always frank about what they do, and what potential fallout it has, and use deflecting euphemisms: vibration collar, balanced approach, following nature’s rules, discipline, leader of the pack, training collar, stimulus, rules and boundaries, attention touch – relaxed or calm even when the dog is visibly stress panting or exhausted.

Trainers go to great lengths to explain the low settings of a shock collar, even let you experience it on your arm, but rarely offer information what the high settings are for. Let me guess: A dog who doesn’t respond like a robot with the low settings.

They circulate YouTube videos of an “aggressive” German shepherd who is “cured” in 5 minutes, or a reactive mastiff miraculously pacified after a short time wearing the company’s own collar. Those clips show the before and after behavior, but not how they got from point A to point B.

Punitive trainers’ websites often don’t reveal the methods they use, or describe them as unique and secret but unbelievably effective, or they speak in tongue most layowners don’t understand, like: using operant conditioning, applying all four quadrants.

Membership with a professional organization might flag their homepage, but they won’t tell you that the association is all-inclusive to begin with, or doesn’t screen their members very thoroughly.

There are clever PR moves to attract clients. Some offer a free in-home consultation, which sounds great but in reality typically means that they diagnose the dog’s issues in 15 minutes or less, and spend the rest of the time promoting a costly training package.

Some trainers guarantee that the dog will be rehabilitated for good. Sounds great too, but being 100% rehabilitated is realistically impossible. Dogs are not programmable computers, but living beings with a nervous system and emotions. Nobody can guarantee their behavior 100%, and nobody can guarantee the behavior of people that interact with the dog. No psychologist or therapist would ever make that claim. That is not how experts behave.

I am sour about all that. It feels like someone’s pissing on my leg and tells me it’s raining. And so I speak up. Not because they get clients and make money – protectionism is something trainers who are openly critical of others are often accused of, but because they are hurting dogs and the average layowner doesn’t know they do.

My loyalty is with dogs and their people, not other trainers. I don’t willy-nilly bash local ones, but when directly asked, I will forward first-hand knowledge I have about that person. Only first-hand stuff I witnessed or heard from my clients, their failures and fallouts.

The famous TV dog wranglers are, voluntarily I should say, in public view several times a week and are, as far as I am concerned, fair game to be criticized like any other public figure. There has to be an equalizer to a show that demonstrates a person walking assertively into even the meanest dog’s home, forcing the even strongest dog into submission, subduing every undesired expression permanently with a few easy corrections, and having a well-mannered dog in the end, even if he has caused trouble for years.

Behaviorists know that what people watch is unrealistic and has side effects, and some high-profile ones say so. And they should. And now a number of positive reinforcement trainers suggest we should keep da gob shut? Under the guise of professional conduct we have doctors, lawyers, soldiers, priests, scout members, police, politicians and so on covering for each other, and we dog trainers should do the same? Not this one.

Of course education, informing people about the power and benefits of positive reinforcement, is the most important aspect in creating welfare; making life better for dogs. And I do a lot of that: Seeing clients, writing blog posts and columns, my book and an another one I am presently working on, radio shows and articles, and giving lectures and seminars. On that note, my spring lecture series is posted on my webpage.

But in itself, without weighing the potential fallout of compulsive methods against it, and pointing out people who made a conscious decision to use them, the public mind believes that one approach, one trainer, is a good as the next one.

Thanks to the above-mentioned study you have verification that that is not the case. You have an idea about the possible risks, percentage-wise, involved with aversive handling.

I admit, sorting out dog professionals is not an easy task. My advice is to ask your groomer, daycare provider and dog walker what they do if: Your dog doesn’t obey right away. Growls. Plays rough.

Check out dog trainers’ websites. You can glance over niceties such as memberships, certification from a private school – even if, no especially if it is from one the TV personality’s academy, and guarantees, but pay more attention to the training philosophy they believe in. It should be very visibly listed on their site. If not, ask. Don’t be intimidated. If you feel intimidated by a person, how you think your dog will feel? Ask. It is your dog; it is your right and responsibility. A trainer and behavior consultant should deliver answers honestly before you hand over hard-earned dollars. Ask, especially if you have a dog who already has issues.

My question would be: “What equipment do you use?” If it is anything that can deliver pain, I’d walk away. If the answer is: “Whatever you use is fine. I will show you how to use it correctly”, I’d walk away.

If your trainer doesn’t want your children present, ask why. A dog is part of the social group he lives with, and observing the dynamics and interactions of all members is important information for me. There might be a valid reason why the professional you selected doesn’t want children to be part of the consultation, but if it is because what he’ll do to the dog would upset the kids – walk away.

Ask: “Which of the four quadrants do you apply?” If they don’t know what you’re talking about, walk away. If the answer is: “All four” or “Whatever works”, walk away. All four likely includes pain, delivered before and/or after a behavior, and whatever works might work for the trainer, but rarely the dog.

A dog professional’s priority should be dogs’ welfare. What you want to hear is: Positive reinforcement/negative punishment combination. You also want to hear that it is up to you to put time and effort into modifying your dog’s behavior, that you might have to make a few changes, and that you probably will have to manage the pooch until new behaviors are established, but that you will get the skills and information, including ongoing support, you need to succeed. Those are the realistic expectations owners can have of a behavior consultant.

Fact is that not everything is fixable, and for sure not right away. In reality, we are not action heroes for dogs as implied on TV. We are normal people who know a lot more about dogs and behavior than you do, and help you with some M and M – manage and modify; help you understand your dog's behaviors and lay out how he can become the best pooch possible.

Here they are: my thoughts – my rant. Accuse me of not being collegial if you like, but I take offense being called unprofessional for speaking up. I am a dog expert and act on behalf of dogs. Yes, I could play it politically correct, and be critical of method and not the person who applies it, but you can’t really separate the two, can you. It is the person who makes a conscious decision to choose one method over the other.

Tools of the Trade

When I say tools, I mean all things we use to manipulate our dogs’ actions. The obvious ones are tools that attach the dog to us, or vice versa in some cases, in a physical way: leashes, harnesses, and collars.

When I am out and about with Will, our favorite is to go au naturel: attached by nothing than the emotional bond between us. Like riding bare back how I imagine it. Like Ted and Merle, described in Ted Kerasote’s “Merle’s Door”. In reality, for many person/dog teams that is not always possible, either because owners haven’t done enough training and rely on a leash to keep the pooch out of trouble, or leash laws prohibit such freedoms.

In the olden days, what collar and leash to use was straightforward: mostly choke chain, prong or flat collar sometimes, and a six-foot leash. Done.

Nowadays, we have many choices. The traditional “you-do-or-else” devices are still available, together with the considerably new over-the-counter shock collar, but in addition we have collars in funky colors and fancy materials, collars with a loop that tightens only somewhat around the dog’s neck, and a number of harnesses with various functions. To select the right one can be an overwhelming task for a layperson.

If you're following my posts for a while you probably noticed that I don’t train with discomfort or pain, or the threat of it, and most everyone who comprehends and is committed to positive reinforcement methods agrees with me and opposes choke, shock and prong collars, like I do. A little bit a different story regarding halters that fit around the dog’s nose. They come under different brand names: Halti and Gentle Leader are probably the ones most people are familiar with, and are frequently recommended as an acceptable, dog-friendly tool by progressive trainers, humane societies and veterinarians.

In my opinion, these nose halters are anything but positive. Far from it, they irritate and agitate most pooches to no end. Dogs are stressed and anxious, forever paw their noses, or slide their head along the ground, person or furniture in an attempt to get that thing off. I recently got an email from a client who informed me that they started their spunky juvenile on the Ruff Love program, suggested by Susan Garrett, who is a renowned clicker trainer friends of mine, who I respect a lot, hold in high regard. The Gentle Leader, apparently part of it, caused the pooch to rub her face so much that is swelled in a couple of places, and they wanted to know what they could do to stop her from doing that. Perhaps you can guess what my answer was, and yes, my caring clients took it off and hopefully tossed it in the trash.

Dogs that don’t actively try to remove the nose harness might withdraw and shut down, seem depressed and lifeless. Some shake, urinate or hide as soon as they see that thing.

There are good reasons why dogs reject head halters with such intensity and persistency.

The nose is a very important and sensitive part of a dog’s body. A muzzle grab is a natural correction mom dog and superior elders give, likely because it is effective. One local trainer fitted a 10-week-old, nervous puppy with one with the explanation that it would decrease anxiety since the mother dog corrects that way. Huh? Imagine someone putting a device around a sensitive part of your body and drag you around – or string you up in the air. Would that make you less anxious?

Or allow someone to manipulate your head without telling you which way you should be turning. But be careful, cause a wrong move could leave you with a sore neck, even when you are not yanked. Yanking, though, happens a lot with dogs, which can cause spinal and soft tissue injuries. Yes, I know, the instructions explain how to use it properly, but in real life owners, and some trainers misuse it. I witnessed a high-profile one hang a dog reactive Border Collie on a Gentle Leader, and when I see dogs walked in neighborhoods and parks, I wonder who ever came up with the misnomer. A more appropriate name would have been: Nose Pawing-, Neck Twisting- or Vivacity Extinguishing Leader. Then again, euphemisms are used for anything that sounds nasty enough to make one feel bad.

In addition, the head halter allows the human to control the dog’s head. That is the whole idea behind it. Yet, that is where a lot of communication happens. Dogs use their nose to gather information, and face and head to tell “others” how they feel and what their intentions are. A pooch might want to lower or turn it to give appeasing signals to an oncoming dog or person, but is prevented to. Not being able to “speak” freely increases anxiety, especially in a dog who already might feel leery about certain stimuli. Ironically, it is often the reactive dog that is fitted with a head halter.

Because the sensation the nose halter produces comes very close to a natural correction, there is ample room to mess up your training. A perfect heel or sit, or offered attention, doesn’t change the feel and the dog might still perceive being corrected. Confusing? Yeah! In addition, a dog that’s irritated doesn’t learn very well. I am talking about the deliberate, concentrated learning that takes place in a class, and obedience practiced on walks. It’d be like you expected to focus on quantum physics in a scratchy wool sweater on naked skin.

When a dog is distressed about the head halter, he is conflicted about the walk as well, and by extension you. Maybe he waited all day for you to come home, and then he’s fitted with that thing that feels so unpleasant, and the entire walk becomes a punishment.

Fact is that most dogs hate the Gentle Leader, even when introduced to it carefully. They want to avoid it - and the hand that puts it on. Not good. Dogs should always have a positive association to a human hand, especially when it's close to where the teeth are.

In my line of work I meet many dogs that bite the hand that feeds them, and that is not normal. Observations with feral and stray dogs showed that they don't attack the ones they are bonded with or belong to. Let's not forget that dogs don't have hands, so the only way they relate to hands is how they experience them, like a child would relate to a dog's mouth - and dogs in general, depending on if she was licked or bitten. I am not saying that the Gentle Leader causes dogs to bite, but if hands, on a daily basis or several times a day, poke, jerk, pin, knuckle bite, scruff and/or force a contraption around the pooch's nose that feels so unpleasant, he wants it to stop. The bite, then, is defence, not dominance.

Fact is that some dogs reject a head halter more than a prong collar. Not that I am for prong collars. I don’t like any tool that leaves room for Joe and Jane Frontporch to mess up the pooch and the relationship they ought to have with him, and the prong collar does that - but also the head halter, no matter what brand. If it isn’t perceived as gentle by the dog, it isn’t gentle, and it annoys me that pros who are opposed to other forms of aversive tools continue to promote them.

When me and my Will venture somewhere that requires her to be leashed, I put on her blue body harness and clip on her heart studded, red six-foot soft Italian leather leash I bought in a boutique in Banff, Alberta. Will is a diva and walks in style, but I like the lightness of both. If we can’t go au naturel, I at least want a feel to it as close as possible.

If your dog is really overpowering you, check out body, not nose, harnesses that control the dog from the front. The Sense-Ation harness comes to mind, or the Freedom Harness I just discovered thanks to dog guru Pat Miller, and that I really like. For everyone else, a comfy flat collar or normal body harness, and a light leash kept loose is best, because you prevent restraint anxiety, keep your relationship intact, enhance learning, have physical control, and obey the law.

How to Prevent That Your Dog Gets Lost

Sparked by two lost dogs whose owners reached out, a few of my friends, realizing that there is very little, easy accessible information available, recently formed a Lost Dog Networking Group. It is an open group and you can find it at NSLDN@groups.facebook.com. Unfortunately, the group is growing at an incredible pace, even spreading to other provinces, and I say unfortunately because the reason that it grows so fast is because so many dogs bolt or wander away, and don’t find their way back home. Their owners now have a wonderful resource they can approach, and that is great, but ideally dogs shouldn't be lost in the first place.

Below tips hopefully prevent that you find yourself needing help to reunite with your canine companion.

- Walk your dog in your neighborhood, daily, and take different routes. Your dog should be very familiar with his surroundings and, from any direction, know where his home is. Put “find home” on command and test your dog. Make going home when you’re heading back a tracking game and let him lead you, and, by the way, do the same if you frequently visit parks and trails. Instead of "finding home", have your dog find the car in the parking lot. If something were to scare him, chances are he'll "flee" to the car and wait for you.

- If you own a wanderer, introduce yourself and your dog to your neighbors. Bring them a bottle of wine and attach a card to it with your phone number and instructions what do to if they spot Spot. Our very amiable Newf Baywolf, who rarely missed an opportunity to go socializing, was gone on rare occasions, but never lost, because our neighbors knew and enjoyed him, and knew us, and either brought him home or called. Having a collar and tag on your dog is a given, but if your neighbors know that your dog is friendly, and that you are too, they'll likely be more accommodating and helpful.

- If your dog has testicles, be extra careful of open doors and yard gate latches. I don’t share the popular opinion that everything on four paws needs to be neutered, but the fact is that intact dogs tend to have itchy feet – and a nose for a ready-to-mate girl dog.

- Be also extra careful with a new dog. DO NOT let your newly adopted dog off the leash the next day. He doesn’t know you yet, and has not formed a grateful bond to you in 24 hours just because you rescued him and gave him one bowl of kibble. From your dog’s point of view, you might be nothing more than just another transitory pit-stop, and he has no reason to stay put or listen to you. Social belonging isn’t automatic – it comes with time. You also know nothing about the dog. You don’t know what drives him and scares him; what he does when an environmental stimulus motivates him, or which way and how far he’ll run when something spooks him. Invest in a 30-50 tracking leash that allows you to find out more about your new pooch, and practice a really reliable recall, and then give him free reign.

- Don’t take your dog off the leash if she is skittish and timid – no, not even at the dog park. When we lived in Calgary, within a span of a few weeks, three dogs were lost in a popular park we regularly visited. One was scared by a train whistle and ran away, and two were bullied by a couple of out-of-control dogs. Two dogs were eventually found, one was never to be heard of again. All three dogs were described by their owners as timid and skittish by nature, and one was just adopted from an animal shelter a few days prior.

- Train a solid down position stay away from every entrance door, including the yard gate, and practice with the doors opening and staying open. Your dog should not exit the house, or leave his property, without a specific command, and only with his person. Condition that by practicing whenever you have a minute or two, at different times of the day, and always combine a specific word with your exiting the entrance points together. It’s doable. Really, it is. It just takes time and patience. If you are really ambitious, the door opening could become your dog’s cue to run to the toy box, or his crate, instead of outside.

- When you are out, your dog should be in. In the house, or at least in a secure and comfortable dog run, with a warm shelter to retreat to, and toys, and water. Treat a dog run as an outside home, used only when you are not home, and never as a place that isolates, segregates your dog. When you are home, your dog should be with you. I don’t care how many acres you own, your dog should never be roaming unsupervised, cause then roaming unsupervised becomes a habit. Trail your home range together, check the boundaries together, and you establish a solid social bond that increases the chance that your dog wants to stay on home turf voluntarily.

- Build a real fence, if you must, not an invisible one. I met numerous dogs who were so motivated by an environmental stimulus that they took the shock, and escaped the shock collar fence - and got into trouble, or lost. A dog trainer friend and rescuer wrote a fabulous blog post on shock collar confinement you can read at http://blog.gmds.ca. Dogs also escape when the battery goes dead and the warning beep doesn’t happen, and when the owner forgets to put the shock collar on the dog first thing in the morning. If you rely on a tool to keep your dog put, you’re dog will go when you don’t have the tool. Plus, in my opinion and based on my experiences, shocking a dog changes who he is, and the relationship with you, and by extension the place where he lives.

- You, your home, and property should always be perceived as a safe place; a refuge where never anything bad happens. Never. No shocking. No harsh training. No punishments. Escape is extreme avoidance, and I periodically meet dogs who feel, at least, ambiguous about their home base, and the people who live there. If you are, in your dog’s mind, a 100% predictably safe place to seek shelter with, he is more likely to stay put, or run to you, not away from you, when frightened.

Said all that, accidents happen. Even with all precautions taken, even with the nicest owners, and the best home, a dog might spook and bolt, or is enticed by a scent, sight or sound he'll curiously investigate, and then becomes disoriented and gets lost. In that case, it is critical that you get a sighting. You gotta know where your dog is before you have a chance to reunite with him. How to go about it is exactly the kind of information the Lost Dog Network can help you with, and is also available at www.lostdogsearch.com.

When you have a sighting, you need to be very careful that you don’t frighten your dog into bolting again, cause then you have to start from scratch. You might assume that your dog is as happy to see you as you are to see him, but that is not necessarily so. He could be confused, scared, panicked, suspicious, hurt or sore, and in that frame of mind is very sensitive to the slightest trigger, including you. He will continue to run away if someone, even you, is encroaching into his flight zone. The threshold how far you can safely approach is easy to determine. If your dog has you on his radar, but doesn’t increase the distance, you are good. Don’t try to get closer, but entice your dog to come to you. Say familiar words that elicit a positive emotion. Familiarity alone doesn't cut it; what you say has to feel good to your dog. Stuff like: “Wanna go for a car ride?” or “Wanna play with… (fill in the name if he has a favorite dog friend)”, are examples. Speak with your calm and casual voice, not a panicked one. Breath normally and keep your body loose, and don’t fixate on your dog or he’ll feel targeted and might, yup, run.

I know that is tough to do for an emotionally devastated owner, who, maybe after days of searching, finally sees his dog. But it is said that humans have a cerebral cortex that can overrule emotions, and convincing a confused dog to trust is a good time to apply that skill. Remember, one wrong step can cause him to bolt again, and then you have once more no idea where he is.

Other than familiar words and gestures, have your dog's favorite toy or blanket with you to trigger memory. And leave food, small pieces of delectable people food, and your smell, stinky socks, and retreat, so increase the distance to give your dog enough space to safely sniff and eat. Repeat leaving and retreating as often as you need to, and slowly, patiently, you'll trigger his curiosity and reestablish trust.

Any of the above can trigger your dog’s memory, and make him feel secure with you again, and then he’ll come to you, and you are reunited – a happy-end story everyone wants to see, and keeps the people with the Lost Dog Network motivated and in the game.

Positive Punishment and Negative Reinforcement

I found an interesting article (www.urbandawgs.com/divided_profession.html) by Jean Donaldson that talks about the divisive opinions amongst dog professionals. Indeed, the inside joke goes that the only thing a room full of dog trainers can agree on is that everyone else doesn’t know what they are talking about.

I don’t envy lay owners who get passionate, but conflicting advice how to best raise, train and live with their dog. On one end of the spectrum are the positive reinforcement advocates, on the other positive punishment and negative reinforcement trainers who choose pain and discomfort to stop “bad” behaviors, and to elicit desired ones.

In operant conditioning, positive means to add something and punishment that the behavior decreases. In regards to dogs you see that on TV all the time. The dog growls and is pinned with the goal that pinning stops the dog from growling next time he encounters the trigger that evoked it. Sometimes it works, and often it doesn’t: the dog either growls again, which proves that pinning is pointless for this dog, or he stops growling and bites right away, because he still doesn’t feel any differently about the trigger, just his warning communication signal is oppressed.

So, behaviorally positive punishment is only positive punishment when the behavior actually disappears. If your dog still pulls despite choke collar corrections, or barks on a prong collar, you’re not effective and all you do is nag, and as an unwanted consequence your dog tunes you out.

Negative, in scientific terms, means to take something away and reinforcement that the behavior increases. It is, for example, Koehler’s famous ear pinch to convince the rookie retriever that holding a dumbbell is a good idea. Handler pinches the dog’s ear, which hurts and he opens his mouth, dumbbell is shoved in and the pinching stops. In case you’re not thinking with me, the pain ceasing is the negative and the dog holding the dumbbell on command and for longer periods of time is the increased behavior.

Ear pinching is still done today, but the negative reinforcement tool of choice these days is the shock collar, and its many nicer sounding guises like remote training device, or e-collar. In essence, the dog is fitted with the collar, the handler holds the transmitter and turns on the juice, and makes it die away when he gets immediate and precision accuracy performance. Dogs learn very quickly to come as speedily as their legs allow, or drop into a down anywhere, anytime and around distractions. Shock collar trained dogs’ performances look amazingly impressive, and many owners want that for themselves, and because of that it is a very lucrative business. Anybody can jump on the bandwagon and buy a shock collar training franchise, take a several weeks’ course, and henceforth use that nifty device to teach dogs of all sizes, and puppies, basic obedience, or jolt an unruly pooch into toeing the line.

No problem as long as the dog behaves, right? Wrong! The old adage that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, is spot-on regarding dogs and training. The fallout punitive methods and shocks create are well documented. For example, Murray Sidman’s 1989 book, “Coercion and its Fallout”, refers to studies that showed that shocked rats will be aggressive when a second one is placed in the same box. And not ritualized status aggression or momentary dominance over a resource, but violent attacks followed through to a kill. Furthermore, punished animals did not only redirect aggressively, but were seeking opportunities to be aggressive.

A one-year-long study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania found that aversive and intimidating methods, including the stare down, scruff shake and pinning, do little to correct behavior, but elicit aggression in dogs.

Studies with baboons showed that corrections by a higher ranking member did not create better behaved baboons, but ones that passed on the aggression to even lower ranking monkeys.

A study with Belgian military dogs showed that they performed worse on obedience tasks if their handlers used punishments instead of rewards.

Steve White, K9 cop with 30 years experience, stated in a seminar I attended that tracking dogs have much fewer false positives when trained without punishments.

And a study done by the Departments of Ethology and Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals in Utrecht, Netherlands, showed that shock collar trained German shepherds are more stressed on the training grounds, and the park.

Those findings are congruent with my experiences and don’t surprise me a bit. Negative reinforcement gives the dog only momentary relief when the discomfort ceases, cause the shocks will happen again. They are experienced and anticipated with every training session, and by conditioning cues: the collar, the handler, the training facility, or whatever details, in the dog’s mind, predict the zaps. And that creates anxiety, which will be expressed, because not releasing pressure is biologically impossible.

Not all dogs I see who have gone through that totalitarian style of training, aggress; only some do. But I have yet to meet one who is relaxed, voluntarily attentive, motivated, keen to learn new things, placid, and generally well behaved when not under surveillance. What I see instead are dogs who have a very low stress threshold, are hyperactive, hyper alert and trigger sensitive to stimuli, and express that with barking, mounting, pacing, chasing, avoidance, and/or destructive behaviors, and if those are repressed with more of the same punishments, neurotic behaviors such as obsessive spinning or self-mutilation.

Today’s shock collar trainers claim to be dog friendly and humane, gentle even, and compare the shock with a tap on the shoulder. If that were the case, one would not get the results one can watch on video clips. No dog, no animal, obeys mindlessly and with a yes-master precision, often against his nature, unless they are driven to obtain a much-desired super reward, or to avoid and stop something very unpleasant, and my bet is with the latter.

People sell what is profitable: alcohol to teenagers, substandard food, overpriced medication to the sick, and shock collars for dogs. That is just the way it is, and I get that. Who can blame the trainers who want a piece of a popular pie, or retail stores that sell that stuff? And I certainly don’t expect lay owners to waddle through behavioral laws, studies and their results.

But I do expect influencers like veterinarians, humane societies and dog associations to take an unequivocal stand with a policy against positive punishment and negative reinforcement. Many do, for example the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. But others, who comprehend the damage intimidation, force and deliberately inflicted pain causes, or at least should, don’t and continue to support it, and that is really disappointing.