It Takes a Big Person To Train Positively
Animals need motivation to do things they ordinarily wouldn’t. In the case of dogs, this could mean sitting when greeting a group of children, recalling from a fleeing rabbit, or ignoring another dog on a walk. You can motivate your dog to perform these low-probability behaviors with things that they find reinforcing (food, toys, cool opportunities), or you can motivate them with the threat of punishment.
Carrying a treat pouch in order to reinforce your dog does not de-value your existence any more than a corrective collar would. Either way, you are utilizing something in order to help improve your dog’s behavior. It’s up owner’s to decide whether they would like to create a dog who listens out of anticipation of good things, or one who listens out of fear of punishment.
It’s unfortunate that many choose the latter, but it is also understandable. Owners of dogs who consistently misbehave are enormously frustrated for obvious reasons. Poorly behaved dogs cause their owner’s tremendous amounts of stress, and stressed out humans are not known for their excessive compassion. And I think that’s where the divide in training methods start.
Some people can be big. They can ignore or avoid the aggressive driver (knowing that getting into a car accident with some jerk isn’t worth what they’d gain by getting ahead on the road). They can smile and assist the rude customer (knowing that telling them off isn’t worth losing their job). And they can take a deep breath and ignore misbehavior from their dog long enough to come up with a plan (knowing that whatever pissed-off reaction they were about to have is probably not the most appropriate course of action long-term).
They understand that every behavior an animal displays leads to reinforcement – and that sometimes, the way to come out on top with that animal involves being nice (even when you rather wouldn’t be). They understand that sometimes, in order to get ahead, it is best to disregard perceived slights and keep your eyes on a goal.
This is the group that people who choose positive reinforcement training fall into.
They can ignore the jumping dog, rather than yelling “No! Off!”, because they understand that the jumping dog wants attention, and negative attention is better than none.
They can swiftly leap into happy / jolly-mode to re-direct their dog if it growls at another, because they understand that the next step will be a full-blown reaction of lunging and barking.
They can walk away from the dog who has declined to drop their toy on request, because they understand that the dog would like to continue the game rather than posess the toy.
It takes a big person to do those things. Other people will succumb to their impulses.
They will yell at a jumping dog, because they want it off right now.
They will yell at or collar-correct a growling dog, because they want politeness right now.
They will physically intervene and wrestle the toy away from their dog, because they feel entitled to it right now.
The big people will pause. They will think:
“If I yell at this dog now, it will seek attention from me the same way later.”
“If I punish this dog for growling now, I will increase the insecure behaviors that cause it to growl (or worse) later.”
“If I wrestle this toy from my dog’s mouth now, I will increase the chances of them guarding resources later.”
Essentially, dog owners and trainers are left in two camps: those who consider various scenarios and train for them (humanely and) proactively, and those who wait for issues to arise before responding to them (negatively and) reactively. When you do the former, there is no need for the latter. But only big people find it possible to remember this.
It is easy to want dogs to listen because ‘we are the boss’ – but big people understand that dominance theory has been de-bunked, no matter what we’d prefer to believe. They know that dogs, like any animal, are driven to perform whatever behavior has the strongest reinforcement history. They will create training protocols based upon proven science, with confidence, knowing that what they are implementing is endorsed by decades-worth of ethological and behavioral research.
Sometimes, change doesn’t happen immediately. And the big people know that. They do not get so concerned with what they want now as to forget their goals for later; which, for progressive trainers, is a dog who listens happily and without being frightened or hurt – not one who listens out of fear of being popped, zapped, kicked, choked, smacked, yelled at, or held on their side until they stop fighting.
Achieving the former may require the use of treats, which is what so many people will claim to oppose – but it requires far more than that. It requires the ability to be 'big’ by setting aside our feelings of frustration and desires to act upon them long enough to observe the big picture. That, not treats, is ultimately what some people find impossible to 'carry around all the time’.
