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Traditionally, we talk about dog training in terms of obedience. Making your dog do what you
want. Here, however, we are going to talk about compliance--getting your dog to comply with
your requests by providing positive reinforcement when appropriate behavior is offered.
Why talk about compliance instead of obedience? Because our
goal is not simply to make your dog do what you want. We want to train your dog to consistently offer the behaviors
you desire, at the same time we want to build a positive and trusting relationship with your dog.
Why use a positive method in training your dog? Two
reasons:
- It works.
- It promotes a healthy and trusting relationship with your
canine companion.
'Nuff said.
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Keep in mind that our dogs are companion animals. We have them not because
we need them to work for us, but because we enjoy their company! We love the way they make us laugh, the way they cheer
us up, the way they encourage us to remember how to play (and often make us get up off the couch to do so!) They are members
of our families. And so, we want to teach them how to cooperate with the rest of the family. But we also
want them to enjoy being part of our human "pack."
What is postive training? It means using reinforcement to
increase behavior rather than punishment to decrease behavior. It means that your dog will learn that
all the best things in life come from you, and that you will share these things--like food, toys, play,
and praise--when offered desirable behavior on the part of the dog.
Now don't think for a moment that means your dog can engage in inappropriate behavior without hearing
about it! You may mark unacceptable behavior with a word such as "no",
or "eh-eh". You will also always mark correct behavior with either a word--"yes",
"good", "nice job", etc.--or by using the clicker. We will not use
punishment along with the markers of wrong behavior. But we will use reinforcement in
conjunction with our markers of correct behavior.
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