Dog Obedience Training - Good and Bad
Reward dog training is very effective with Shiba Inu Sephy.
One of the most important decisions you will ever make for your dog is which obedience training method to use.
Your choice will affect the happiness and well-being of your dog, as well as shape your long-term relationship with your furry best friend.
Dog training is an area where emotions run hot, and you will hear many strong opinions or judgments from just about anyone and everyone.
The key to dog obedience training is not to be overly influenced by any one source. Gather information on a variety of obedience training methods, from a variety of sources, then judge which is the best one for you and your dog.
Some people may tell you that, “Obedience method X will never work for your dog, because he is too dominant, stubborn, fearful, or aggressive“.
Simplistic statements like these are never true. Research the training method and form your own opinion.
There are two classes of dog obedience training:
- Reward obedience training (give/remove something that your dog likes), and
- Aversive obedience training (give/remove something that your dog dislikes).
Dog Obedience Training - Reward and Aversive.
Reward Obedience Training
With reward obedience training, you first identify what your dog likes. Then, you encourage or discourage various behaviors by granting (positive reinforcement) or taking away (negative punishment) access to these rewards.
For example when your dog sits, he gets a dog treat. If your dog is calm, he gets to interact with other dogs. You stop your dog from chewing on shoes by redirecting him onto a Kong toy. Which rewards work best, depends on your dog’s personality and on his breed.
My Shiba Inu, for example, is a hunting breed and he is very motivated by chasing games. He is also very motivated by interaction with new environments and other dogs. I will often use these as rewards while training my Shiba Inu.
One common misconception is that you will not be an effective leader of the pack if you only use reward obedience training.
This is NOT true.
Pack leadership is most effectively achieved through the control of resources, such as food, toys, access to locations, and access to pack members. This can be done through the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) program and reward obedience training.
Suzanne Clothier writes a beautiful book, Bones Would Rain From the Sky, on why you want to cultivate a reward based relationship with your dog. Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor and The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell are good reward obedience training books.
Ian Dunbar is also very well known for his work in this area. Victoria Stillwell who hosts the show Its Me or the Dog on Animal Planet, also uses reward obedience training.
Reward Dog Obedience Training.
Reward Obedience Training – The Good
Reward Dog Obedience Training - The Good.
1. Reward obedience training helps to build a strong relationship based on trust.
Reward obedience training operates by controlling your dog’s resources. This teaches your dog that all good things come from you and if he wants what you have, he must first do what you want. Since you are viewed as a source of good things, your dog will naturally gravitate towards you.
Reward obedience training helps to build a relationship based on trust.
2. Reward obedience training will not damage your dog either physically or mentally.
With reward obedience training, the worst that happens to your dog is the removal of a reward. In contrast, physical based aversive training can cause damage to your dog especially when not implemented properly. Long term use of choke collars may cause harm to your dog even when fitted properly.
3. Reward obedience training helps to create a dog that is happy and eager to work.
When you only use reward obedience training, your dog will be eager to work because work time means reward time.
Reward obedience training helps to create a dog that is happy and eager to work.
Reward Obedience Training – The Bad
Reward Dog Obedience Training - The Bad.
1. Reward obedience training may not always solicit a prompt response to your commands.
For most dogs, a reward may not be as strong a motivator as an aversive stimulus, such as pain and fear.
Reward obedience training may not always solicit a prompt response to your commands.
2. . Reward obedience training may sometimes require creativity to out-think your dog.
With reward obedience training, you may need to get creative and come up with your own strategies for motivating your dog. This is especially true when you are trying to stop bad behaviors because your dog may derive more enjoyment from the bad act.
Reward obedience training may sometimes require creativity to out-think your dog.
3. Reward obedience training may require that you bring along some treats or toys when on walks and outings.
This can be an inconvenience. However, you can also use the environment and objects around you to motivate your dog. It just takes a bit more creativity and a bit more understanding of your dog.
4. Reward obedience training may cause your dog to gain weight.
Obesity can sometimes become a problem if you give your dog too many dog treats.
Reward obedience training may cause your dog to gain weight.
Aversive Obedience Training
I divide aversive obedience training into three classes:
- Pain based (e.g. leash correction, muzzle slaps, ear pinch, shock collar);
- Dominance based (e.g. alpha rolls); and
- Other – which includes making loud noises (e.g. shaking or dropping a can of pennies, loud horn, clashing pots), using unpleasant smells (e.g. spraying bitter apple on furniture, spraying diluted vinegar or citronella on muzzle), using unpleasant sensations (spraying water on muzzle, dumping water on body) or anything else that your dog dislikes.
Different aversive methods may place more or less stress on your dog. In general the pain and dominance based methods are the most stressful.
With aversive obedience training, you encourage or discourage behaviors by applying (positive punishment) or stopping (negative reinforcement) an unpleasant stimulus.
For example, if your dog breaks from his stay before you release him, you give him a leash jerk. If your dog starts biting on the leash, you give him a leash jerk or spray water on his muzzle until he stops. If he jumps, you give him a leash jerk or knee him.
Cesar Millan, one of the most popular and well known dog experts, uses mostly aversive obedience training. He has a popular TV series called The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. His book, Cesar’s Way, has a very engaging writing style and Cesar has a fascinating story to tell.
One of the things you notice first about Cesar Millan is his great confidence and natural talent for reading dogs. This is very important when applying aversive obedience training methods. If these methods are not implemented properly, they may cause physical and mental harm.
There are a variety of other trainers that use a combination of both reward and aversive methods such as The Monks of New Skete.
If aversive training methods are not implemented properly, they may cause physical and mental harm.
Aversive Obedience Training – The Good
Aversive Obedience Training - The Good.
1. Aversive obedience training may get more consistent and prompt responses to commands.
Many dogs will perform a Sit, Down, or Stay, consistently and quickly because they do not wish to face the stress of an aversive stimulus. Once you get consistent and prompt responses from your dog, you can give him more freedom and let him participate in a wider range of activities.
2. Aversive obedience training may show results in a shorter time-span.
As described above, dogs can be very motivated to avoid an aversive stimulus. You will probably start to see results to simple commands in a shorter period of time compared to reward obedience training.
3. Do not need to carry around rewards such as treats or toys.
You always have what you need with you.
A leash and a secure backyard are probably more effective than aversive obedience training for keeping a dog from running into traffic.
Aversive Obedience Training – The Bad
Aversive Obedience Training - The Bad.
1. Aversive obedience training may cause loss of trust.
One of the most dangerous aspects of aversive obedience training is losing your dog’s trust. If you over-correct your dog, he may start to associate you with the painful aversive stimulus and lose trust in you.
Shiba Inu Sephy was a lot less trusting when we applied aversive obedience training.
2. Aversive obedience training may encourage aggression and other unwanted side effects.
If you do not implement an aversive method with the proper timing, force, and redirection, your dog may develop aggression towards humans. A recent University of Pennsylvania study shows that 1 in 4 dogs exhibits aggression during aversive obedience training.
Follow up an aversive correction with praise and rewards.
3. Aversive obedience training may injure your dog if not implemented correctly.
Incorrect implementation of some of these techniques may cause physical harm to your dog, as well as physical harm to you and others if your dog becomes aggressive.
4. Aversive obedience training may become ineffective once your dog gets habituated to the aversive stimulus.
If you overuse an aversive method, it is very probable that your dog will become habituated to it. Once this occurs, your dog will be less motivated to respond to your commands because the pain or aversive stimulus is no longer unpleasant.
Aversive obedience training may encourage aggression and other unwanted side effects.
Dog Obedience Training
Hopefully this gives you a quick overview of the different dog obedience training methods. Carefully consider which is best for you and your dog. Be flexible and change your approach if the aversive methods start to cause dog aggression.
There are four dog obedience training choices:
- Mostly aversive obedience training with little praise and few treats (Cesar Millan).
- Only reward obedience training (Suzanne Clothier, Patricia McConnell, Ian Dunbar, Victoria Stillwell).
- Mixture of aversive and reward obedience training (Monks of New Skete);
- Only no-pain and no-dominance aversive methods, combined with reward obedience training.
I use reward obedience training with my dogs and it works out great.
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Very good information as always.
Hello Tsuki,
Everybody makes mistakes. I made the same mistakes when I started out with Sephy. I actually did a whole training program with a traditional trainer who did leash corrections. I also did alpha rolls on Sephy at the recommendation of my breeder and vet tech.
I think you are already way ahead of me because you stopped after one class with Kameron. It is also great that you are doing so much research. Haruki is a lucky Shiba to have an owner who cares so much. Making mistakes is natural, I think. What is important is realizing our mistakes and taking steps to fix them
Based on my experiences with Sephy, he really did not respond well to any physical techniques and became more aggressive. Alpha rolls especially, made him very sensitive to handling. After I switched to purely reward based training, his behavior improved significantly – not overnight – but over time.
If you are interested here is an article I wrote about dog psychology and dog behavior modification –
http://www.shibashake.com/cesar-millan/dog-psychology-cesar-millan-how-dogs-think-and-learn.html
Are you starting a training program with this new trainer? Let me know more when you get the chance.