The method is based in the philosophy that a dog acts on its right to choose its actions and that a dog’s learned behavior is an act of choice based on its own learning experience. When those choices are influenced by the expectation of reward, the behavior will most likely be repeated . When a dog’s choices are influenced by the anticipation of punishment, they will most likely cease. Once the dog has learned that its choices result in comfort or discomfort it can be taught to make the correct decisions. The movement of military dog training to positive reinforcement methods is partly because aversive methods cause “fear or distress and poor performance in military working dogs”. Military dogs trained with positive reinforcement “demonstrated increased confidence and overall performance.”

Create positive associations with the crate through the use of treats and games. If you’re a long-time dog owner, maybe this question has run through your mind… Erika Lessa has been helping pet parents live quality lives with their dogs through education and coaching as a certified behavior… In fact, while choke or chain collars may seem gentler than prong collars, they may actually be more dangerous — particularly in untrained hands.

Dog Training 101: How to Completely Train Your Dog

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Train Your Dog To Listen To You

It fastens around the back of the dog’s neck and over the top of the muzzle, giving more control over a dog’s direction and the intensity of pulling on a leash than most collars that fit strictly around the neck. Pressure on this type of collar pulls the dog’s nose and consequently their head towards the handler.

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Jenna Stregowski is the Pet Health and Behavior Editor for Daily Paws and The Spruce Pets. She’s also a registered veterinary technician with over 20 years of expertise in the field of veterinary medicine.

Negative reinforcement occurs when a dog discovers that a particular response ends the presentation of an aversive stimulus. An aversive is anything that the dog does not like, such as verbal admonishment, or a tightened choke chain. The 1980 television series Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way made Barbara Woodhouse a household name in the UK, and the first international celebrity dog trainer. Known for her “no bad dogs” philosophy, Woodhouse was highly critical of “bad owners”, particularly those she saw as “overly sentimental”. She described the “psychoanalyzing of dogs” as “a lot of rubbish”.