Like many of us, I grew up with dogs. Thus, obviously, when I adopted my greyhound (Allison), I thought I knew what I was doing.
I did not.
Outside of the many unexpected challenges, do you know what surprised me the most? The number of people who are comfortable using pain to “train” their dogs. I’ll never forget this : Allison was frozen in place, staring at a squirrel. The sweet old lady down the street gently recommended: “just give her a good yank, she’ll listen then”. I laughed uncomfortably, and ignored the comment.
I see this trend, over and over again. The advice goes: your dog barks too much? Get a bark collar. Your dog pulls too much? Get a choke collar. Your dog isn’t listening? Get a shock collar. The list goes on, and on.
Despite the fact that science has consistently recommended positive reinforcement as the training method of choice [1,2,3], I watch certain dog trainers and owners dig their heels in. I’m dumb and naïve. Their way works, why should they change it?
Why not? These tools don’t teach the dog what to do, they only suppress the behaviour with little to no context. That’s not training. Instead, let’s investigate, uncover the root cause, and address it. I think that makes sense, yet, it feels that I’m crazy for suggesting this.
Perhaps I’m an idealist and a bleeding heart, but I refuse to use intimidation, fear, and pain, to control my dog. Even though these do work, I’m not interested in dealing with the associated risks. I never want to be in a position where I’ve knowingly pushed my dog to the point where she thinks biting me is the only way out.
That being said, positive reinforcement is not an instantaneous process: it takes patience and rigour. I often wondered if we’d see any results. Know that I can empathize with those who choose to use the aversive tools described above.
This is where kindness and respect comes in. Despite my frustration, I was able to resist the temptation for those “quick wins”. Choosing them would be for my convenience, not my dog's wellbeing. So, those first weeks, I stood there, with an immobile greyhound, waving treats in her face, hoping she’d stop trying to eat the squirrels. And eventually she got it! (Still working on cats, though…)
There’s nothing more rewarding than watching your dog happily make the right choices. It takes so much work and patience, but the results are long lasting and 100% worth it.
So my plea for today is: follow science and train with no pain, no force and no fear.
“it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” ― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince To be fair, dogs are more loyal than humans :)
Completely agree. If you substitute the word "child " for "dog" you can see the force of your arguments from another angle. Over the years I've learned to become more aware of the subtle ways people still use pain in disciplining children, whether it's shame or isolation or harsh words. The way I try to frame it now, which obviously applies to dogs as well, is that behaviour is communication of something that the child or dog cannot express any other way. Find the root cause and you can help them past the problem in a connected and gentle way. As you say, that takes a lot more time and patience and it's the ideal that I don't always a…