I find it so interesting that the myth of dominance and alpha dog training is so prevalent in our culture....media is a powerful source, and perhaps dog training would be a good subject for some researcher to take on as a study of how the media influences mainstream society into believing certain things! I recently spoke with a trainer friend who works with dogs as well as exotic animals. She told me of a research study about primates (humans included) taking pleasure in dominating over others; in their own species, or of other species. It definitely gives perspective of why this theory is so popular in modern culture. Beyond this, I think it is very important to recognize the downfall of how positive punishment is positively reinforcing to the handler...stay with me for a moment here... Im not sure if this has been spoken about in this forum, but one of the issues that I find hard to combat as a positive reinforcement trainer, is that people who have experienced training with positive punishment, get an immediate reaction, hence, positive reinforcement for the handler. For example: a person takes their dog to a trainer because the dog pulls. The trainer recommends to put a prong collar on the dog and give a hard correction. Initially, the dog responds (very quickly), and stops pulling for fear of the pain they experienced. Regardless of how the dog feels, this immediate result creates a positive reinforcement response in the handler, as they received a quick result of what they wanted. Combating this kind of positive reinforcement for the handler is one of the harder things I feel that we have to deal with as trainers. In a culture that is so expectant of quick fixes, its difficult to explain that what makes the handler feel good is not necessarily the best course of action. What are the best descriptions that you guys use to combat this difficult learning curve?
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 08:51:19 +0000
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