Friday 24 May 2013

positive vs negative

The last year or so I've been following a blog written by Patricia McConnell, a well-known animal behaviourist and trainer. Most of her posts I find interesting, and every once in a while a subject comes up and I say "yes, finally somebody is talking about this!"

One such topic was about mounting, an ongoing issue for Ace. It was refreshing to hear from all the people who deal with this in their dogs, and learning how they deal with it.

Last week's topic was called Confrontational Techniques Elicit Aggression. You can read it here:
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/confrontational-techniques-elicit-aggression#comments
 
Reviewing a recently completed study, Trisha wrote:
"The most confrontational, and I would argue, aggressive, behaviors on the part of the owners resulted in the highest levels of aggressive responses from the dogs. 43% of dogs responded with aggression to being hit or kicked, 38% to having an owner grab their mouth and take out an object forcefully, 36% to having a muzzle put on (or attempted?), 29% to a “dominance down,” 26% to a jowl or scruff shake. You get the idea. Of course, these are all dogs who were seen by veterinary behaviorists for aggression-related problems, but it makes the data even more important. Violence begets violence, aggression begets aggression."

As someone who does use leash corrections, and occasional scruff shakes, I found this interesting. There is such a divide between people who use corrections and people who don't, and I feel a lot of personal pressure to be 100% positive all of the time, despite feeling that it is not in my personality to do so. I just don't have the patience, and honestly, I feel like many dogs will continue to be pushy until they're told they are not allowed to do that.

After 73 comments on this specific post (and I read pretty much all of them!), Trisha wrote:
"I go back to believing that we need to be thoughtful about over simplifying what we mean by good training; that it is essential to be as benevolent and positive as possible, which doesn’t always mean being “100% positive,” that corrections can be used on occasion without harming a dog, but need to be used sparingly and carefully, and that, most importantly, every dog needs us to be its coach and teacher, which means understanding the dog as an individual, and understanding the principles of learning in general."

This I think is the most important idea to come out of this whole thing. Corrections are ok, if used in appropriate context, and as long as the dog understands what it is being corrected for! Don't use corrections to teach, use them to reinforce what the dog already knows; use corrections only when necessary, not as a matter of routine. More important perhaps, it is imperative to understand your dog, know their thresholds, and make sure training brings them joy and an improved bond with you!

No comments:

Post a Comment